• List of courses and locations

MICHAEL CLEMMER (ENLARGE)

The par-3 18th hole of the Fighting Joe course at the Shoals overlooks Wilson Lake on the Tennessee River. Players like to debate whether itÕs better than the Schoolmaster, also designed by Robert Trent Jones.

MICHAEL CLEMMER/Golf Landscape Photography (ENLARGE)

The Schoolmaster course (above) and Fighting Joe are the two Muscle Shoals entries on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, which covers 10 sites and 432 holes.

Renaissance Ross Bridge Golf Resort & Spa (ENLARGE)

After a day on the course, you can relax in a luxurious suite at the Renaissance Ross Bridge Golf Resort & Spa, which opened in August 2005. The spa and salon cover 12,000 square feet. Guests can get a massage, aromatherapy and other services.

Renaissance Ross Bridge Golf Resort & Spa (ENLARGE)

Of all the courses on the trail, it'll cost you the most -- $75 to $110 -- to play at the Renaissance Ross Bridge resort. You can choose from five sets of tees. At 8,191 yards, itÕs among the longest golf courses in the world.

Birmingham — They say, "If you build it, they will come."

The state of Alabama bet hundreds of millions of dollars on that saying. Long tired of watching the snowbirds drive through their state as fast as possible on the way to and from Florida, Alabama officials began looking for something to get tourists to spend some time.

Their answer was golf, lots of golf. Alabama undertook the largest golf course construction project in the world, building 324 holes in seven locations at one time. What they did had never been tried before, anywhere.

At the time the courses opened in 1992, Alabama's golf reputation was suspect and the notion that the state could become a mecca for golfers seemed far-fetched. It was Alabama's all-white Shoal Creek Club outside Birmingham that drew national attention in 1990 when its leadership said it would not integrate as it prepared to host one of golf's major tournaments. The club eventually changed its stance, but the controversy did not help the state's golf stature.

Enter David Bronner, the head of Alabama's pension fund and the man who came up with the mega-golf concept. Bronner hired one of the country's best-known golf course architects, Robert Trent Jones, and selected seven sites across the state, each of them less than 15 minutes from a major interstate.

Bronner knew he was taking a risk, betting that Alabama could become a golf destination. "People thought, 'This guy's a little goofy. Let's see if he hangs himself on this one,'" he recalled.

The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail has become one of the country's best golf bargains — and the state's tourism revenue is up nearly $5 billion a year. While not all the increased tourism is golf-related, the trail has become the national standard copied, but never duplicated, around the country.

What the state got was "better than our wildest hopes and prayers," Bronner said. "The trail showed the industry that this was an undiscovered and unique setting."

Louisiana, Maine, Utah and Virginia have launched their own golf trails. But none has been as successful as Alabama's. The golf courses, 432 holes at 10 sites, are world-class gems tucked into off-the-beaten-path places named Anniston, Opelika, Muscle Shoals and Dothan. "People don't believe it until they see it," Bronner said. His very next sentence captures the trail's attraction: "We also have the advantage that people have low expectations."

Not anymore.

With low rates (the average greens fee is $50) and the addition of Marriott hotels at many sites, the trail has become a must-play destination for golfers and one of the country's best destinations for "buddy" trips.

The trail's crown jewel is Ross Bridge in the Birmingham suburb of Hoover. It's the most expensive of the trail sites, and worth every penny. We ended our four-day, seven-round guys' trip up and down the trail at the Renaissance Ross Bridge Golf Resort & Spa. The course opened in August 2005 as the third-longest in the world at 8,191 yards.

And no, we didn't play from the tips. Neither did the PGA Champions Tour last year. With five sets of tees, the course is very playable if you choose the right tees.

The course is a heroic test of golf. From the first hole (an uphill par 5) to the last (a long par 4 with water guarding the front and right side of the green), the course is a meandering roller coaster with stunning views and dramatic elevation changes.

You almost can't go wrong planning an itinerary along the trail. You can start at the north end at the Shoals in the northwest corner of the state and make your way south, or you can set up base in Prattville just outside Montgomery — with 114 holes on the trail within an hour's drive — or in Mobile (90 holes on site or nearby). We stayed in three places in four nights so we could see as many courses as possible, and it was too much driving.

