The Battle House Renaissance Hotel & Spa

Thoroughly enjoyed my round on the azalea course. Awesome and really fun layout. all-around great experience. Can’t wait to play again. Course conditions were really good. Wish the greens could’ve been a little bit softer, but I’m not complaining at all

Played this course as part of a spring break getaway the Biloxi, MS area. These courses were well worth the hour drive east to play.

Played the Falls course first, then the Crossing course in the afternoon. The two courses are similar in terms of conditioning and challenge. It really did feel like I played a 36-hole course, rather than two 18-hole courses.

CONDITIONS: Despite wet conditions, the courses were very playable. Greens, tees, fairways and bunkers were in great shape (and I had enough experience in those bunkers to speak as an expert!).

VALUE: This course is part of the RTJ Trail in Alabama. As such, I was able to take advantage of an all-day play special they were offering. The courses were in fantastic shape, and if you’re not local they are worth the “splurge.”

LAYOUT: Excellent. There are elevation challenges, well placed hazards, difficulty green complexes… all very challenging. I think the Crossings has the harder stretch of closing holes, but I think the middle section of Falls (#5 thru #14) is the toughest challenge.

I walked both the Crossing and Falls course. In the future I wouldn’t hesitate to walk either one… but I wouldn’t walk them both in the same day again. There are elevation changes that will wear out your legs.

FRIENDLINESS: Very helpful. The starter was fantastic and genuinely interested in making sure you enjoyed your day.

PACE: Played as a single for my first round and had no one in front or behind me. Excellent! Was paired up with another guy for the second round. We moved well behind the 4some ahead of us but were getting frustrated with an impatient 4some behind us.

DIFFICULTY: If feels like these courses give you plenty of room to miss, but no room to score. You can be out of position in the fairway, but when I was the approach shots were difficult. The greens will keep your attention, but I didn’t find them to be uncomfortably fast or undulating.

This was my first experience on the RTJ Trail. I’ll be back for more!

Played this course as part of a spring break getaway the Biloxi, MS area. These courses were well worth the hour drive east to play.

Played the Falls course first, then the Crossing course in the afternoon. The two courses are similar in terms of conditioning and challenge. It really did feel like I played a 36-hole course, rather than two 18-hole courses.

CONDITIONS: Despite wet conditions, the courses were very playable. Greens, tees, fairways and bunkers were in great shape (and I had enough experience in those bunkers to speak as an expert!).

VALUE: This course is part of the RTJ Trail in Alabama. As such, I was able to take advantage of an all-day play special they were offering. The courses were in fantastic shape, and if you’re not local they are worth the “splurge.”

LAYOUT: Excellent. There are elevation challenges, well placed hazards, difficulty green complexes… all very challenging. I think the Crossings has the harder stretch of closing holes, but I think the middle section of Falls (#5 thru #14) is the toughest challenge.

I walked both the Crossing and Falls course. In the future I wouldn’t hesitate to walk either one… but I wouldn’t walk them both in the same day again. There are elevation changes that will wear out your legs.

FRIENDLINESS: Very helpful. The starter was fantastic and genuinely interested in making sure you enjoyed your day.

PACE: Played as a single for my first round and had no one in front or behind me. Excellent! Was paired up with another guy for the second round. We moved well behind the 4some ahead of us but were getting frustrated with an impatient 4some behind us.

DIFFICULTY: If feels like these courses give you plenty of room to miss, but no room to score. You can be out of position in the fairway, but when I was the approach shots were difficult. The greens will keep your attention, but I didn’t find them to be uncomfortably fast or undulating.

This was my first experience on the RTJ Trail. I’ll be back for more!

A friend and I played the Dogwood course at the Lakewood Club on 12/09/23. This is a private course only accessible by booking through the Robert Trent Jones website or staying at the Grand Hotel Golf Resort & Spa nearby. This course is relatively flat compared to the other courses on the RTJ trail, but the greens are just as big, firm and fast as the other courses on “the trail”. The Dogwood course seemed to play a little tougher than its sister course Azalea course. The first hole is a relatively easy par five that might lure you into a false sense of security. After that you will be faced with water, marsh and sand traps coming into play. You will also have to deal with hidden hazards from the tee such as the lake in front of the green on #4. The Dogwood course also seems to play a little tighter off the tee, with a combination of pines, oaks, and magnolia trees, than the Azelea course. My favorite holes on Dogwood were #2, 4, 7, 9, 14, 17 and 18. The members were very friendly, and the entire staff inside and out were very friendly and professional. If I’m in the area again I would not hesitate to play this course again. Do yourself a favor and have a drink outside on the patio looking over the 18th hole on Dogwood.

