The Short at Grand National Golf Course

I played the Lake, Links, and short course over a golf trip. Grand National is a top notch facility. A weekend trip to play all 3 courses is definitely worth the trip. Catch the short course for a warm up and you will not be disappointed. It’s one of the nicest short courses in the nation and will prepare you well for the par 3s to come on the big courses.

The Links is without a doubt one of the hardest second shot courses I’ve ever played. There is no where to miss on this course. Every shot must be hit precisely or find the lake awaiting. It is also one of the most beautiful courses I’ve played with amazing green sites. Go play, leave the scorecard to the side and enjoy the spectacular shots.

The lake is the easier of the two courses, but by no means is it “easy.” Slightly less penalizing, but tons of water involved as well. The variety of holes is phenomenal throughout the facility. I stayed at the Marriott on property. Highly suggest it. The pro shop is fully staffed and stocked. Practice grounds are open every day except Tuesday. Wait till more summer if you’d like to let the grass grow in more, but Play all 54 and enjoy the trip.

The Lake is an excellent golf course with quite a variety of holes and a lot of water. It was in superb condition and a totally fun experience for our foursome to play. As with all the RTJ courses, the staff is terrific and really wants to make your experience memorable. Lunch in between rounds was also outstanding.

I played the Links Course at Grand National with a friend on 11/18/21. Don’t let the name fool you, it is not a links style course by any means. This course is probably my favorite of the two courses at Grand National. This course has a lot of water / marsh in play and seems to have more doglegs than the Lake course. A lot of ninety-degree doglegs. The sixth hole is an amazing par five that requires three accurate shots with the third going over a marsh, unless you are going for the green in two. The last hole is unbelievable, with the lake on the left. It requires a long tee shot that will help cut the yardage down for you second shot. That shot is all carry over marsh and huge boulders. This course is stunning, and I would play it again in a heartbeat. The only complaint I would have, is it took us five hours plus to play eighteen holes. As luck would have it (sarcasm) we got stuck behind the same two groups and they held us up the day before.

I played the Short Course at Grand National with a friend on 11/17/21 and 11/18/21 before playing the Lake and Links courses. This course offers four sets of tees to choose from. This course is outstanding to play with many of the holes either bordering or crossing Lake Saugahatchee. The greens rolled perfect and a lot of contours to them. It is very scenic and was a blast to play.

I played the Lake Course at Grand National with a friend on 11/17/21. Very pretty course. The first hole sorts of sets the stage on the rest of the round. It’s a short dogleg left par four, that you either lay up in front of the sand trap or try to go over; but can’t go too long because of the lake in front of the green. The drive over Lake Saugahatchee, to get to the tenth tee is an amazing. The last four holes are my favorite. A par three all over water, a short dogleg right par four, that requires your second shot over a marsh, another par three with water on the left and over; the last hole is an up-hill par four. It is an amazing course. The only complaint I would have, is it took us five hours plus to play eighteen holes. We got stuck behind two groups and they held up the whole course behind us. I realize it’s a resort type setting, and the staff needs to be weary of upsetting people paying good money to play there, but it does not make it fun for the rest of us. See review for the Links course for more.

I played the Short Course at Grand National with a friend on 11/17/21 and 11/18/21 before playing the Lake and Links courses. This course offers four sets of tees to choose from. This course is outstanding to play with many of the holes either bordering or crossing Lake Saugahatchee. The greens rolled perfect and a lot of contours to them. It is very scenic and was a blast to play.

We played the Links on our second morning of our golf trip. The greens are perfect. The layout is scenic and fun; I enjoyed a few of the shorter shot placement holes. However, our entire foursome agreed the length of the Bermuda rough (4-6") is overly punitive for a non-tourney outing without spotters. Many balls were lost even though the landings were approximately 10 yards or less from the fairway. Approaches that missed the green were troublesome to find even being only a few yards off the fringe. I enjoyed the course as a whole, but the length of the rough definitely infringed on what otherwise would have been an enjoyable round. We don't mind being penalized for shots that don't find the fairway but when one can't find a ball in a 10-yard diameter circle it becomes frustrating and unenjoyable.

The course is in perfect condition. Greens are awesome and roll true. The pin placements were set for Sunday tourney with many just not gettable. I would venture to say at least 1/3 of the pins didn't even look like they were on the green from our approaches, but this may have been because there was a scramble tourney scheduled the following day. It is a challenging and scenic course. The slope and rating seems to be unfairly low for this course; I would say it is comparable to many of the other lower half Trail sites with ratings of 70+ and slopes >130. We played the orange tees and enjoyed the challenge.

This was my second day at RTJ GrandNational. The Lakes course was easier to play than the Links Course but still a very good challenge. Again, the fairways are generous and the greens are easier to approach as only a few are elevated unlike the Links. I didn't like starting off the 1st hole with a 5 wood as anything over 185 would be in water. But the course makes up for that short hole with 2 very long par 4s on 11 and 13. The card has them at 387 and 388 from the Orange tees but today's set up had them at 400+ each. Then there is the par 3 15th at 182 with all carry over water. In between is the par 5, 14th with a generous fairway but bunkers on the left half strategically placed to catch your drive, second, and approach if not handled well.

