Best way to book your RTJ trip

[snickersdog]

What's the best way to book your RTJ trip?

We would be driving in on Day 1 from Louisiana, hitting Capitol Hill Senator for an afternoon round (ideally at an afternoon rate), staying in Capitol Hill for night 1.  Then getting up Day 2, going to play Oxmoor Valley Ridge in the morning, Oxmoor Valley short that afternoon, then staying at Ross Bridge for night two, playing at Ross Bridge on day 3 and spending night 3 at Ross Bridge again. (Thursday-Saturday golfing)

 

I've requested a quote and specified I want to utilize the spring deal (Spring Magic, $190 for a round at Oxmoor and Ross Bridge consecutive days) and requested that we just want 1 room per night at each but they come back with 2 rooms per night if you say more than 2 people. And the quote they give me seems high as if they don't give the afternoon rate at Capitol Hill or utilize the Spring Magic deal.  My question to any experienced RTJers, is: If I waited until the week of to try to get my tee times (Mid May), would they potentially book up or do they always seem to have slots available?

And, if they do book up, how do y'all book your outings most economically? My initial guess was that it should've been roughly $50 for the Capitol Hill Round, $200 total for a room at Capitol Hill, 190+30 for Oxmoor Ridge+Ross Bridge+Oxmoor Short, and 2x$340/night for staying at Ross Bridge putting us at roughly 500/person on the trip

 

Thanks in advance

[Abh159]

Not sure if this will be helpful, but I've never booked both rooms and golf directly through RTJ. I've always just booked my tee times individually and then used something else for lodging. 

 

If you don't mind driving to Birmingham after you play Capitol Hill (about an hour drive) it might be the most economical to just get an AirBnB in Birmingham and stay in that one place for the entire trip. The $190 deal for Oxmoor/RB doesn't sound like too much of a "deal". Pretty sure that's spot on or close to their normal green fee rates.

 

If it were me, I'd skip Capitol Hill altogether and plan a round at FarmLinks instead, but I don't know if that would fit into your travel schedule. 

[me05501]

I agree, I think it’s a easier to book golf and rooms separately. 
 

The exit just north of Capitol Hill has 5-6 hotels and several popular restaurants. If you go further than that you might as well go all the way into Birmingham. There’s not much else on the exits between Montgomery and Birmingham. 
 

IIRC there’s a good Embassy Suites close to Oxmoor Valley...or maybe it’s closer to Ross Bridge? They aren't very far from each other. It’s a good option if you don’t want to stay on site at Ross Bridge. Should be less expensive. 
 

The Hoover area near Galleria Mall will also have every brand of hotel and chain restaurant you might want. 

Edited March 3, 2021 by me05501

[snickersdog]

thanks a ton guys, exactly what I was looking for.  We will look further into Farmlinks

[Abh159]

13 minutes ago, snickersdog said:

thanks a ton guys, exactly what I was looking for.  We will look further into Farmlinks

 

Glad to be able to help. For what it's worth, you might want to check the RTJ courses maintenance schedules before you book anything. I'm pretty sure they list them online but May-June is when a lot of those courses will do one of their scheduled greens aerification. I imagine the last thing you would want is to show up to the course only to see greens covered in holes and sand. 

[snickersdog]

yep, thanks I checked that, we are looking for May 20-22 which puts us safe for Ross Bridge and Oxmoor Ridge, and at the end of 13-day recovery for the Oxmoor Short course.  Farmlinks would be aerating the week after our trip

[Bbo569]

I have played Farmlinks and all the Capital Hill courses multiple times.  I would only play Farmlinks over the Legislature course.  Farmlinks has a couple of good holes, but it is a very resorty style course with almost no challenge to it.  If you prefer that type of golf it is your course, but if you enjoy golf at a course that will make you think about your shots and has more character go with Senator and Judge at Capital Hill over Farmlinks

[snickersdog]

Thanks for the info Bbo, I'm still weighing it out, as Senator was high in my list just for the opportunity to get a linksy feel and change things up, but I'm getting the feeling our group is more of the former than the latter that you mentioned in your post (8-20 HC's), so Farmlinks may be more of a guaranteed good experience for everyone

[me05501]

On 3/23/2021 at 9:38 AM, snickersdog said:

Thanks for the info Bbo, I'm still weighing it out, as Senator was high in my list just for the opportunity to get a linksy feel and change things up, but I'm getting the feeling our group is more of the former than the latter that you mentioned in your post (8-20 HC's), so Farmlinks may be more of a guaranteed good experience for everyone

 

Hard agree. 

 

The Senator is very frustrating if you're not hitting fairways. So much thick stuff right off the edges of the holes. That stuff just swallows balls up. I hated it (loved The Judge though).