Teed Up
Alabama’s Lake Martin will soon be home to a new 18-hole Coore & Crenshaw golf course and luxury residential development The Heritage. Russell Lands, which owns, manages and develops real estate in the area, has allocated 1,500 acres on 12 miles of shoreline to the project. “It’s some of the most primo lakefront property on Lake Martin,” says Russell Lands Vice President Roger Holliday. The move comes, in part, since the company’s existing Willow Point Golf & Country Club, one of the nation’s premier lakeside golf courses, is near capacity. “It screams the need for more golf [on the lake],” explains Holliday. Groundbreaking for the course, designed by famed architect Bill Coore and golf legend Ben Crenshaw, is underway. The project marks the duo’s first course in the state. “Bill said to me, ‘Our plan is to make this golf course look like it’s been here for 100 years.’ They’re not fighting the land, they’re working with it,” says Holliday, adding that the philosophy echoes Russell Lands’ commitment to preservation and honoring the natural landscape. The course is projected to be complete in 2023, and lots in The Heritage neighborhood are planned for market availability in 2022.