Once on the greens, putting is fast. Like the Links there are some challenging greens with multiple tiers. The par 4 9th hole has a wide green with 3 tiers. Most others have slopes you navigate but nothing penal.

A nice course and a nice layout. If you want a serious challenge, pick the Links. If you want a more comfortable round, pick the Lakes.

Grand National is acclaimed as one of the better destinations on the RTJ Golf Trail. Two 18-hole course plus a really nice 18-hole short course made; all par 3s.

The Links Course is a traditional Southern course--pine trees left and right, and all around. The only similarly to a links is the 9th hole doesn't bring you back to the clubhouse. Other than that, not a links layout. Regardless, it is a fine layout.

The fairways are reasonably wide and fairly easy to hit. Several holes have bunkering just in the right spot to trap an errant shot but otherwise, fair.

Your approaches are a different story. Almost every green is elevated and most are well-guarded with bunkers. Often the bunkering is in front of avaliable pin placements so that a solid carry is required.... or you aim for center of the green and then test your putting.

Two greens were particularly challenging. On the par 4, 7th, there is a 3-tier green. Hit the wrong tier and you will have a very difficult putt, especially if you land on the high side of a lower tier pin. Mine hit the middle tier and putting downhill it was impossible to not putt through the green (believe me, after a 3-putt, I tried 6 times and every time it passed the hole and onto the fringe. The par 4 closing hole, 18th green is 3 tiers too but this one is 3 tiers wide with a normal depth--left to right the green is easily 70 yards wide. But by in large, the greens hold, are fair, and roll well.

There were only two holes I didn't like...the 4th and 13th, both par 4s. They are the types of holes you need to squeeze into a layout because you are running out of land. Both a 90° dogleg left. I hate these because I am not long enough to cut the corner but was too long (at least on one) to not run out of fairway at the end of the bend. Unless you have good yardage from tee to runout, these holes seem to always trip me up.

The Links is a nice course, plays longer than the card because of the elevated tees, and was fun to play. Tomorrow brings the Lake Course and another view of Grand National.

The course is exceptional. Rolling terrain gives you some interesting shots. Lots of decisions to make. Greens are very nice. Bunkers are many but the sand is great to hit out of. You can see where RTJ staff is working to improve drainage. The course takes a few days to recover from any rainfall and 2 of the 5 times we've played here over the last 8 years on our golf trips, the course was cart path only. So check weather & call ahead. Walking this course is a test!

3 holes open ahead of the ‘lead’ group and no action from marshals. In the end had to skip 2holes to get in front and be able to finish before sunset!

Paid via Golf now but then extra taxes levied at the course.

Pro shop staff quite unfriendly in contrast to the cart guys and starter.

Shame from a place with such potential.

Will not return or recommend to friends

Played this course a few years ago on a Saturday morning the day before heading to Augusta for Masters Sunday. Was a little hung over from a night out on Auburns campus the night before and had the very first tee time at 700am. It was just me and my buddy and they had a full tee sheet so we got paired with two others. Fortunately they didn't get up in time so they sent us out by ourselves at 700 with fresh dew on the ground. It was a really peaceful round with no noise and noone else on the course. Loved the layout, the course, the greens, etc. It felt like it was a shot makers course and you had to use the right club and hit your spots. We got done at around 915 and the guy washing clubs thought we were getting ready to play until we told him we were done. He said it's usually at least 11 before he washes any clubs, so he had to get his rags and water ready. Haha. Would love to play it again as well as the other courses on site.

Beautiful course. Excellent tiered greens. Nice layout with some elevation changes and water. Great bunkering. Superb practice greens. Play where the pros played the Barbasol Championship. Multi-level greens make putting a premium. Plenty to do in the area. Auburn University is nearby.

A fun round with many interesting and challenging holes. Great practice facility.

Expected little, to nothing, out of this "par 3" course but ended up loving it. A great collection of holes that utilized the lake for numerous holes. Do not skip when at the Grand National

Great track thats challenging and very enjoyable. Par 3's are interesting with a great variety amongst all other holes. Definitely a must play.

Nice layout with generous landing areas. No blind shots that I noticed . It had rained heavily the day before but there was only minor standing water on the course. It was cart path only but not bad. The bunkers are in great shape. There was no water in any bunker I saw and perfect sand.I would make the drive from Atlanta area again to play here. I played the lake course but want to try the links course as well.

Second Location on the RTJ trail , a lot tougher than the Shoals but enjoyed it a lot. Difficult approach shots. Didn’t score well but would definitely come back

First time at Grand National fun course but demanding. Lots of risk reward shots, I felt I came out lucky with a 102. Will definitely play here again, playing the links course today, driver may stay in the bag and try to stay out of trouble