The following is from a review of The Ledges by Ian Thompson of Golf South Magazine:

The Ledges of Huntsville Mountain Golf
By Ian Thompson

The Ledges Country Club at The Ledges of Huntsville Mountain development is like no other course before it in Alabama. That’s probably because there’s never been a piece of property so daringly used upon which to design and build a golf course.

The site is the best golf course site I have ever seen that is not on an ocean, Dr. Michael Hurdzan, who, along with partner Dana Fry, designed the course, said. Strong words indeed, but the property is truly spectacular; no other words adequately describe this setting.

From atop The Ledges of Huntsville Mountain, the Hampton Cove subdivision, which includes the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail facility of the same name, can be seen on the valley floor to the east, with downtown Huntsville clearly seen to the west. Indeed the noted Space and Rocket Center can also be seen, with the tallest rocket appearing to be the size of a giant golf tee from this elevation and distance. At its highest point, the property is some 1550 feet above sea level, being fully 900 feet above the valley below. You don’t need to stretch your imagination too far to visualize the panoramic views this course affords.

What amazed me the most upon my initial viewing of this course is how little the elevation deviates once on the plateau atop the mountain. From one end of the property to the other there is only 30 feet of change, with the noted exception of holes 3 through 6, which form The Bench. For these four holes you must wind down a zigzagging path some 200 feet. This is the only reason you could not walk this golf course, but one of the development’s general partners Charles Grelier told me two carts would be stationed at the top of the trail for the express use of those players wishing to walk the rest of the course.

Which brings up the point that first-rate service and attention to detail matter above all else at The Ledges. And so they should at a private club where the local resident initiation fee is $35,000. Not that this fee has put off too many people, as they already have close to 300 members and the course will not officially open until the beginning of March (2000).

Back to the attention to detail. They have a daily scorecard system in place, in that the scorecard is tailored specifically to you and your group. It is preprinted with the names of your party, their handicaps, the length each hole will play that particular day and the pin placements. This was my first time to see such a simple, but effective, system. The name of your group is also affixed to your cart, which awaits with bottled water and sunscreen among the items provided on a daily basis. Nice touches to be sure.

Before venturing onto the course itself, allow me to recount some of the history of The Ledges.

Born originally out of an idea to find a new home for Huntsville Country Club, The Ledges tale begins some five years back. John Blue, one of the three general partners of The Ledges, was on that search committee. Cutting a long story short, internal reasons meant that Huntsville Country Club would stay put, but Blue’s appetite had been whet.

Initially unable to find a suitable site, he recalled that an idea had been proposed many years before to landowner Carl T. Jones to build a course atop Huntsville Mountain. Nothing had come of this previous proposal, but he thought enough of the idea and potential site to proceed with a feasibility study which was conducted by Hurdzan. His glowing report was the spark needed to light The Ledges fire. Blue then brought in Charles Grelier and Max Grelier of Amereco Real Estate Services as his two other general partners, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Heading to the course. At 7100 yards from the tips and playing to a par of 71, it will challenge the very best golfers. The back tees are bent grass (as are the greens), making them stand out from the rest of the multiple tees, which are zoysia grass. The fairways are also zoysia, the first that I’m aware of in the state.

The layout of the course is such that the vast majority of golfers (those who play the game right-handed) have a slight advantage. I make this sweeping statement because the course traverses the plateau upon which it is built, with steep fall-offs to be found to the left of nine of the holes. Hence a right-hander always has his back to the trouble, while a left-hander just has to look up to see the world falling away on half of the holes. The majority of golfers slice the ball, be they right or left-handed, so the right-hander will be firing away from the trouble, but the lefty may slice directly into it. Of course, this didn’t stop our group from hooking quite a few balls never to be seen again.

Probably the next most striking feature of the course, second only to the incredible views all around you, is the extensive use of the sandstone found in abundance on the property. This is no more apparent than on the par 3 No. 13, appropriately named Tiers by head golf professional Billy Cleveland. The hole can play up to 223 yards, but it is downhill and the green should not to be too hard to find in one shot. The true beauty of the hole however, can be seen looking back from green to tee, whereupon you see clearly the four tees, all framed with stonework, stepping down the hole. It was Tom Halsey, Director of Golf and General Manager who made this observation on my first journey around the course, that the course is as distinctive from back to front. It should be noted that Halsey is quite a coup for The Ledges, coming as he did from Sahalee Country Club outside of Seattle, Wa., host of the 1998 PGA Championship.

To borrow from Cleveland’s hole-by-hole descriptions: The magnificent multi-tiered teeing grounds, the beautiful pond, blue skies in the distance behind the green…Don’t forget to hit the golf shot.

If you get the chance to play The Ledges, I guarantee you’ll have a day to remember. I know I did.

The Ledges of Huntsville Mountain Homes

Properties Range from $650,000 and 2,800 square feet to $3,500,000 and almost 11,000 square feet.

Schools:
Jones Valley Elementary
Huntsville Middle
Huntsville High
–Randolph Private School

To Get There:
East on Carl T. Jones, Left on Ledges Dr. (across from Target), stop at Guard station, to top of hill. Left at stop sign onto Ledge View.

View All Active Homes In the Ledges of Huntsville Mountain

View Larger Map