GULF SHORES, Ala. — As general manager of Rock Creek Golf Club in Alabama, Chad Leonard occasionally receives calls asking for directions to a course by the same name in Washington D.C. No problem for Leonard, a native of Potomac and former basketball standout at Gonzaga College High.
“I don’t bother to tell them they’ve reached the wrong course,” Leonard said. “I just go ahead and give them the directions.”
The road from Washington D.C. to Southern Alabama is one less travelled. But after playing basketball and golf at the Citadel, Leonard found his way and happiness in Gulf Shores region. When he talks to friends back home in D.C., they are often surprised.
“‘You have beaches down there?’ I hear stuff like that all the time,” Leonard says. “It’s funny what people think of this place. I guess I thought some of those same things before I got here.”
| Gulf Shores, Ala. |
| Courses » Nine, with a total of 207 holes |
| Designers » Arnold Palmer, Jerry Pate, Earl Stone |
| Information » golfgulfshores.com |
What Leonard discovered upon his arrival five years ago was the emerald waters of the Gulf and miles of pristine, white-sand beaches, interspersed with upscale development. Luxury homes and high-rise condominiums are the rule. Commercialism comes in short bursts.
For golfers, there are few area’s with as many high-quality, moderately priced, diverse courses as the nine under the umbrella of golfgulfshores.com. Kiva Dunes, a nationally ranked, windswept classic, designed by Jerry Pate, is Kiawah Island, Alabama-style as it sits on a sliver of land between Bon Secour Bay and the Gulf. By contrast, just three miles from the beach, Craft Farms, designed by Arnold Palmer, has the feel of inland Carolina.
The 36 holes at Craft Farms are the only ones in Alabama designed by Palmer. But another example of his stellar work is an hour east, in Pensacola, Fla., at Lost Key, on a barrier island. The course was formerly tree-lined, but Hurricane Katrina performed a redesign, followed by the hand of Palmer, who transformed Lost Key into a tight, penal, wind-blown beast with smooth, sprawling greens and the bustling feel of Honolulu as high-rises loom overhead.
With wide fairways, tall trees, big greens and 30 lakes, Earl Stone-designed Peninsula is a big, bold, muscular, 27-hole beauty which winds its way through a housing development, but feels secluded as it is surrounded by Mobile Bay and a wildlife preserve. Stone-designed Timber Creek, also with 27 holes, is all about negotiating tree lines, elevation change and slick greens.
The oldest of the area’s courses, Gulf Shores Golf Club, dates to 1964 and has a plantation-style clubhouse. But the spectacular layout doesn’t show its age thanks to a 2005 renovation. The parkland course is extremely flat, but holes have great definition thanks to tall trees, sparkling white bunkers, and subtle shaping.
While the golf in Southern Alabama is likely to exceed expectations, there was little surprise about the quality of the restaurants. Sprawling, glitzy, modern Cobalt, with a breezy patio, feels like it could host an MTV spring break show. At Live Bait, traditional seafood and service adds up to extraordinary dining. Appropriately-named Tacky Jacks is funky, fun, and has a daring menu – the kind of place where is pays off to try something different.
Later in the evening, if the mood strikes for revelry and people watching, the scene at Flora-Bama is hard to top. This there was a place to find the next generation of characters from the “Dukes of Hazard,” this would be it. On a recent Wednesday night, the second musical selection was — surprise — “Sweet Home Alabama.”
