50 Words or Less
The Highlands at Hampton Cove provides the most scenic views in North Alabama golf. While not as long as the other Robert Trent Jones Trail courses in nearby Muscle Shoals, it is extremely playable, and replayable!
Introduction
The Robert Trent Jones golf trail is an awesome grouping of 26 separate golf courses and 468 holes spanning the state of Alabama. The trail is known to have some of the best maintained, longest, and most beautiful courses anywhere in the USA. Hampton Cove contains three 18-hole courses, and in this review, I’ll be going over The Highlands. It’s located in Huntsville, and as the name implies, the course is full of undulation and surrounded by mountains.
Practice Facilities
The practice facilities go beyond simple chipping greens and driving ranges. Hampton Cove is also home to an entire 18-hole par three course called the Short Course. Before I played Highlands, it prepared me for the numerous water hazards anyone must contend with. It also provided some serious fun with 18 different chances at a hole-in-one. Sadly, this trip didn’t have any for me, but I hope your luck is better if you get to play.
Besides the short course, the property has a full array of practice facilities. There is a full driving range large enough to accommodate even the longest hitters, a dedicated chipping green with sand, and a spacious green with over half a dozen holes to putt to. I could act out any type of shot imaginable to be ready for any scenario.
Customer Service & Amenities
The Hampton Cove staff were cordial and helpful. Inside their large clubhouse is a fully stocked pro shop with clubs, apparel, and more. Just beyond that is a full bar and restaurant. While there wasn’t anything overtly unique about the space, that’s what gives it a homey charm. After all, most of the Trail’s clubhouses were made to look and feel similar!
While Highlands is undoubtedly a wonderful place to play for those who live locally, many people who want to play here will be from out of town, following the famous Robert Trent Jones golf trail. That’s why it’s so crucial that their golf carts feature awesome GPS units. Not only did I find that the yardages were extremely accurate, but they also provided precise topical maps of every green. That helped me to score better, and it also kept the pace of play quick, despite the course being full.
Beauty & Scenery
This course’s visuals are undoubtedly impressive as there is a huge variety of sights that you’ll see. Stepping onto this course, it is as though you’re encountering a sea of green. The rolling hills meander and undulate like waves, and while it can lead to some uneven lies, it’s a sight for the eyes, and reminiscent of courses you’d expect to see in Scotland.
This course’s scenic nature isn’t just related to the layout of the holes though, the surroundings are just as beautiful. On many holes, including number one, mountains loom large in the distance. There’s also a ton of beauty in the massive diversity of wildlife I saw on the course, including bluejays, egrets, turtles, and more.
Tee Shots
I happily report that this course only tips out at 7,428 yards. That means this course doesn’t quite have the monster-level distances that other RTJ Trail courses like Fighting Joe (review HERE) can boast. This course’s first shots are not very punishing with many par 4s and 5s featuring large and well-defined landing areas. With that said, the course does have some dangers to keep it from being a cakewalk including ponds, fairway bunkers, and wispy tall grasses.
Approaches
One of the defining design features of courses on the RTJ Trail is the heavy presence of bunkers you must navigate around. In fact, every single hole at Highlands features a greenside bunker to deal with. That makes every approach shot trickier than it otherwise could be, especially given the amount of hills and valleys that can make many stances uneven. This is in stark contrast to Hampton Cove’s sister course called River, which is the only course on the trail that doesn’t have even a single bunker to contend with.
Greens & Surrounds
The aforementioned bunkers are not the only defense around these greens. Long grasses, trees, and water hazards are each present around some of the greens, although not all at once. The greens themselves are large and relatively flat, noticeably smaller than those at The Schoolmaster’s (review HERE). In my time playing the course, I would describe the greens as the easiest aspect of this course if you can start the ball on your intended line.
Overall Design
The design of this golf course is multifaceted. Most holes feature a links-style design, some feature water hazards, and several are tree-lined. The one commonality is that every single hole features at least one bunker. It means that playing here is fresh from hole to hole, and despite only playing the course once, I imagine it’d be fresh playing from visit to visit, too.
Favorite Holes
#5 – Par 4 – 412 yards
While the hole itself isn’t the most unique, this par 4 features one of the more memorable landmarks on the entire RTJ Trail, The Old Mule Barn, on the right side of the hole. Make sure that if you get to play the course, you end up on the left side of the hole. If your tee shot goes too far right, you’ll have a tricky shot going up and over the building that obscures the green.
#6 – Par 4 – 435 yards
This hole rewards pinpoint accuracy and demands a tee shot that finds the fairway. It forced me to try and pull the throttle back and artfully shape a tee shot down the middle. The hole is made even trickier by a relatively small landing area and a large group of tall thin trees to the right of the hole that can block out your second shot. The approach shot is just as difficult and requires the same level of precision with a bunker to the left and a small pond to the short right. Scenic. It’s a hole that I wished I could play over again immediately.
#9 – Par 5 – 526 yards
Often the holes that stick with me start high and drop down low. This hole is the opposite. The tee box is low and, as the hole doglegs to the left, it climbs higher and higher, getting steeper by the yard. Due to that rising elevation on this hole, it plays more than the 526 yard number would indicate. It’s all worth the challenge when you see the view from the top of the green, but avoid the bunker by aiming right to make getting through this hole easier.
Conclusion
When venturing out to play the renowned RTJ Trail, Highlands is a great place to stop and play in Northern Alabama. The trio of Short, River, and Highlands makes Hampton Cove a complete destination. Highlands is a beautiful course that is a joy to play. While certainly not the longest or most difficult on the Trail, it provides pure fun in golf course form.
Visit Highlands at Hampton Cove HERE
- The Genesis Invitational 2025 Recap - February 16, 2025
- The 2025 Farmers Insurance Open Recap - January 25, 2025
- The 2025 Sentry Tournament of Champions Recap - January 6, 2025
