Alabama’s Highland Park Golf Course is the home of Tad Moore’s Southern 4-Ball Hickory Championship. It’s been a popular choice as some 70 players were in the field for the 2012 contest. So, why do they like it so much?
The course, the oldest in Alabama, was established in 1903 as the Country Club of Birmingham. The country club had existed at a different site and a very crude golf course was in play – tin cups sunk into the ground in various places on an unimproved half-acre lot. In 1900 (according to some Internet research on the Country Club of Birmingham) the club relocated to the site of the former Lakeview Park, near the terminus of the Lakeview Streetcar line. Club pro Nick Thompson laid out nine holes on the hilly terrain and completed an additional nine six years later. In 1926, according to the article on the Birmingham CC, the club sold the Lakeview course to the city of Birmingham, which opened it to the public in 1927 and named it Highland Park. (The Birmingham CC moved to a new parcel and hired the ubiquitous Donald Ross to develop two golf courses.)
At 5,800 yards and par 70, Highland Park offers fine challenges for hickory play with its many elevation changes and a premium on finding fairways. “You’ll want to bring your best short game,” says PGA Professional Ed Joseph, who is on the staff at the course. “It may not be real long, but bunkers and hazards on several holes are in play for hickory golfers. The hickory players seem to love it because it has a old time feel to it.”
And that’s just right for Alabama resident Keith Cleveland. “I love Highland because it is one of those old downtown “city park” type courses in a neighborhood that was actually built in the hickory era,” he says. “The bent grass greens are wonderful and hold the hickory shot (that has less spin) so very well.”
The course was renovated in 1988 under the supervision of Bob Barrett, a golf course developer and manager, and architect Bob Cupp (who helped restore the Oakhurst Links in West Virginia). Their intent was to recreate a classic design and it appears they have succeeded.
Water comes into play on nearly half the course; there are several uphill approach shots, winding creeks and heavily bunkered bent-grass greens. The skyline of Birmingham features prominently from various points on the course. The green on No. 16, for example, the highest point of the golf course, offers a spectacular view of the Birmingham skyline. The picturesque No. 10 presents a generous green surrounded by water on three sides. The tee on No. 18 is high on a hill overlooking a lake and a wide, lush fairway just beyond with a panoramic view of Highland Park’s clubhouse.
The illustrious Bobby Jones, at age 14, won the Birmingham Country Club Invitational held at Highland Park. In 1955, the course was named for Charley Boswell, a Birmingham native and 17-time National Blind Golf Champion.
The history is certainly there, but Cleveland says there’s more to Highland Park than being set up right for hickories. “I don’t know… when I put on my knickers, pull out my hickories and play that course among the vistas of the historic neighborhood and downtown Birmingham, I feel like I could be in 1930.
“And that’s why I play hickory.”
To see a photo gallery of the Southern 4-Ball at Highland Park, click on the following link: Southern 4-Ball.
Highland Park Golf Course
3300 Highland Ave. South
Birmingham, AL 35205
www.highlandparkgolf.com
205-322-1902
The golf course is currently managed by Honours Golf Company. For information, visit www.honoursgolf.com.
Have a favorite hickory course you’d like to profile? Send the information along with photos to jdavis2364@gmail.com.