The Battle House Renaissance Hotel & Spa

I'm from Ohio wintering in Mobile as a Trail Member, this is my main home course while in Alabama. Playing the Falls Course almost daily.

You can test your skills at golf on the Falls Course. Of the two courses at this site, this one is the more difficult.

On the Falls Course the fairways are full of terrain change, humps, bumps, and slopes; you will seldom get a flat stance. From the tees you can generally do pretty well by using the 150 markers as a line for your ball flight. From the tee's there are several holes where you won't see your landing area from the tee. Plenty of doglegs to keep things interesting. There are water hazards and swamps that aren't too difficult to carry or avoid. Fairway bunkers can be quite punitive. Most of the green-side bunkers aren't too bad to get out of. The cut rough isn't too bad to hit from, get into the woods though and you have some work to do. The greens are quite large and receptive to high shots into the greens. Your iron play and making approach shots will be tested on all holes. Read all putts carefully, if your line and speed aren't right on some of these greens you're in a collection area with a challenge to get up and down.

The staff is excellent. The clubhouse is first class. Food is unusually good for a golf course. Pace of play is fast. Practice facility is excellent. Three pro's on staff. All in all, a well managed golf facility.

This is a mature course that is quite beautiful even in the winter when the grass is dormant. Plenty of challenge. Plenty of water. Greens were soft and holding shots. Both the fairway and green-side bunkers were playable. Greens ran true and were quick. Staff was excellent. Will play again.

Magnolia Grove, just 14 miles west of downtown Mobile, regularly hosts the Airbus LPGA Classic on its Crossings Course. I last played here in 2010 right after an extensive multi-million-dollar remodeling job upgraded the course. More than 5,000 trees were removed, and green complexes were altered and mostly softened. New water features, like the pond fronting the par 3 at no. 14, add more drama. Like most LPGA Tour venues, it won't beat you up.

What a gem. Really enjoyed the look of the whole course. Greens and fairways in great condition. Friendly staff. Great golf facility

Thank you for a wonderful experience and a beautiful day at Magnolia Grove (Trent Jones Golf Trail).

My wife and I had a delightful experience playing the course which was in excellent condition.

Hope to play here again next year!!

Thanks

dale

All the trail courses are kept in pretty good condition and are a good test of golf but they need to upgrade many aspects of their operation. I didn't find the staff to be helpful although the starter did his job. When you go to these courses you have to walk a long distance to get to the clubhouse, tee boxes and greens. Overall, they are nice tracks but I think they cater to large groups as opposed to just regular players.

I played after severe rainfall the night before. It was very wet in places and cart path only. The course requires every club in the bag which I love. The waterfall between 8 & 9 was awesome! Greens were perfect. I can't wait to return and play under normal fairway conditons.

I'm never disappointed by a trip to Magnolia Grove. The short course, the Falls, and the Crossings are all outstanding tracks.
Despite lots of recent rain, the greens were still relatively fast and particularly challenging to putt from positions above the holes; sometimes the undulations force you to be conservative and settle for a safe two putt. I love the views from the tees and fairways on these courses; more than half the holes could be featured on a postcard or calendar. The dramatic terrain is especially fun for golfers coming from flat areas like south Florida. I appreciate how many of the holes feel isolated from the rest of the course; it often makes you feel like your group is out there alone (perhaps on less busy days only?).

Loved the course! Layout made sense and visually beautiful. Greens and fare ways were well-maintained, however we were caught in a torrential downpour for 10 minutes and eventually the horn blew warning of lightening. We eventually returned, but the precariousness of weather was always looming. I would recommend this course, but not in the summer. Staff was very friendly.

Great course poor communicaion with golfnow.com . I was told not to go though golfnow.com for better deals. Staff was nice but was not versed in golfnow.com reservations.

Another great stop on the RTJ! I almost wish I lived in Alabama...Just so I could play the trail every day. That's all I have to say about that! I found Magnolia Grove to be a little more forgiving than some of the other stops on the "Trail". Don't let that lull you into a false sense of security though. Anything less than quality shots and good course management will put some crooked numbers on your card.

Enjoyed the course and found it to be a real value for the caliber of the course

Only had a chance to play The Crossings & The Short Course. Enjoyed both. Can't wait to go back and play again.

Lots of uneven lies requires shot making to be more precise. Elevation changes are constantly a factor and the bunkers are perfect.

Like the Crossings course, also at Magnolia Grove, this one is impeccably maintained and bargain-priced. They say:

“Magnolia Grove, the most southern location on Alabama’s
Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail was recently named one of the
“Top 50 Public Courses” by Golf World Magazine readers. The
Crossings and Falls courses are also listed in Golf Digest’s
“Places to Play” as two of the nation’s great value courses and
as “America’s Top 50 Affordable Courses.”

There are design differences that make the Falls course more fun and challenging for the average amateur at the same time they make the Crossings a better venue for the LPGA Tour, who visit every year. The grass on the Crossings greens is quite grainy, and seems always to grow down the slopes, not, as the conventional wisdom says, toward the setting sun, making downhill putts faster and uphill putts slower, and adding more break to breaking putts. It may have been because of the overseed when I played The Falls course, but there the putts seemed to always break less than they looked, and the grain seemed to have no effect at all. For this reason the Crossings greens are comparatively flat, with subtle slopes, and the Falls, although the speed is about the same, can have much more contour in the greens.

On the Falls, the view from the tee can often make the amateur quake in his spikes, because you almost always can see a place you can easily hit the ball that will turn your bogey into a sure triple. The Crossings has relatively few visually terrifying tee shots, and wide, open-looking fairways, but there are limited places to hit tee shots, and more importantly approach shots, if birdie is to be a possibility. Miss an approach by 10 feet, and your birdie putt might be 30 feet longer. Go for a tight pin position and miss by 10 feet, and par can become a challenge.

Thus the Crossings can appear somewhat boring to the amateur, while forcing the pro to have his A-game if he wants to break par; and the Falls is more interesting, and can appear scary to the amateur while not challenging the pro, who is confident that he can avoid the obvious hazards. The Falls has a variety of looks, with 7 true dogleg par-4s (vs. 2 on Crossings), well-placed fairway bunkers to create narrow landing areas, and water hazards which, while not requiring excessive length, almost always require a forced carry.

The facilities at Magnolia Grove are comparable to more pricey daily fee courses, or private clubs. The pro shop is large and well-stocked, the grill and bar large and richly decorated, and the staff is friendly and courteous.

If you can play here twice, play each course once. If you can play here every day for a week, you'll likely enjoy the replays on the Falls more than the Crossings.