RTJ Grand National Golf

Grand National opened in August 1992 as the fourth site on Alabama's Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, the state's ambitious public-golf project funded by the Retirement Systems of Alabama. Set on the 600-acre Lake Saugahatchee near Opelika, the 54-hole complex was routed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. with design associate Roger Rulewich, who draped 32 of the holes along the lake's crooked shoreline while leaving the natural topography largely intact. Jones reportedly called the property the finest natural golf site he had ever seen. Alongside the par-3 Short Course, the Lake and Links courses stretch across pine-lined ridges and water. The Lake Course carried a professional pedigree, hosting the PGA Tour's Barbasol Championship from 2015 to 2017, and Grand National serves as the home course for Auburn University's golf teams.