Issue link: https://alabamapower.uberflip.com/i/1229439
18 18 Guests might well choose to watch from the tall windows in the dining area that seats 100 or at the adjoining bar with six stools situated beneath soaring wood ceiling beams and a big brass chandelier. "That's a million-dollar view," says J.D. Campbell as he throws another log on the fire before jumping in a cart and heading down the paved paths for a quick look at the courses. The former Army sergeant and medical equipment salesman is clearly in his element despite the finger- numbing cold. He's a "mid-80s" golfer who plays three times a week in the spring at Cambrian when he isn't assisting players from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. He's on a staff that swells to 80 during peak summer days. "It's an amazing course," he says passing a lakeside tee lined with cattails. "There's no place I'd rather be. It's very peaceful." Campbell's semi-retirement work allows him to meet people from all over the world. Because Cambrian doesn't have a hotel like some of the RTJ courses and is outside Alabama's big cities, he says golfers here get the best of both worlds: short wait times and less- trampled fairways and greens. A group of men from Chicago has been flying down every year since Cambrian opened to spend a week playing every day. Campbell has urged them to explore the other 10 Jones Trail courses, to no avail. "I say, 'Y'all don't want to go anywhere else?' and they say, 'No!' Now they say they are retiring soon, moving to Alabama and going to play golf here the rest of their lives." The Chicago Cambrian-lovers are among more than 30,000 annual visitors to the Greenville golf course that contributes an estimated $8 million to the economy each year. Greenville Mayor Dexter McLendon says the course opening "changed everything" for the town over the past 28 years, as Greenville's annual tax revenues rose from about $2 million to more than $7 million. "It's really an amazing story," he says. "We had two hotels and now we've got 10. We ought to build a statue of David Bronner." Bronner is the Retirement Systems of Alabama leader who created The clubhouse has a pro shop, locker room, large dining area, fireplace, bar and patios. Cambrian Ridge's four courses are crisscrossed with lakes and streams.