You know Alabama for Crimson Tide football (Roll tide!) and the famous Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail. But y'all gotta check out 'Bama's other golf destination, a series of excellent and affordable—and forgiving—coastal courses in the not-so-famous-and-kinda-glad-of-it Gulf Shores Golf Association (GSGA).

Coastal courses? Check the map. Sure enough, Alabama has 35 miles of sugar-sand beach coastline east of Mobile that somehow escaped the long arm of Florida's Panhandle. Alabama's Gulf Shore is low-keyed, lovely and yet lively—and GSGA's courses reflect that. Plus, they're contained (no driving all over the state for golf) and "clued in," getting it that golfers don't enjoy being clobbered by a course, no matter how beautiful.

Peninsula Golf & Racket Club's course (see photo) gives you beauty (pause at the water-and-fern-bordered Marsh hole No. 7) and every opportunity to score low. And when the morning gets toasty, flag a refreshment cart and an angel brings you ice for your drinks and iced towels for your soul.

That Southern service continues on the links-style Glen Lakes Golf Club. Following a tropical storm, bugs can start biting on the Vista/Dunes course. That's when a marshal drives up with bug spray. These guys are good!

Hot GSGA deals.