The Hampton Cove Golf Course, a public golf course located in Huntsville, offers some of the best golf scenery in Alabama. Golf architect Robert Trent Jones designed the 54-hole championship golf course. The Hampton Cove has three courses, including The Highlands Course, The River Course and a Short Course. All three courses have very different features. The Highlands Course emulates a Scottish Links. This course is engulfed by thousands of Japanese black pines, oaks, dogwoods and crepe myrtles. The River Course is laid out on former soybean fields in the flood plain of the Flint River. The black oak behind the 18th green is alleged to be the third oldest in the state at 250 years. The Short Course is open and links-like, with water in play on 11 holes and a large double green accommodating the 10th and 17th greens.