The Shoals - Schoolmaster

Robert Trent Jones Sr. and Roger Rulewich opened The Shoals' Schoolmaster Course in 2005 on the northern bluffs above the Tennessee River in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, named after Woodrow Wilson, who briefly taught school in nearby Florence before his presidency. At nearly 8,000 yards from the tips, it's one of the longest public courses in America and the most punishing stop on the RTJ Trail. The bluff-top routing gives the closing holes a distinctly un-Alabamian scale: the 18th is a par-4 played from an elevated tee down to a green set 80 feet below, with the Tennessee River forming the backdrop. The 2nd is the signature, a par-4 with a cascading waterfall flanking the approach, rebuilt from natural bedrock. Sister course Fighting Joe was the first public course in the world to stretch past 8,000 yards; Schoolmaster is slightly shorter but arguably a harder walk. Peak green fee runs $125, premium for the Trail but still a fraction of what comparable bluff-top championship golf costs elsewhere. Fits a Muscle Shoals two-card trip with Fighting Joe.