The 14th annual RTJ Society meeting was held at the beautiful Turtle Point Yacht & CC, in northern Alabama. Its beautiful rolling fairways traverse hills and valleys, lakes and creeks, in a way that feels totally natural. Located on the banks of Lake Wilson, you can see water from every hole on the course. The greens are all bent grass and their sizes and contours make for a very challenging two putt. Robert Trent Jones built this course in two stages. The first nine was finished in 1961 and the second in 1967. From the tips it is about 7,100 yards with a 74.6 rating. Over the years, they have hosted the Alabama State Amateur five times, the Senior Amateur, the South Eastern Championship and many others.
Over the three days we heard stories of the history of this lovely club, an interesting presentation on the creation of the Alabama RTJ Trial and our final dinner presenter was Mr. Paul Albanese, Golf Architect. He attended Cornell, where Mr. Jones developed the curriculum for golf course architecture. He discussed several concepts on golf course designs and stressed how much his time at Cornell had helped shape his own course layouts.
All the men and women who attended were treated in royal fashion. Three days of fabulous golf, incredible food and service and even a sunset cruise on the lake. Next years meeting is take place at historic Old Warson CC, St. Louis, MO, Oct. 5-7. They have been the host to the 1971 Ryder Cup, the 1999 USGA Men’s Mid-Amateur, 2009 Women’s Amateur and the 2016 Men’s Senior Amateur. This will be the second time the Society has met at this beautiful spot. Look for it in the Courses section on this web site.
Bob Giere
President
Robert Trent Jones Society
