The Alotian Club

Warren Stephens's private club west of Little Rock: a Tom Fazio course on steep, pine-covered hills near Lake Maumelle, with 100 feet of elevation change.

Little Rock investment banker Warren Stephens built the Alotian Club, which opened in 2004 and won Golf Digest's best new private course award the next year. The name comes from his 'America's Lights Out Tour' golf trips, whose regulars called themselves Alotians. Stephens reportedly bought a neighboring 300-acre farm just for its topsoil, and the club's membership rules are modeled on Augusta National's.

Tom Fazio routed the course across steep, wooded ridges near Lake Maumelle, with about 100 feet of elevation change. The first hole drops about 70 feet, and the par-3 6th crosses a rocky valley to a green well below the tee. Bentgrass greens have underground cooling and fans to survive Arkansas summers. In 2013 the club took the Western Amateur outside Illinois and Michigan for the first time in 41 years.

Holes to know

6

Par 3 · 210 yd

Carries a rock-strewn valley to a green about 60 feet below the tee, a nod to Augusta National's 6th.

1

Opens with a roughly 70-foot drop from tee to green, setting up the hilly round ahead.

Championships

• Western Amateur 2013