Silver Lakes (Heartbreaker & Backbreaker)

Silver Lakes is one of 11 facilities within the famous Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail of Alabama, featuring four nine-hole routes. The cream of the crop, in most opinions, is the Backbreaker and Heartbreaker combinations. Jones was known for creating some punishing routes during golf course architecture’s most penal era, and the fact is advertised across the track names at Silver Lakes.

Although it does not feature some of the extreme elevation changes of other routes along the Trail, the Appalachian foothills northeast of Birmingham create plenty of awkward lies. Combine that with some of the demanding forced carries, and your handicap will be requesting a reconsider.

On the backbreaker side, both nos. 6 and 9 (a par four and five, respectively) will call for a lengthy carry over water to reach the greens. On the Heartbreaker side, the last two holes (a par three and another par five) will ask for the same.

If one has more to be broken, they can try the Mindbreaker nine next...but odds are, if they desire more of a beating after Backbreaker and Heartbreaker, their mind is already broken.