Alabama — Birmingham to Montgomery Golf Courses & Tee Times

Who runs public golf in Alabama — Birmingham to Montgomery

Most public golf here is the Trail. It's owned through the state retirement system, and its Trail Card is sold only to Alabama residents and people within 100 miles of a Trail site: $49.95 for the 2026 card, good from October 1, 2025 through 2026, with lower green and cart fees and a longer booking window. The City of Birmingham owns two courses, Boswell-Highland (Highland Park, leased long-term to a private operator and managed by Troon) and Roebuck Hawkins, about 10 miles from downtown. The city shut its courses for more than a year rather than integrate them; they reopened on June 29, 1963, among the first facilities the city integrated. Before that, Cooper Green was the only course Black golfers could play. Alabama State Parks has three courses, including The Oaks at Oak Mountain State Park near Birmingham, an Earl Stone par 72. In Montgomery, Lagoon Park and the nine-hole Gateway Park are the public options.

Public courses worth knowing in Alabama — Birmingham to Montgomery

• Highland Park Golf Course: Opened in 1903 and public since 1927. Bob Cupp restored it in 1998. It's par 70 and under 6,000 yards, with bentgrass greens. In 2021 GOLF Magazine put it on its 30 Best Municipal Golf Courses in America list.
• Oxmoor Valley: Built on old U.S. Steel mining land in Birmingham. The Ridge's par-5 3rd green sits on a shelf of exposed shale. The Valley was fully renovated in 2021, and The Back Yard is nine walking-only par 3s from 59 to 132 yards.
• Capitol Hill: Three 18s in Prattville. The Judge's first tee is 200 feet above the fairway, looking at the Alabama River and the Montgomery skyline, and it reopens after renovation October 1, 2026. The Senator is a links-style course with over 140 pot bunkers and hosts the Epson Tour's Guardian Championship each September.
• Ross Bridge: Hoover course the Trail calls the fifth-longest in the world. Ten holes run along two lakes joined by an 80-foot waterfall between the 9th and 18th greens.
• Lagoon Park Golf Course: Montgomery's 18-hole public course, a Charles Graves design built in 1978 on what was swamp. Par 72 and 6,800 yards, and a lot of people walk it. The 550-yard 15th is a double dogleg.
• Oak Mountain State Park Golf Course: The Oaks, a state park 18 by Earl Stone. Par 72 and 6,842 yards from the blues, and wildlife walks onto the fairways.
• FarmLinks at Pursell Farms: Hurdzan-Fry design on Pursell family farmland in Sylacauga. The 4th, called the lower 40, is the No. 1 handicap hole.

Booking tee times in Alabama — Birmingham to Montgomery: the local rules

Trail tee times have been online only since June 1, 2026. The public gets seven days, Trail Card holders and annual members get 11, and Platinum members 14. For a trip more than a week out, RTJ Reservations books packages up to 12 months ahead. At Oak Mountain the state park sheet opens six days ahead at 12:01 a.m. Lagoon Park takes no fivesomes from Friday through Sunday.

Why tee times in Alabama — Birmingham to Montgomery are hard to get

Spring and fall are peak season in Alabama — Birmingham to Montgomery. In summer the heat pushes everyone toward early morning, so the first few hours of the day fill before anything else.

Each course releases its tee times on its own schedule, commonly a week or two out, with residents of town and county courses often booking first. Leagues, outings and members claim chunks of the sheet in advance, and whatever prime weekend times are left tend to go on release day.

When tee time cancellations happen

A full tee sheet rarely stays full. Many courses let you cancel without a fee up to 24 or 48 hours before your time, so spots tend to reappear in the last couple of days. A bad forecast shakes more loose, and a foursome that drops to three opens a single. None of it is announced. The time just shows up again on the booking page, and whoever looks first gets it.

How to get a tee time in Alabama — Birmingham to Montgomery

Doing it by hand? Here's what works.

1. Know the booking window. Find out how many days ahead each course releases times, and whether residents get an earlier window. Be ready the morning it opens.
2. Look again 24 to 48 hours out. That's when most cancellation deadlines pass and spots come back.
3. Be flexible on group size. Singles and twosomes fit into gaps a foursome can't.
4. Try twilight and weekday afternoons. They're the last to fill and often cheaper.
5. Widen the map. If your first choice is full, check the next town over. Bessemer has 1 courses on Yoink and Albertville has 1.

Read the full guide to getting a tee time when everything's booked