Virginia Golfer Jul / Aug 2017 | Page 32

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. 30 V I R G I N I A G O L F E R | J U LY / A U G U ST 2 0 1 7 vsga.org