If — make that when — we do it again, we will stay at the best-kept secret on the trail, the Montgomery Marriott Prattville Hotel. We couldn't afford the ultimate in golf accommodations: the presidential cottage, a five-bedroom, two-story house that comes with a personal chef and butler ($5,000 per night).

More affordable is one of the two eight-room villas. In each villa, a common area with a pool table serves as the large living room for the eight rooms. It's a perfect setup for post-round festivities. From here, you can play the three Capitol Hill courses on site or make the hour drive east to Opelika and its three courses at Grand National, or go 50 miles south to play the 36 holes at Greenville's Cambrian Ridge.

Capitol Hill has three courses. The Judge starts off with perhaps the most visually stunning hole on the trail. The fairway is 200 feet below you as you tee off, and the Alabama River runs along the right side. It measures more than 7,700 yards from the tips.

The Senator is a links-style course, with few trees and more than 150 bunkers. It was incredibly windy the afternoon we played, giving the course an even more links-style feel. "It's amazing to have two courses so different at the same place," said Steve Harrison, an Illinois dentist who was part of our foursome.

The Legislator rounds out the Capitol Hill experience, with a more traditional course that winds through pine trees. Six holes play through a cypress swamp — something you see as you descend what they call the "Sky Bridge," to play them.

Most resorts boast one great course and then surround them with average to nondescript counterparts in an effort to keep you on the property. The advantage the trail has is that all the courses are tournament-quality layouts. Most have no houses anywhere — try finding that in Florida or in the Atlanta area. Capitol Hill, for example, has 1,500 acres of golf and natural areas.

Up in Muscle Shoals, another Marriott opened in June 2005 along the Tennessee River. Each of the rooms has a balcony overlooking the river. The two trail courses, Fighting Joe and Schoolmaster, also offer views of the river.

One of the common debates players have after playing both is which is the better course. Fighting Joe got the original wave of publicity when it opened first, in 2004. It's a massive course with rolling fairways and tough holes. The two courses were the first to stretch past 8,000 yards on the trail.

Schoolmaster is the prettier course, with captivating views of the river on No. 17; Wilson Lake on No. 18 provides a memorable finish.

I was in the middle of this debate with Harrison, Kevin Hayes of Tampa and Bob Myerscough of Red Bud, Ill., when we got to the 16th hole on Schoolmaster. We liked Fighting Joe's bite, but we were really having a good time on Schoolmaster.

The 16th hole is a medium-length par 3, the green sitting behind a small pond. Myerscough hit last and his 9-iron from 145 landed on the front of the green and began to roll slowly. It disappeared into the cup. After the celebration died down, Myerscough ended the debate: Schoolmaster is much better — he with the hole-in-one gets to decide.

There is little debate about the outstanding settings for the trail courses.

Consider the trail course closest to metro Atlanta: Silver Lakes near Anniston is tucked away near Talladega National Forest, secluded from almost everything. The course, a little over a two-hour drive from downtown Atlanta, features three nines and a nine-hole short course. The greens are huge, most of them elevated against a backdrop of tall trees, making everything seem bigger.

As you stand on the tees surveying the tree-lined fairways, that's when the trail's charm takes hold and you realize why this crazy gamble on golf has worked so well.

IF YOU GO

Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail: 1-800-949-4444, www.rtjgolf.com

Courses, locations, holes and greens fees:*

• The Shoals, Muscle Shoals, 36 holes, $40-$55.

• Ross Bridge, Hoover, 18, $75-$110.

• Hampton Cove, Huntsville, 54, $40-$55.

• Silver Lakes, Anniston, 36, $40-$55.

• Oxmoor Valley, Birmingham, 54, $40-$62.

• Grand National, Opelika, 54, $40-$62.

• Capitol Hill, Prattville, 54, $40-$74.

• Cambrian Ridge, Greenville, 36, $40-$62.

• Highland Oaks, Dothan, 36, $40-$50.

• Magnolia Grove, Mobile, 54, $40-$62.

* Note: Greens fees vary by season. High season is spring (March-May) and fall

(September-mid November).