The Return of Ross Bridge

A little over one year ago, the 18-hole course at Ross Bridge on Alabama’s Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail reopened following a major course repair project necessitated by a 100-year blunder no one could have seen coming.

The course’s 20-year-old bunkers and bentgrass greens had been nearing their life expectancy anyway, but when, in September 2022, maintenance staff mistakenly applied a lethal herbicide/fertilizer mix to the putting surfaces instead of the green sand that should have gone down, the work became somewhat more urgent. Thankfully, errors like these tend not to have such dire consequences but, on this occasion, the regrettable misstep resulted in the slow and inexorable demise of 14 greens that caused what many regard as the Trail’s best course to close.

Mike Beverly, President & CEO of SunBelt Golf Corporation which operates the RTJ Trail, is thrilled with how the course has rebounded over the last few months but hesitates to describe the incident that hastened the work as a blessing in disguise. “No, it was all very unfortunate,” he says, “and it’s not as if it led to us resetting and refining our approach to how we manage the 11 sites and 26 courses. All the processes we’ve had in place for several years were adhered to and haven’t changed. It was human error, plain and simple. We owned the mistake.”

The whole ordeal is probably still a little fresh in the memory for Beverly and his colleagues to see much of an upside, and Ross Bridge regulars might still be coming to terms with what happened. But for golfers from farther away who may not have visited for a few years, the new-look Ross Bridge will certainly be a welcome sight.

That said, it doesn’t look all that different to the previous version. The bunkers may have been revamped with the Better Billy Bunker polymer and new sand, a few of them may have shifted position, and grass faces may have replaced the old, flashed faces. The green at the 10th was moved, a few trees came down, and some cart paths were lowered to fairway or green height. For the most part, however, the differences could be described as subtle, discreet even, rather than conspicuously dramatic.

The greens do warrant special mention, though. You may not be able to discern the change from a photograph, but the new surfaces are a testimony to the quality of modern turfgrass as well as the skill of those who install them then maintain them once they’re in play.

In place of the bentgrass, the greens at Ross Bridge were sprigged with TifEagle ultra-dwarf Bermuda, which was first used for golf in the mid-1990s and is now the preferred choice at hundreds of courses across Florida and the South, the Southwest, in Hawaii, and internationally in countries known for their heat and humidity such as The Bahamas, Costa Rica, Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The benefits of fine-bladed TifEagle, in addition to its ability to thrive in the heat, include dense coverage, a good response to overseeding, drought tolerance, and disease resistance. Equally as important, though, in an industry that relies heavily on appearance is its capacity to retain its rich dark-green color even during cool periods.

Joshua Cook, who worked extensively with TifEagle at Oak Tree National in Oklahoma and Pensacola Country Club in Florida, was appointed Ross Bridge’s new Director of Golf Course Maintenance shortly after the renovation began and is pleased with how the turf has performed throughout 2024. “We were a little nervous about how it would fare, and how our golfers would respond to it,” he says, “but our rounds are up and virtually all the feedback I’ve received has been positive.”

Cook has a tough assignment balancing the needs of vacationing golfers whose swing speeds may be slower than average with those of better players and a highly regarded course often ranked within the Yellowhammer State’s top dozen. “I’m not looking for tough, major championship conditions every day necessarily,” Cook continues. “There has to be some give for recreational players. I have to be democratic. But I do strive for consistently good days.”

Cook is confident he’ll get them, on the greens at least, with TifEagle. “They are maturing nicely,” he says. “Firm, a nice consistent color, and really smooth. The best bentgrass greens are wonderful but they traditionally need a lot of maintenance especially in a place like Alabama. At their very best, our greens rival the best bentgrass surfaces, but they require less intense maintenance, less water, and there really aren’t any disappointing days.”

It’s not altogether surprising, then, that Ross Bridge has enjoyed its fourth record year in a row (renovation year notwithstanding) both in terms of rounds recorded and revenue earned. It might not quite crack 40,000 rounds this year, but it expects to next year as the turf continues to improve and tolerate an increasing amount of traffic.

Part of this year’s traffic was Gregg Dewalt, a local golf writer who edits an Alabama golf publication. He played the course on the anniversary of its reopening and came away thoroughly impressed. “It must have been a tough decision and a difficult time for the course,” he says, “but resurfacing the greens turned out to be a huge success. As with most new greens, those at Ross Bridge are pretty firm right now, but I’m confident Joshua Cook will soon get them appropriately receptive.”

The phrase “Everything happens for a reason” is something of a throw-away remark that never really consoles the crestfallen and probably wouldn’t have gone down well at Ross Bridge at any point over the last couple of years. “Making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear” works, though.

Have you played Ross Bridge on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail? Tell us about your experience in the comment section.