Our Secret Slice of Heaven Not So Secret Anymore

By Matt Sheppard, Director of Golf

The days of Lake Martin being Birmingham and Montgomery’s best-kept secret have passed by our very eyes. In September of 2023, a Wall Street Journal article caught the eyes of many who had never heard of our treasured lake. The shoreline of Lake Martin has a great reputation for its aesthetics. While the natural shoreline is arguably the most beautiful, the sights of a well-maintained golf course tend to garner attention as well.

Calling Lake Martin home is a privilege for anyone, even if it is just for the summer season. For those who have been fortunate to call it home, it has been somewhat of a secret. One day, while approaching Willow Point Golf & Country Club by water, a friend said to me, “you guys have your own slice of heaven here,” referring to the combined beauty of the lake and the Willow Point course. That comment was made over a decade ago, and I still think of it to this day.

Since late summer of 2019, the landscape of golf on Lake Martin has rapidly changed, starting when Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw walked the shores of the lake for the first time. The few that were privy to the beginning stages of development of Wicker Point Golf Club will tell you, just as Mr. Crenshaw did during the project, “We just had a good feeling.”

Last fall, Wicker Point Golf Club celebrated its inaugural anniversary and is poised for an unforgettable sophomore year. Last month, GOLF Magazine released their annual Best in State Rankings (of golf courses). These rankings are judged by a panel of trained raters who visit courses in each state. For nearly the past five decades, there have been only two courses at the top of the list in the state of Alabama—Shoal Creek and The Country Club of Birmingham’s West Course. The storied histories of both of those Clubs are very impressive and well-known worldwide. We are proud and honored to share that GOLF Magazine named Wicker Point Golf Club as the Best in State for Alabama in 2025!

Without a doubt, the duo of Coore & Crenshaw and the masterpiece they created allowed us to be considered for such an honor. However, without the proper leadership in place at Wicker Point, we wouldn’t have come close to achieving the state’s top nod. James Morgan, our Director of Agronomy, and his Superintendent, Tony Springmann, have done an excellent job with leading their team, the building of the course, and the grow-in. But it is their continuous-improvement maintenance approach that has allowed the course conditions to shine throughout our first year.

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A great coach once said, “Competition Breeds Success,” and that holds true quite often. The level of detail and precision that produced such a beautiful product at Wicker Point made its way across Highway 63 in 2024. After the grand opening of Wicker Point in the fall 2023, James Morgan was promoted to Director of Agronomy for Russell Lands.

Willow Point Golf & Country Club has been a landmark on Lake Martin since 1964 and, in the golf world, was formerly somewhat of hidden gem. It wasn’t until Tom Lamberth and Russell Lands made the decision to invest in the local lakeside country club to help attract new families to the lake that Willow Point became a household name among the affluent and avid golfers all over the Southeast.

In 2002, Willow Point, in many ways, experienced a transformation. Dr. Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry of Hurdzan/Fry Golf were hired to help Willow Point prepare for the future. During this project, which had the course closed for a year, the golf course was redesigned, the vistas of the lake were enhanced, and all the most modern strands of turf were planted. This turning point is really what led us to where we are today with golf being the centerpiece of two of our developments.

Fast forward nearly twenty years, and Willow Point is thriving, but getting tired to some, especially when there was a new game in town. A mutated strain of turf had seriously impacted the greens, so a plan was put into place to evaluate the property—after all, it was twenty-plus years old. Russell Lands Director of Agronomy, James Morgan, contacted Dana Fry of Fry/Straka Golf (formerly Hurdzan/Fry) to come take a peek. Dana and his new partner, Jason Straka, made their way back to the lake in the winter of 2024. This one-day visit very well may be the day that sparked the second transformation Willow Point has seen since 2000.

Landing a Superintendent at Willow Point armed with an arsenal of relevant experience that could tackle this scale of a project was going to be a challenge, but one that excited our new Director of Agronomy. After an extensive search that relied heavily on a wide network of turf experts, Wesley Deans was hired as the Superintendent of Willow Point Golf & Country Club. Wesley hails from the Carolinas as he is a NC State graduate and most recently was the First Assistant at Old Chatham in the Raleigh area. In a very short period, the impact that Morgan and Deans were having on Willow Point became very apparent. The precision and detail that was seen on the east side of Highway 63 had made its way west. While it was apparent to those who played the course, it caught the attention of national media as well. Willow Point was recently ranked #78 in the Top 200 Residential Courses in the U.S. by Golfweek. This marks the first time in its 60-year history that Willow Point has garnered a spot in one of the major golf publications’ rankings.

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Now that the team is in place, it is transformation time! Just this week, the Agronomy Team at Willow Point began the demolition of the course. In 2002, Willow Point was, in golf terms, completely redesigned, although some of the holes mirrored the original layout. The current project is true transformation even though the layout will be virtually unchanged. Dana Fry and Jason Straka developed a plan to open up even more vistas on the lakeside holes, provide more options for play around the greens, improve bunker placement and aesthetics, elevate turf quality and ultimately provide the members with a product that is second to none.

As we approach the lake season, make it a point to cruise by Willow Point in your boat to check out the progress. We have a good feeling about this one too.