The Ledges Golf Course

Excellent pace of play, well maintained and amazing design. Can’t wait to go back again. Course seems easy at first on the tee, but when you get on the wonderful bent grass greens you will find it much more challenging. 10/10

The Ledges is a private Hurdzan-Fry track that is nestled along a ridge some 1,500 feet above downtown Huntsville, Alabama and the surrounding Jones Valley. Both nines play off different sides of the ridge, making for one spectacular view after another.

The course doesn’t play particularly long, due to elevation change and sleepy dogleg holes. Thus, shotmaking is at a premium. You can hit it comfortably right all day, but a big left miss is going to lead to many lost golf balls.

The green complexes are highlighted by deep bunkering. They aren’t crazily contoured, but the fact that they lie on top of a mountain ridge exposes confounding slope. I had a hard time reading putts, and consistently misread them all day. Usually, you can default to “where is the valley” on mountain courses. But, there are two valleys to complicate matters.

There is not a weak hole on the property. Each one provides a unique challenge despite similar terrain. With all of the scenic cliff top holes, I was very intrigued by the short par-4 16th. It looked like no other hole in the routing. Driver can be eschewed off the tee because it leave you in the fairway on a downslope playing to a severely uphill green with false fronts on both sides and a cavernous bunker guarding the entrance. A creek also awaits a potential mishit.

The clubhouse is stately and the facilities are top-notch.

A popular golf magazine has The Ledges ranked third best in the state behind Shoal Creek and the CC of Birmingham (West). It holds its own against those two, and may gain more notoriety after the Korn Ferry Tour visits next spring.