Alabama's topography provides a variety of golf course settings. On the northern boundary is the Cumberland Plateau of level highlands on either side of the Tennessee River bordered by steep mountains, valleys, and flat mountain tops. The Appalachian Valley to the south is a limestone belt extending along parallel rock ridges followed immediately south by the Piedmont Plateau, a gently, undulating lowland which eventually extends to the Coastal Plain and the Gulf of Mexico.

Alabama is known for its Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail which includes eleven courses across the state. All of these are quality layouts in unique environments, but you'd be missing a number of equally impressive golf courses if you didn't explore Alabama's other, top ranked, public golf courses in Birmingham, Montgomery, Mobile, and Gulf Shores in this guide to the best public golf courses in Alabama.