Alabama residents love their golf – as evidenced by the 311 courses in the state and the quality of professional players the state turns out, including Ben Hogan product Gardner Dickinson, who won 7 PGA titles, and current pro Stewart Cink, who has won 14 titles, including the 2009 Open Championship.
Whether you’ve been playing golf for 30 years or 30 minutes, you likely know it’s one of the most addictive sports around, combining physical skill with a sharp mental game that can either make or break your score.
Moving to a retirement community doesn’t mean your golfing days are over, in fact we hope it means you’ll have even more opportunities to play!
One of the best things about moving to the Regency Pointe senior living community in Rainbow City, Alabama, is the proximity of great golf courses to our location – nine courses are within a 20-40 minute drive of Regency Pointe, with dozens more within a 60-mile radius. With plenty of free time available to you after you retire, there’s no stopping you from continuing to enjoy the tremendous outdoor atmosphere of central Alabama while also improving your game. You might even get good enough to shoot your age! Maybe even before you reach 100.
Here’s a look at some of the closest golf courses to Regency Pointe, with their pros and cons listed.
Twin Bridges – 901 Riverbend Dr., Gadsen, AL
A gorgeous combination of golf and wildlife, the course is so named for the two bridges that cross over the Coosa River, which is featured on a number of the par-72, 6-800-yard course designed by Gene Bates. Greens fees run $45 on the weekend, but seniors are discounted down to $23 weekdays and $36 on the weekends, cart included. A driving range is on-site as well. Website Golf Now, which allows golfers to rate the courses they play, gives the course a 4.3 out of 5 rating, with 22 of 23 reviewers recommending the course.
Briarmeade Golf Course, 505 Ralph Avenue, Glencoe, AL
Opened to the public in 1935, this 80-year-old course would belong more at home in Scotland than the South thanks to the care put into it by original founder George Black, who originally built the course for employee recreation for workers of the Republic Steel Corporation. Black himself was born in Scotland and remained the club’s manager and golf pro until he retired in 1968. The course itself is a par-71 and ranges 6,066 yards.. Greens fees are $29 on the weekends.
Silver Lakes Golf Course – 1 Sunbelt Parkway, Gadsen, AL
Silver Lakes was nearly destroyed by a Class 4 tornado in April of 2011, but has been extensively renovated and reopened five months later with new putting surfaces. In 2012, the PGA website listed it as the #1 golf course in the state, largely because of its diversity of courses- one short one, and three others splendidly named the Backbreaker, the Mindbreaker, and the Heartbreaker. The nine-hole short course can be a quick getaway for older players, and has a remarkable greens fee of just $18 for 18 holes. Although the fees are reasonable, Silver Lakes does not offer senior discounts.
Whispering Pines Golf Club – 765 Morton Rd., Oneonta, AL
Opened in 1994 and designed by Steven Morton, this is a substantially shorter course compared to the previous three, with a total yardage of just 4,830 and a par 70. The shorter course means a very affordable greens fee of $22 for 18 holes.
Cane Creek Golf Course – 2247 Baltzell Gate Road, Anniston, AL
Known for one of the most challenging rounds of golf in the region, Cane Creek’s back tees total a whopping 7,049 yards, and even the front ones are a respectable 5,186 yards. The titular creek winds through the course, bringing water into play on 12 of the holes, and 27 bunkers are added to make things all the more interesting.
Covered Bridge Golf Course – 350 County Rd. 42, Oneonta, AL
Emulating several of the more legendary courses in the country, this semi-private affair opened in 1980 and boasts various undulation and size of greens, and a signature hole all its open. The 15th is known as “The Rock Hole” for one very large reason, a boulder nestled in the right-center section of the fairway that seems a magnet for balls on this par-4, 325-yarder.
With so many courses to choose from, and the ones listed above just scratch the surface of what is available in the Rainbow City region, golfers of any skill level with find retirement a delight when they hit the links just a short distance from their new home at Regency Pointe.
Contact us today at Regency Pointe at 256.269.1919 to learn about our senior living community. Find out about our programs, amenities, and room availability today.