Retirement Systems of Alabama CEO David Bronner said Tuesday the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail is having its best year since it opened more than three decades ago and is on track to make $15 million or more in profit.
The numbers are important because the golf courses and hotels are components in the assets the Retirement Systems of Alabama maintains to support pension funds for about 400,000 active and retired members of the Employees’ Retirement System, the Teachers’ Retirement System, and the Judicial Retirement Fund.
The RTJ Trail sites are Cambrian Ridge in Greenville, Capitol Hill in Prattville, Grand National in Auburn/Opelika, Hampton Cove in Huntsville, Highland Oaks in Dothan, Lakewood Club in Point Clear, Magnolia Grove in Mobile, Oxmoor Valley in Birmingham,Bronner said golf as a stand-alone activity is not generally a money-maker. He said profits were even less likely at some of the trail sites in smaller towns, like in Greenville and at Silver Lakes.
Bronner said the RSA’s ownership of newspapers, a billboard company, and especially television stations have helped with the advertising essential to letting the world know about the RTJ. “We basically jumped up and down with excitement in 2019, 2020, because it took all those years to basically break even in the trail,” Bronner said.