Short Course at RTJ Golf Trail at Silver Lakes

The Short Course at Silver Lakes is part of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, the ambitious public golf development that brought championship-caliber courses to Alabama beginning in the 1990s. Robert Trent Jones Sr. designed the facility with associate Roger Rulewich, creating a par-3 layout that serves as a complement to the property's two regulation 18-hole courses, Heartbreaker and Mindbreaker. The Short Course reflects Jones's design principles on a smaller scale, offering golfers a chance to work on their short game while experiencing his characteristic emphasis on strategic shot-making.

Located in northeast Alabama near Gadsden, Silver Lakes sits in the Appalachian foothills where the terrain provides natural elevation changes and wooded settings. The Short Course takes advantage of this topography, with holes playing over varied ground rather than flat terrain. Water features appear on several holes, consistent with Jones's frequent use of lakes and streams as both hazards and aesthetic elements throughout the Trail properties.

The layout serves multiple purposes within the Silver Lakes complex: it provides a quick-play option for visitors, a practice venue for players preparing for the longer courses, and an accessible introduction to golf for beginners. As part of the RTJ Golf Trail's mission to make quality golf available to the public, the Short Course maintains the same conditioning standards and design thoughtfulness found on the regulation courses, scaled to a format that typically plays in under two hours.