On the heels of working on the beautiful site for Pacific Dunes, The Rawls Course was a good reset to reality for my crew, as we had to shape every square inch of a site with 0.1% of tilt from one corner to the other. Our client Jerry Rawls donated $8 million to the university to build it, in the firm belief that a golf course was the perfect opportunity for students and faculty to interact, and a magnet for alumni to return.
Making the course challenging for the NCAA golf teams while keeping it playable and fun for the university community was a challenge, but the wind was our ally. Lubbock is the start of Tornado Alley, where playing into the wind requires two or five clubs more for the yardage, and downwind even the best players will struggle to get their approach shots to stay put on the greens. You’ll be blown away.
