RTJ Golf Trail at The Shoals

Fighting Joe is one of two eighteen-hole courses at the RTJ Golf Trail at The Shoals facility in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Designed by Roger Rulewich, a longtime associate of Robert Trent Jones Sr. who completed several Trail courses after Jones's death in 2000, the layout reflects the design principles established across the Trail system: strategic bunkering, large undulating greens, and multiple tee boxes that accommodate a wide range of skill levels. The course opened as part of the Trail's expansion in northwest Alabama, complementing the Schoolmaster course at the same property. The routing takes advantage of the rolling terrain characteristic of the Tennessee River Valley region. Elevation changes create visual interest and strategic variety, with holes playing both uphill and downhill across wooded corridors and more open meadow areas. Water features appear on several holes, typical of Trail designs, requiring carries and framing approach shots. The greens are generous in size but feature significant internal contour, rewarding accurate iron play while penalizing poor lag putting. The course name references Joseph Wheeler, a Confederate cavalry general who later served as a U.S. Army general and congressman from Alabama. This historical naming convention ties the facility to the local heritage of the Shoals region. The Trail's public-access model makes Fighting Joe available to daily-fee players at rates well below comparable resort courses, part of the economic development mission that has defined the Trail since its founding in the 1990s.