Sylacauga, Ala. — David Pursell is an artist of some repute, so perhaps it’s not surprising that he has a gift for envisioning the final product when it’s nothing more than a blank canvas. That could include his pencil drawing of Bobby Jones that hangs in Butler Cabin or his vision for Pursell Farms, the Alabama resort that bears his family’s name.
Ten years ago, during a round at FarmLinks, the course that gave birth to the resort, Pursell laid out his grand, if unlikely, vision for the property located 45 miles southeast of Birmingham. Along the 18th fairway, he pointed to the spot where he planned to build an inviting Southern inn with an upscale restaurant and comfortable pub. He talked about bringing new activities, such as a sporting-clay range and fly-fishing, to the 3,200-acre property.
What Pursell foresaw was an amenity-rich destination to rival Tennessee’s Blackberry Farm and Georgia’s Barnsley Resort, two of the country’s most-decorated boutique destinations. He pictured his remote yet easily reachable resort in Sylacauga attracting business and leisure travelers and wedding parties from nearby cities such as Birmingham, Montgomery and Atlanta.
What might have seemed fanciful a decade ago, on the back end of a global financial crash and recession, now seems remarkably prescient. The elegant 40-room Inn at Pursell Farms sits exactly where Pursell said it would and is complemented by cabins and cottages that are tailored for families and golf groups. After weathering the pandemic, which hammered the hospitality industry, Pursell Farms has emerged stronger than ever.
“We have 81 rooms and 132 beds, and we are turning people away left and right,” Pursell said.
That enthusiasm from guests is reflected on TripAdvisor.com, where more than 200 reviewers have given the resort a cumulative, perfect 5.0 rating. New general manager Douglas Hustad, a hotelier with a long track record at luxury properties, said average stays are creeping up on 2.5 nights as guests take advantage of the onsite activities.
“Once they’re here, they stay,” Hustad said. “They don’t want to go anywhere else. There’s a lot for them to do here.”
That’s an understatement. The Orvis Clubhouse is a destination unto itself, offering sporting clays, wingshooting and fly-fishing, along with all of the equipment and apparel a sportsman might desire. Sightseers will enjoy the ride up to the top of Sulphur Mountain on UTVs. There’s also archery, even axe throwing, a recent addition to the list of amenities.
The activities seem endless: tennis and pickleball, biking, a fitness center, pool, spa and more.
“We are a much more affordable Blackberry Farm experience, but with more things to do,” Pursell said.
Pursell, the fourth-generation CEO of the family business, has never been shy about shaking things up. FarmLinks was conceived as a demonstration course, planted with a variety of turfgrasses to show the effectiveness of Pursell Technologies’ Polyon fertilizer. Pursell estimates that his staff welcomed some 10,000 golf superintendents to Sylacauga during the late 1990s and early 2000s. They hosted their customers at Parker Lodge, a rustic eight-room, 14,000- square-foot home overlooking the 17th green, schooled them on Polyon and forged lasting business relationships.
Or, as Pursell put it, “We were able to weaponize Southern hospitality.”
Pursell Farms is still doing that, just on a much larger scale. After the Pursell family sold off the century-old fertilizer business in 2006, Pursell began plotting how to make his popular golf course the centerpiece of the Southeast’s next great destination.
FarmLinks, a Dana Fry-Michael Hurdzan design, opened in 2003 with the utilitarian goal of selling fertilizer but quickly drew a following. For the past decade, it has been No. 1 among Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play in Alabama, outpacing the state-funded courses on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail. Pursell Farms isn’t resting on those laurels; this spring architect Tripp Davis completed a total bunker renovation.
Golf still is a big draw, which is reflected in the fact that the Copperhead Package is the most popular stay-and-play option. Golf groups get two nights in a cabin or cottage, E-Z-Go carts parked at the door, two rounds of golf and unlimited practice time. The demand has increased the likelihood that more golf will be built on the property.
While Pursell Farms is known first and foremost for golf, Pursell said the resort’s wedding business is “as big, or perhaps bigger, than our golf business.” The resort has two wedding venues: historic Hamilton Place, which dates to 1852 and can seat 250 guests; and The Barn, whose unpretentious name belies its elegant charm.
“That farmhouse kind of wedding is really an attractive wedding,” Hustad said. “They love the look and feel and essence of the Farm, and what they love even more is the people and the service they receive.”
To accommodate its growth, the resort last year partnered with Escalante Golf, which manages the entire property and brings a new level of technological sophistication to operations.
“We’ve never had that real-time data,” Pursell said. “Now we’re able to seize opportunities and make decisions in a matter of hours. That’s given us confidence to plan some future moves sooner rather than later.”
As that remark suggests, Pursell’s vision for Pursell Farms has yet to be fully realized. In the coming years, new and returning guests will find even more reasons to visit Sylacauga.
