Played The Rawls Course this morning. This is the home course to Texas Tech in Lubbock. Course was designed by Tom Doak, who designed both Pacific Dunes and Old Macdonald. The Rawls is also a true lin... Continue »

Played The Rawls Course this morning. This is the home course to Texas Tech in Lubbock. Course was designed by Tom Doak, who designed both Pacific Dunes and Old Macdonald. The Rawls is also a true links style design. The landscape around the course is flat, so they moved a lot of earth to build this course. Tons of mounding and gnarly bunkers. Big, undulating greens. Definitely a challenging course, but not as much as those other two in Bandon.

The course is built to play in heavy winds. It was windy, gloomy and cold this morning, so that made it tough. The main challenges of this course are the greens (undulation and speed), the firm fairways that run A LOT and the bunkers. There are a ton of bunkers and they are all brutal. If you hit into a bunker, you usually won't have much choice but to take your medicine and just do what is needed to get back into the fairway. First cut of rough is thin and ball will run right through it most of the time. Then there are tall native grasses surrounding that you don't want to be in. This time of year, the long grasses weren't too thick or deep yet, so I was fortunate. Regarding the fairways, expect a ton of extra roll. If you don't think you can reach a fairway bunker, think again. My drives normally top out around 240 yards. I hit one out here that went 330! And it was a relatively flat fairway with no major slopes to ride.

It was a fun course, even though I played like garbage and kept finding the nastiest bunkers. I would love to play it in ideal conditions. Not too scenic out there right now, but the staff told me that around early summer the native grasses really come in and frame the course for a cooler look (like you'll see on their website). That said, the course was in solid condition from tee to green. Greens were quick, but receptive on approaches. Most times you need to decide if you are trying to come in high or run one up lower (depending on wind) as is typical on true links courses.

Excellent staff and everyone was really nice and helpful. Great deal, as well. I thought it was going to be $50-60, but they said there was a "special" today and it was only $36 with a cart. Also, they gave me a nice bag tag after the round just for filling out a quick Troon survey (it's a Troon managed course). They are in the process of constructing a new big clubhouse, so that should help with the quality perception as well.

The Rawls Course Review
Lubbock Texas Golf Course Reviews