Li'l Rock Review

Texas Outside Rating: 9.0

Golf - Public Course · 9 Holes · Par 27
Hobbs, NM
Website

Li'l Rock Review

Review & Rating of Li'l Rock Golf Course in Hobbs, NM

Li'l Rock is Rockwind Community Links nine hole par three course that was designed by Andy Staples to compliment the practice area (driving range and putting greens) with a focus on helping improve a golfer's short game. It's a walking only course and perfect for families, beginning golfers, young kids, and anyone who needs to practice their short game.

The nine holes of Li'l Rock range from 65 yards to 187 but what makes this course fun and unique is that there are no designated tee boxes - golfers can tee off anywhere they want to, including in a fairway bunker. During a round, you'll find 8 bunkers, tight fairways, doglegs, a risk-reward shot, an elevated tee box, perfect greens, and a dense first cut bordered by thick nasty native areas that will devour your golf ball.

The Li'l Rock greens range in size from small to about average and most have some contour and slope that requires some careful study. They are slightly elevated which makes bump and run a little more challenging. When we played the greens were perfect - fast at about 10 or so, rolled true and smooth, and held the ball well.

The fairways were also near perfect and very well maintained. Some are very tight and all have a dense, but playable, first cut. Miss the first cut and you're in a natural area and most likely lost. If you do find your ball, it's going to be a challenging shot and you're probably better off taking a penalty.

The Li'l Rock bunkers are meant to be hazards and difficult to hit from. The sand is thin and gritty. Some TLC could be used to make the bunkers a little more aesthetically pleasing.

Bottom line - a fantastic nine holes that are fun to play and perfect to practice your short game and putting. Golfers of all skill levels should enjoy this nine. Make sure you play Rockwind Community Links - read our review of Rockwind Community Links to learn why this is a must play course.

Course Slope & Ratings

Tee Box	Yardage	Rating	Slope
Black	998

Course Information

Course Architect:: Andy Staples
Greens Type:: Kentucky Blue Grass
Greens Condition: 10.0
Greens Difficulty: 8.2
Fairway Condition: 9.0
Bunker Condition: 7.0
GPS:: Yes
Walkable:: Easy
Scorecard
Beware of water on 0 holes and the 8 sand traps.

Texas Outside Rating

Overall Rating:: 9.0 out of 10
Beauty:: 8.5
Difficulty:: 8.0
Variety:: 8.8
Fun to Play:: 10.0
Value:: 10.0
Condition:: 9.2
Front Nine Rating:: 9.0
Back Nine Rating:

FEES & AMENITIES

Approximate Weekend
Rates: $6.00 to $9.00

Service is excellent - friendly, helpful, and committed to making Rockwind Community Links a fun course for everyone. The pro shop is well stocked and the practice facilities are excellent. The bar and grill offers breakfast, lunch, and dinner and everything we ate was excellent!

Here's How Texas Outside Determines the Scorecard Rating

The Texas Outside rating scale ranges from 1 to 10 – a perfect 10 course would be something like this: links along a cliff overlooking the Pacific ocean and bordered by tall trees; lush fairways on rolling hills with lots of natural hazards; water (which is crystal clear) on most of the holes; immaculate greens (but they are undulating and tough); lots of variety and character (each hole is completely different and includes blind shots, elevation changes, doglegs, and significant challenges); perfectly manicured traps with the whitest and prettiest sand you’ve ever seen; a nice club house with great food and a 19th hole; a GPS; plenty of beverage carts or your own cooler and ice; and it only costs $40 bucks! What this means is that you probably won’t find any 10s in Texas – try Cabo San Lucas, Pebble Beach, or some of the Hawaii courses!
Texas Outside rates courses on the following:

Beauty – tall trees, rolling hills, beautiful houses, waterfalls, and similar stuff would score high; a 1 would be flat, bushes or cactus instead of trees, and some grass but mostly weeds
Difficulty – a straight, 300 yard par 4 with no traps or hazards, no out of bounds or water would probably get a 1; if it is a 460 yard par 4 over two ravines, with water along one side, natural hazards on the other, strategically placed traps or that dreaded tree right in the middle of the fairway, we are talking a 10.
Variety – what would you give a course where all the holes looked and played exactly the same (“I thought we just played that hole!”); were side-by-side, which is good for finding or dodging other people’s balls, but not much fun; and you can see the flag from every tee box? That’s right, it gets a 1.
Fun Scale – a 10 is where you walk off the course and say “now that was fun” and you can’t wait to get back, or you immediately turn around and play another 18 holes
Value – a 5 is $50 to $60, a 10 is $20 to $30, and 1 is $200 or so – of course all of this is dependent upon how you liked the course. For example, if a run down, boring municipal course, with six players on each hole was only $10; it would still get a value rating of 1.
Condition – this one’s pretty easy – what condition are the fairways. A 10 commands very lush perfectly manicured fairways, compared to a 1, which has fire ants, weeds, and more dirt than grass!
Condition of Greens and Difficulty – very hard to read greens with lots of undulation and tough pin placement, rate very high on the difficulty scale. Condition is self-explanatory.

All of the above determines the overall score for the golf course. In other words, we like courses that are pretty, fun, very challenging with a lot of variety, and fairways and greens in excellent condition – all for $40. We also tend to play the courses that are affordable for the masses, which means in the $30 to $80 range. We rate hard and we haven’t found a 10 in Texas yet – don’t worry we haven’t given up and we’re still looking.