Alabama’s golf community is set to get a new home, with the first phase of a $30 million public golf complex near Pine Tree Country Club expected to break ground in November.
The Golf House Alabama is designed to bring many of the state’s golf organizations under one roof while providing space for practice, instruction and play for golfers of different backgrounds and experience levels.
According to the Birmingham Business Journal, the roughly 80-acre campus will also become home to the newly created Alabama Golf Hall of Fame as part of a larger effort to grow the game across the state.
Grantland Rice, president of the Alabama Golf Foundation, said having a common home for the organizations — and opening the facility to a wide range of golfers — is central to the project.
“For years, the organizations that run, teach and grow golf in Alabama have all been working separately, without a common home. That changes with Golf House Alabama,” Rice said. “Alongside the collaboration that comes from sharing space, we’ll have a practice facility that will provide access to people with all kinds of backgrounds: a kid who’s never touched a club, a veteran, someone with a disability, a college team without a home practice facility. Alabama has needed this for a long time.”
Plans for the campus include a lighted 30-bay hitting area with TrackMan launch monitors and covered bays, an outdoor event lawn and a dedicated instructional area with individual clubhouses for local collegiate and other major programs.
An Agronomy and Careers Center tied to Auburn University is also planned, along with a championship-caliber par-3 course lighted for evening play and a short-game area.
The project is being spearheaded by the Alabama Golf Foundation, a nonprofit established in April by longtime Brasfield & Gorrie executive James Gorrie, PGA of America Acting Vice President Grantland Rice and PGA of America Secretary Eric Eshleman. The foundation grew from a partnership between the Alabama Golf Association and the PGA of America’s Alabama-Northwest Florida Section.
The foundation is conducting a capital campaign with a goal of approximately $30 million to fund the first phase of construction.
The Alabama Golf Hall of Fame will recognize the state’s contributions to the game. Its inaugural class will include 27 honorees drawn from Alabama inductees in the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, with a formal ceremony planned for February 2028.
The new campus will sit on 81.23 acres purchased from the city of Irondale for $3.66 million by Pine Whispers LLC, a company associated with Gorrie. Around the same time, Pine Whispers also purchased the 281.79-acre property housing Pine Tree Country Club for $12 million.
“Golf has always had a way of bringing people together, and for a long time, Alabama’s golf community has deserved a home that reflects how much the game means to this state,” Gorrie said. “Pine Tree is grateful to be neighbors to the Alabama Golf Foundation, and I truly believe these two properties will bring out the best in each other for years to come. The potential here is exciting, for the game, for our community and for everyone who loves both.”
While the Alabama Golf House will be located in the Birmingham area, the foundation’s plans extend well beyond the new campus. Modeled in part after the Tennessee Golf Foundation, the Alabama Golf Foundation ultimately plans to support golf access initiatives and facility revitalization projects in communities across the state.
Sherri Blevins is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You may contact her at [email protected].
