John Cannon wasn’t always the believer of Alabama’s
famed Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail that he is now.
“Looking back at my first visit to the trail
when I was being quote-unquote recruited
to get on board, when I got here, I had seen
a little bit of what had already been done,”
said Cannon, who left a prominent Myrtle
Beach, S.C. course to join the Trail as its
president in 1998. “When I heard the vision
from my predecessor and Dr. Bronner, I
thought it was the craziest, dumbest thing I
had ever heard of. I thought this was insane.
Naturally, I needed to sign on for that.”
Twenty-five years after the Trail’s first
four sites opened for business, its silver
anniversary festivities have not only begun,
they’ve shown just how durable the busi-
ness model could be despite the highs and
lows of the game over the course of the last
two-and-a-half decades.
Much of that can be attributed to the
Trail’s foundation.
In the late 1980s, Retirement Systems
of Alabama CEO David Bronner came up
with an idea to spread the state’s pen-
sion programs over a wider market.
Reportedly inspired by the film “Field
of Dreams”, he decided to talk Robert
Trent Jones out of his retirement and
start building courses. And, oh boy, did
people start to come.
The 1992 openings, which included
courses in Birmingham, Huntsville,
Opelika and Mobile, were joined the
following year by more in Greenville, Annis-
ton and Dothan. In 1999, Prattville’s Capitol
Hill launched. Three more, in Point Clear,
Muscle Shoals and Hoover, opened in 2004
and 2005. All told, the Yellowhammer State
has 26 courses at those 11 sites, all falling
under the same umbrella.
But to say that marketing all of the sites
fall under the same game plan wouldn’t be
accurate. Cannon noted that while four of
the locations are in the greater Birmingham
area, leading to much of his fly-in crowd,
the courses on the outer edges of the state
are mostly visited by those who choose to
drive in for golf vacation. Keeping specific
courses from getting lost in the shuffle
means target campaigns in nearby Georgia,
Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.
The evolution of the Trail, though, can
certainly be deemed as internal.
Originally designed by Jones and part-
ner Roger Rulewich as a number of sites
capable of hosting professional events,
the Trail’s courses have been tamed some
over the years. Additional tee boxes, fair-
way remodeling and simplified approach
TOURISM
Below: The Lake course at Grand National in Auburn/Opelika
showcases 12 holes hugging the gorgeous Lake Saughatchee.
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