A friend and I played the Crossings course at Magnolia Grove on 12/08/23. The first hole really doesn’t give you an idea of what you are about to play, but it is a good warm up hole and hopefully you will get a good score to start. Like its sister course the Falls, the Crossings course offers a lot of elevation changes and big, firm, fast greens with a lot of undulation. There are also deep bunkers, marsh/water and forced carries that will also come into play. There are a few holes that have blind tee shots where you cannot see the green from the tee (#3, 4 & 5). Hole #4 is particularly unnerving because you cannot tell where the group in front of you is, unless you drive up to the top of the hill. This course offers a variety of dog legs and risk reward holes. The course was in excellent condition from tee to green. My favorite holes on the Crossings course were #3, 4, 5, 10, 14, 15, 17 and 18. Like its sister course, the Falls, it’s a very visually pleasing course. The entire staff inside and out were very friendly and professional. If I’m in the area again I would not hesitate to play this course again.

We played the short course after playing the Crossings course. We have played all the short courses on the RTJ trail, including the now defunct 18-hole par 3 course at Oxmoor Valley (which was replaced by the new nine-hole par 3 course, The Back yard). In my opinion, this short course at Magnolia is the hardest of the bunch. This course, like the regulation course, offers multiple sets of tees. It all depends on how challenging you want to make it. Since we were winding down from the regulation course, we were not looking to make it too tough on ourselves and just go out and have fun and relax. The greens are just as fast and firm as the regulation course and seem to be smaller and have more contours. The person who punched the holes on this day put them in very interesting spots on the greens, but that is what made it fun. This course offers a lot of challenges such as force carries elevation changes and deep bunkers. The course was in just as good of shape as the regulation course and is a great course to work on your short game.

A friend and I played the Falls course at Magnolia Grove on 12/07/23. You start off by teeing off on #1 (obviously) and you will not make your way back until the 18th green. The first hole will pretty much give you a good sense of what to expect. The course is pretty straight forward when playing it for the first time and offers a lot of elevation changes and big, firm, fast greens with a lot of undulations. There are also deep bunkers, marsh/water and forced carries that will also come into play. The course was in excellent condition from tee to green. My favorite holes on the Falls course were #1, 9-13 and 18. It’s a very visually pleasing course. The entire staff inside and out were very friendly and professional. If I’m in the area again I would not hesitate to play this course again.

We played the short course after playing the Falls course. We have played all the short courses on the RTJ trail, including the now defunct 18-hole par 3 course at Oxmoor Valley (which was replaced by the new nine-hole par 3 course, The Back yard). In my opinion, this short course at Magnolia is the hardest of the bunch. This course, like the regulation course, offers multiple sets of tees. It all depends on how challenging you want to make it. Since we were winding down from the regulation course, we were not looking to make it too tough on ourselves and just go out and have fun and relax. The greens are just as fast and firm as the regulation course and seem to be smaller and have more contours. The person who punched the holes on this day put them in very interesting spots on the greens, but that is what made it fun. This course offers a lot of challenges such as force carries elevation changes and deep bunkers. The course was in just as good of shape as the regulation course and is a great course to work on your short game.

A friend and I played the Azalea course at the Lakewood Club on 12/06/23. This is a private course only accessible by booking through the Robert Trent Jones website or staying at the Grand Hotel Golf Resort & Spa nearby. This course is relatively flat compared to the other courses on the RTJ trail, but the greens are just as big, firm and fast as the other courses on “the trail”. This course was apparently renovated back in 2019 but still has the RTJ feel, although the course was designed by another designer. The course was in outstanding shape from tee to green. You will tee off on #1 (obviously) and you will not make your way back until the 18th green. The course is very forgiving, but you can get into some trouble if you are not careful. Water, marsh, and sand traps do come into play. The sand traps are deep. The course also boarders a few holes on the Dogwood course. My favorite holes on Azalea were #4, 5, 9, 10 and 14. The members were very friendly, and the entire staff inside and out were very friendly and professional. If I’m in the area again I would not hesitate to play this course again. Do yourself a favor and have a drink outside on the patio looking over the 18th hole on Dogwood.

After a steady diet of hilly, cart-ball RTJ Trail golf courses around Birmingham and Montgomery, it was great to stretch my legs at Lakewood's Dogwood course. Lakewood is a private club, but it is playable as part of the Trail by guests of the next-door Grand Hotel & Spa. The Dogwood course mixes some coastal and marsh scenery on the front with more traditional parkland golf on the back for a nice contrast. It's not going to blow you away but the slick greens will keep your interest long enough for you to have a good time.

Crossings at Magnolia Grove delivers everything you could want in 18 holes. Look forward to hitting every shape of shot you can pull off as the course takes you on a beautiful ride through the hilly wooded area that the facility is built upon.

This golf course is a stout test. The fairways are pretty generous on most holes, and you will need some well struck drives to be in good position to score. The course felt long, especially playing on the uphill holes. Greens at Crossings were well guarded by either water or ample bunkering on most holes, so it is difficult to roll a shot onto the surface. There are a lot of ups and downs on the Crossings course, but really no surprises. The course layout is right in front of the player for most of the round.

Conditions on the course were good for being in the middle of winter. Fairways and tee boxes were in pretty good shape. I was impressed by the white powdery sand in the bunkers. I actually loved hitting out of the traps, the sand was so fluffy. The greens at the facility were fantastic! They rolled great, not too fast, and true with very smooth surfaces. They were also very receptive to shots from the fairway, it was not difficult to get a shot to stop. It was real treat to play on greens that were this good.

