We were at it again for another 36-hole day on the trail! This time we were in Birmingham. We stayed near the I-20/I-459 interchange and headed into the hills to get to Oxmoor Valley. We went from city driving to a country road in the blink of an eye. Somehow, we ended with mountain views, so the terrain around town is pretty sweet.

Oxmoor Valley is up in the hills with tree-covered ridgelines on both sides of the clubhouse and that scenery is probably going to be the main reason to play the Ridge Course. I chatted with the proshop for a few minutes after the round and it seems that most people prefer the Ridge Course because of the elevation change and the views.

Like normal on this trip, we played the orange tees which are 6527/70.6/123. Similar to some of the other RTJ Trail courses, I was surprised to see that the rating and slope weren’t higher! The elevation change is going to be the main difficultly here and is the thing that made the Ridge Course standout from the other courses that we played on the trail.

You’ll probably need a little luck estimating the elevation change your first time around. There are plenty of uphill climbs to the greens so you’ll face some semi-blind shots. If you haven’t played much golf in hilly areas then you might be in for a long day with all the uneven lies.

As a whole I enjoyed the course. The yardages varied significantly and I came close to hitting every club in the bag on my approaches. The par-5’s are the most diverse as they play between 465 and 572 yards. Additionally, the Ridge Course allows for some sideways shots off the tee. I found a couple wayward drives and pitched those out, but at least I found them!

There is a lot to talk about when it comes to individual holes on the Ridge Course! However, I’ll just highlight the two holes on each nine that stood out the most to me.

On the front nine, the 2nd and the 8th are memorable. The 2nd is a 513 yard par-5 that plays significantly downhill to the green. It might not be the most difficult task to get around the green in two shots, but if you layup it might be just as tough to be by the green in three! The layup area narrows and angles to the left, meaning that an average shot can go bounding down the hillside on the right. The 8th, a 159 yard par-3, is my favorite hole on the course! It features probably a two club drop to the green with water lurking short.

On the back nine, the 12th and the 18th were the holes to remember. The 12th is the shortest par-5 (465 yards) on the course so plenty of golfers might have a chance to get there in two. The ideal shot is a couple of draws as it doglegs left, but I played my usual fade with a 3-wood and a hybrid and ended up pin high in two. The green is narrow and slopes off on all sides, so you’ll have your hands full around the green. It appears that there is a second fairway to the left, but it is extremely narrow and I didn’t see a huge advantage playing there.

The 18th, at 572 yards, is the longest par-5 on the course. It is ranked as the #1 handicap but that’s only partly because of the distance. The green is pretty much straight ahead from the tee, but with approximately 100 to 125 yards left the fairway disappears into a hazard. Our playing partners told me about this, but I still didn’t take enough off my layup.

An added advantage of all the elevation change on the Ridge Course is that it drains well! Carts were 90 degrees and the fairways and bunkers were beautiful. The tees left a little to be desired as some were uneven and had a lot of divots.

The greens were smooth, but slower than they looked. That might have something to do with the fact that these greens are bentgrass. Bentgrass greens don’t like the heat and we are creeping towards the summer season. Overall, the conditions were consistent with what we experienced on the other trail courses and I didn’t have any complaints.

Apparently I’m in the minority when it comes to my course preference at Oxmoor Valley! I liked the Valley Course (which I’ll be reviewing next) better, because it had a bit less quirk.

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