Out of all the reviews that I’ll hopefully write this year, this one may well be my favorite to type! I’m actually typing it up while watching some coverage of the LPGA Tour event at the Capitol Hill Senator Course. It was unintentional, but we ended up playing the Senator Course only a week before the LPGA got here.

My friend and I got stuck in some accident traffic and were worried about missing our tee time. We called from the car, but it didn’t matter as the fog was just lifting at the course and we were told that there would be an hour and a half delay. We got there and it was utter chaos! The place was packed and the staff was scrambling.

Like most states east of the Mississippi River, Alabama is heavily wooded. What makes the Senator Course unique is that it is a heathland/links style layout, with trees only on the perimeter of the course. There is very little water in play, just on a couple of the closing holes.

As you’ll see from the pictures, the course is open and inviting! The holes are fairly close to each other, yet they are separated by large mounds, creating some isolation. The greens that are tucked against the mounds offer a nice look.

Those mounds not only add to the aesthetics of the course, they heavily influence play. They create all sorts of odd bounces, stances, and blind shots if you are in the wrong area.

We played the purple tees which are 6941/74.1/125. A couple tees were up and back, but I’d say it played about that yardage on the scorecard. If you manage to land drives in the fairways, you can get some big bounces forward with a lot of roll, so it can play shorter.

Besides all the mounding on the course, the greens are going to be the biggest challenge at the Senator Course, along with maybe some pot-like bunkers. The greens are large and have a bunch of undulation!

The 17th hole is going to be the most memorable hole on the Senator Course, and maybe not in the best way. It is a quirky, 515 yard par 5 with a large water hazard guarding the left side on the drive and a fairway that runs out for the bigger hitters. If you hit a good drive you can go for the green in two, but you’ll have a long carry over the hazard again, which cuts across the hole to the right of the green.

As you’d expect with a professional tournament in less than a week, the course was in very good shape. The fairways and tees were beautiful, as good as it gets! We were asked not to fill our divots as I guess the maintenance crew goes around and fills the divots with a green sand. That way the course presents better for TV! The greens rolled well and were smooth, but they had a fine layer of sand on them.

Out of the eight RTJ Trail courses that we played on the trip, the Senator Course was my favorite. I loved its uniqueness considering the wooded surroundings.

Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):