After playing a round at the Crossings Course I could see how the LPGA would want to host an event here. This is a great test of golf that would challenge any player to use every club in the bag. With lots of great holes running through a beautiful forested area, this is a course you should not miss when visiting the Mobile area.

This 18 hole Par 3 golf course has it all. Big elevation changes, dynamic green complexes, forced carries, and lots of variety among 4 sets of tees. If you are looking for an easy trot with a bunch of wedges then you have the wrong place. Want to play the tips? You will may need your whole bag.

After a great round on Crossings in the morning and lunch in the clubhouse we took to the Short Course to close out the day. Remarkably there was nobody else out there, so we had no pace of play issues. Since it's "short," we decided to play the tips. With the first hole at 174 yards and each of the next three holes becoming progressively longer, we quickly found out that this would not be an easy swinging afternoon.

Thankfully I had the whole bag strapped to the cart, and while I never needed driver, I did pull out my 5 wood on a couple of the holes. Nine of the holes on the course are at least 180 yards, 3 more are over 170. There are plenty of marshes to hit over, so you can forget about rolling a shot up to the green on most holes. Many of the holes that have no hazards have elevated greens. You need to carry the full distance to have a chance at scoring well on this course.

Conditions were very good for late January. Tee boxes were well taken care of and the areas around the green were pretty well manicured considering the time of year. The greens were spectacular! Fast and very smooth, but not firm. They could hold a well struck golf shot.

We had a blast playing the course, even though it beat us up a bit it was a great time. Make sure you don't leave this one out if you are in the area.

I would grade the Falls course a notch below its’ sister course, The Crossings.

I think there is a reason the LPGA chose the Crossings to play its tournament in Mobile for several years. The Falls is punctuated by numerous blind tee shots. Without GPS or a course guide, you have to rely on the scorecard diagram to ascertain whether there is any trouble awaiting up ahead. So make sure you take a peek.

The greens were a little slower than you would expect for Gulf Coast Bermuda this time of year. In fairness, however, I believe they were recovering from recent aeration, though no holes were visible.

I preferred the back nine routing to the front. The holes on the inward nine were more interesting and certainly more memorable.

Had to highlight how incredible the courses and facility are, simply amazing, as well as it being tremendous value for the money. Pictures don't do the elevation changes enough justice, yet at the same time you rarely ever have to hit a blind shot. Play it if you can, can't wait to be back

The Short Course was our second round of the day. We practically had the course to ourselves, not seeing anyone else until #17. The greens are in very good shape and seemed to have far fewer pitch marks than the last time I played about 6 weeks earlier. The tee boxes are the worst I've seen on any course so far this year; bare, hardly any grass, and any cover looks to be the dead remnants of weeds after a herbicide application. However, the condition of the greens made up for the lacking tee boxes. I always enjoy playing this Short Course.

The Crossings front nine was in very good shape. The back nine fairways and greens seemed to be suffering a bit. Overall, the greens had good speed, rolled well, and the few bare spots weren't interfering with the hole placements. This is the first course I've played with the cups turned upside down rather than the pool noodles set in the cups. We found it much better putting having the cups upside down compared to the pool noodles approach; the flags also seemed to stand more upright. We came upon a slow threesome starting at #12 that we had to follow the remainder of the round; other than the frustration with the slow play, the round was well worth the 1.5 hour drive.

This was my first time playing The Falls course at Magnolia Grove. I really loved the course.

The staff (bag attendants, restaurant, starter, pro shop) were all friendly and very helpful and accommodating.

The course has an excellent practice area and has everything you would want or need in order to practice and improve your game.

The course is great starting out from the 1st tee to the final green. The course is laid out straight forward and in front of you so very easy to navigate as a first timer. The course is in excellent condition. The greens have lots of slopes and subtle undulations with good speed and pace. The clubhouse is very nice along with a nice restaurant. The biggest drawback is that the carts do not have coolers, not does the clubhouse have a cooler. If you want a cold drink, take your own cooler. I only saw the beverage cart one time all day long.

All in all, i highly recommend the Falls course. I will definitely play again when I am in the Mobile area.

The Short Course was our second 18 of the day. This is a great layout and extremely fun. The elevation changes and the variation in yardages keep these short holes interesting throughout the round. The greens were slower than the Falls' greens we played earlier in the day, but they were in equally good condition. The tee boxes, however, were rather poor and uncharacteristic for a RTJ site.

We played the Falls course for the first time ahead of an approaching frontal system. The course was considerably damp from the excessive rain so far this year but it held up well and the course conditions were overall good. I had heard the Falls was challenging and the excessive winds ahead of the approaching front made for a true test. The greens were slower than expected, again due to the early season rainfall. However, they were in very good shape and rolled smooth. I will definitely be returning to enjoy this course again.

Staff was good , partbway into the round I went to use the divot sand box on the golf cart to find it full of beer cans on

top of the sand , somebody is not doing their job. Greens are fast how I like them, they could use a ranger to help move the twosome along while the threesome waited , us

This is a great test for all golfers, course has fast greens ,will come back next time thru