Timberline Golf Club

Timberline Golf Club in Calera, Alabama, opened in the mid-1990s as a Jerry Pate design serving the growing communities south of Birmingham. Pate, a former U.S. Open champion who turned to course architecture after his playing career, has designed several courses across Alabama and the Southeast, typically emphasizing playability for a range of skill levels while incorporating the natural terrain. Timberline reflects this approach, routed through rolling piedmont landscape characteristic of central Alabama, with elevation changes and wooded corridors defining many holes. The course sits in Shelby County, part of the Birmingham metropolitan area's southern expansion along the Interstate 65 corridor. The routing takes advantage of the property's natural contours, with fairways moving through stands of pine and hardwood. Water features come into play on several holes, and the design includes strategic bunkering that rewards accurate placement over pure distance. The layout provides variety in hole lengths and shot requirements, typical of Pate's work during this period. Timberline serves primarily as a daily-fee facility, accessible to public play while also hosting member events and local competitions. The course has been part of the area's golf landscape for nearly three decades, offering a Jerry Pate design option in a region where golf development accelerated during the 1990s. It represents the kind of regional course that provides solid golf in a natural setting without the tournament pedigree or national rankings of Alabama's more prominent venues.