SYLACAUGA, Ala. - In the Heart of Dixie state known for football, taking center stage in the Civil Rights movement, and The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, one of the most surprising golf courses you may ever experience is in the Appalachian foothills - a boondocks experience, where your feet and your eyes can imagine a story on every single hole.

FarmLinks Golf Club is part of the 3,500-acre Pursell Farms - where longhorns graze and the rolling hills are abundant with deer, turkey, quail and bobcat. Alabama is a state proving it can grow more than cotton, corn, peanuts, soybeans and kudzu. It is a pioneer in turf-grass management.

When a travel golfer arrives, he may never realize that he is playing on a 7,444-yard, par 72, designed by Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry, which is camouflaged as a living laboratory, a golf course superintendent's heaven and testing site, studying every facet of a superintendent's job.

But, as a golfer, you have to pay attention - from the incredibly fun downhill par-3 beauties at No. 5, a 210-yarder, and No. 17, a 196-yarder, each hole changes grasses, and markers and the yardage book will tell you what grass you are playing on.

Here's the list:  Tifway 419, Zorro Zoysia, Cavalier Empire Zoysia, Meyer Zoysia, Diamond Zoysia, Sea Isle Paspalum, Thermal Blue Bluegrass, Celebration Bermuda, Tifsport Bentgrass, and A1+A4 Bentgrass.

Innovation - that's this singular experience - don't miss it and don't skip an overnight stay in its cottages, cabins or Parker Lodge.

Here's a capsule look at more of Alabama's finest golf experiences:

This 225-acre tract is rolling, beautiful, features snaking doglegs and stream crossings. The par-3, 148-yard seventh, is a favorite. It requires a precise dart to an elevated green over water, with rocks and a wooded hillside as the background. Conditions are superb along with the Crenshaw bent grass greens. Golf Digest rates it 4.5 stars.

Envisioned in the late 1980's, Dr. David Bronner, CEO of the Retirement Systems of Alabama, saw The Trail as a way to diversify the assets of the state's pension fund and to give the economy and tourism a needed boost. Boy, did he ever hit the nail squarely on the head.

Here are a few highlights:

Grand National was ranked as the top public golf course in the 2009 Golf World Readers' Choice awards. The Lakes' 230-yard island green 15th hole may be the single deadliest and prettiest hole on the Trail.

The Short Course is listed by Golf Digest's Places to Play as one of the nation's Great Value courses in the public category. Watch as a train passes in the distance then just try to survive on the Valley's 18th, a 441-yard par-4 nicknamed "The Assassin" - it rises to a dramatic finish at the signature clubhouse just above the green.

Schoolmaster (named for President Woodrow Wilson who was responsible for getting Wilson Dam built) is 7,971 yards at par 72 and ends on a high bluff overlooking the river.

The River Course (7,667 yards, par 72) is laid out on former soybean fields in the flood plain of the Flint River. There's only one bunker and very little dirt was moved. Locals say the sprawling black oak behind the 18th green is the third oldest in the state at 250 years.

It is representative of an old parkland layout as 10 holes play along the banks of two lakes connected by an old mill replica waterfall that drops 80 feet between the 9th and 18th greens.  The 7,438-yard, par-72 course has a backdrop of the 259-room Renaissance Ross Bridge Golf Resort & Spa. Two par-3 beauties dare you to go for the pin over water, on the 175-yard 4th, and the 223-yard 14th.

Greens fees on The Trail range from $45 to $136, not including cart. So there's lots of value to go along with the memorable golf and southern hospitality.

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Where to Play