RTJ Golf Trail at Highland Oaks

Highland Oaks in Dothan, Alabama, features two eighteen-hole courses—Magnolia and Highlands—designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. with Roger Rulewich and opened in 1989 as part of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail. The Trail was conceived as an ambitious public golf initiative to promote tourism and economic development across Alabama, ultimately encompassing multiple facilities throughout the state. Jones, working late in his career, applied his signature design principles to both courses: strategic bunkering, large undulating greens, multiple tee boxes to accommodate various skill levels, and water hazards positioned to reward accurate play. The Magnolia course plays through gently rolling terrain with mature pines and hardwoods framing the fairways. Water comes into play on several holes, and the layout emphasizes placement over pure distance, with Jones's characteristic greenside bunkering demanding precise approach shots. The Highlands course offers similar design vocabulary but with its own routing and character through the property's natural topography. Both courses feature the wide fairways and generous landing areas typical of Jones's public-access philosophy, balanced by the challenge of reaching and holding large, contoured greens. Highland Oaks serves as the southernmost anchor of the RTJ Golf Trail in Alabama's Wiregrass region. The facility operates as a public-access destination, offering the Trail's standard combination of championship-caliber golf at accessible rates. The courses provide a representative example of Jones's late-career work on the Trail project, where he sought to bring tournament-quality design principles to everyday golfers across a range of abilities.