The Rawls Course at Texas Tech Review

The Rawls Course at Texas Tech Review

Reveiw and Rating of The Rawls Course in Lubbock Texas

In 2003 Texas alum Jerry Rawls donated $8 to have Tom Doak create a golf course that would be an amenity to Texas Tech University.  opened 2003 exas Tech alum Jerry Rawls donated $8 million to create a golf course that would be an amenity to the university.   attracting visiting alumni and faculty to interact with students in a low-key setting.  The dead-flat site required significant earthworks – more than our previous ten projects put together - in order to breathe life into the fairways and greens while hiding some of the surrounding development from view.

Dock must have moved hundreds of thousands of cubic feet of sand and dirt from a very flat desert to sculpt the tall berm around the perimeter of the entire golf course hiding it from the road and to create to rolling and heavily contoured fairways, berms and valleys, and the raised green complexes.   He truly created a unique and fantastic desert links style course that is well deserving of all of the awards and accolades, some of which include:

• Number 49 in the Dallas Morning News List of the Best Courses in Texas
• Golfweek's #2 Best Course That You Can Play in Texas and #2 University Golf Course in America for 2013
• Golf Digest's #2 New Affordable Public Golf Course in the US
• #1 in Texas by GolfAdvisor.com
• Texas Outside’s List of the Best Public Courses in Texas

The Rawls Course has 4 sets of tee boxes with yardages ranging from 5493 to 7349 and a rating of 116 to 139 – the strong winds can make the course play much tougher and so.  Which means it’s key to pick the right set of tee boxes and not bite off more than you can chew.  The front nine is shorter and a little easier and the back is home to some outstanding holes.

Some of the reasons why we love this course and why it’s one of the best in Texas include:

• The course is very well maintained and manicured – you won’t find a blade of grass out of place
• It’s long and challenging but very fair with wide fairways and bail out areas
• The green complexes are outstanding – soft heavily contoured huge greens that hold the ball well, run true, are well guarded, and put a premium on your approach shot
• Each hole is a little different from the previous hole and most will throw something at you to test your course management skills
• The conditions from the tee box to the cup are near perfect
• The staff, cart lady, and even the maintenance crew are friendly and outgoin
• The pace of play is excellent – every hole had someone on it but we were done in a little over three and a half hours
• The facilities are first class and well done
• The rates are reasonable for such a quality course

And there are lots of holes that are both challenging and fun, some of which we really liked include:

• #2 is a 521 yard par 5 with a blind tee shot uphill and around a cluster of three big bunkers to a wide fairway that turns right past two huge nasty bunkers plus berms along the right side and a natural area along the left leading to a 36 yard deep green with 2 left side bunkers and a ridge cutting across the green
• #8 is a 479 yard par 4 with huge wide open fairway with a bunker on the right side but the green is set off to the left side and perched on a small hill with 3 huge bunkers guarding the left front of the green – a very tough approach shot
• #12 is fun – a 416 yard par 4 with a slightly elevated tee box and a forced carry over a natural area from the tips to a very wide landing zone then left through a fairway pinched by tall mounds with bunkers to the green – depending on your drive you may have to try and fly the mound with two bunkers on the edge of the desert to get to the green in two
• #18 is an outstanding 356 yard par 4 that you need to play twice to determine the strategy off the tee box as well as on the second shot – depending on your drive, long well placed driver  may put you in a position to go for the green but it’s all carry over the lake or you may take a shorter but safer shot with an easy carry over the lake to a large fairway – either way the approach shot need to be deadly accurate to avoid the lake on the right side of the green, a large left and right front bunker, plus two huge bunkers on the left side of the green and a natural area off the back of the green

The fairways at The Rawls Course are huge off the tee box and generally speaking wide all the way to the green, but you’ve got to content with strong winds, tall berms, and natural areas that will make it hard to find your golf ball if you miss the fairway and rough.  The fairways are heavily contoured and some are like a miniature roller coaster ride.  You’ll encounter some slight uphill as well as downhill shots and lots of berms and nasty bunkers.  When we played the rough was manageable but in some spots very thick and difficult.  The rough and fairways were both in near perfect condition – the fairways felt like lush carpet with a very thick soft pad under it, a joy to hit from. 

The greens range from small 25 yard to 48 yards deep (they average 8000 square feet) – some seem so large they could have their own zip code and if you’re at the other end from the pin you are most likely in for a roller coaster double breaking putt!  The greens are a variety of shapes, a few are raised, most are well guarded putting a premium on your approach shot, and all have some combination of slope, run off, ridges, contour, or tiers.  But they soft and hold the ball well, run true if you can read the breaks, and roll at a good speed of 9 to 10.

The bunkers at The Rawls Course are something else and you need to deploy some course management to do what it takes to avoid them.  Most are huge and multi-fingered and very steep and deep.  The sand is very soft and thick and a joy to hit from – as long as you can clear the steep face.  They are very well maintained.  Most have some very dense and thick grass around them that may stop you from going in but it still makes for a tough shot. 

Just because you have to content with heavily contoured fairways, nasty bunkers, wind, challenging green complexes, don’t let that stop you from playing The Rawls Course at Texas Tech – the conditions are excellent, the service and facilities are great, and the course is fair and a blast to play. 

49 in the Dallas Morning News Best Courses in Texas

levation - 3,200 feet above sea level
Grade - Elevation change up to 30 feet
Berms - Surrounding entire course, 10 and 15 feet above playing surface
Greens - Dominance plus bent grass
Rough - grasses, jackpot, blue gramma, bahia
Water Hazards - one central 4.5 acre, man-made lake
Fairways - 115 to 125 acres of fairway