Thought these were pretty cool pictures of the course:

Truely an amazing place. The berm on the perimeter of the course is so effective (and unique), that the only "undue" influence of an outside agency, is being able to see the hospital building, shown here near the top of 1st picture.

Another appealing aspect is the lack of any pretense.

I think regular golfers on this course would tell you that the preferred lines change daily, depending on the wind, which can be quite strong. I know when we played it, I thought it was really windy, but the Texans in my group said it was fairly normal. One had played it the day before and the wind was blowing 180 degrees opposite of the day we played.

All in all, one of my favorite courses I've played, and one I'd likely never tire of playing, given the undulating fairways and greens.

I never hit the middle of the fairway when I am aiming at it, except for the time when I aimed at the bunker near the bottom of the second picture and bounced it right in.

Rawls is all about wind and the firmness of the ground, both factors that the locals aren't too excited about.  The 600+ yard 17th can be had with a driver-middle iron with a 30 mile wind, and take three solid metal wood shots into the same wind.

It will be interesting to see how the course matures.  If the evergreens shown in the pictures thrive, I wonder if the course won't be the lesser for it.  I am also curious regarding how it is received locally and in the state.  To date, I understand that the reaction has not been uniform.  

It's always kind of sad to me to hear when people don't appreciate what they have. But, from the sounds of it, the course is receiving a lot of play, so I guess everything's copacetic.

Someday I'm going to buy 150 acres in flat Ohio, kidnap one of Tom's guys ala Misery, and build my own Rawls Course.

Mike, I know what you mean by your reaction - Adam and I had similar reactions when we stopped by for a peek the night before we teed it up.

Didn't Doak start from scratch -- ground zero to speak -- and create every roll, every mound, every contour on the course?

If so, I nominate Rawls for The Next Fifty.  Both for the course itself, and how it got there.  Should use before and after pictures.  Tom might even be induced to give a few thoughts on the process he went through to create this course on such a blank canvass.    

Jim, Yes, the site was literally, a flat cotton field.

As it turns out, I've been around. Lubbock Texas isn't what anyone would write home about, raving on the topography, aesthetic architecture, or anything that cllosely resembles spirtuality in nature. However, just outside of Lubbock is whats known as a caprock region. The course fits into this "look" more than it's natural setting in central Lubbock.

Mark, For me,The separation aspect, of the berm, is key to giving the feeling of entering another kingdom. Similar to walking across the road after teeing off the first at Cypress point. Yet different.

Lou Duran, I wonder who your local sources are?
Most west Texans I know, and have golfed plenty with, all know and are very good at the ground game. Given the propensity for natures wind to blow as they grow in intensity sliding down the leeward slope of the continental divide.

"The answer was rather blatant".  Mike Nuzzo.

Mike,

Can you please elaborate?

Adam,

My sources are confidential, covered under some confidentiality convention, I am sure.

While in Lubbock, I conducted my own "man in the street" surveys, possibly talking with in excess of 20 people.  I have also spoken to a few raters for the Dallas Morning News and a number of alumni who play golf regularly.   Not without some import, is the feedback passed on to me by someone who was intimiately involved in the development of the course.

My comments were not meant to slight the course.  I believe that it is among the best in Texas, and certainly the standard in that part of the state.  I am curious to see where it will place in the Morning News list this comig spring.  Hopefully it will be in the top 20.

Matt,

You picked-up on the balance issue.  However, going downwind sometimes makes a hole that more difficult.  The two long par 4s shown above do play much shorter, but stopping the ball on the green anywhere the hole even with a short iron is next to impossible.  Also, #17 plays vary hard, and the water on 18 comes in play from the tee.

I was fortunate to play with a 20-30+ mph south wind one day, and an equal wind coming from the north the next.  It was much colder with a north wind, perhaps adding to the difficulty, but I had a much easier time into the prevailing southwest wind.  The balance issue didn't jump out at me; it was just a totally different course.

BTW, I think that Lubbock gets quite a bit of wind from the north from now through the early spring.  As they say, not much to block those northerners but for a bit of barb-wire fence.

The pine trees should get fairly large over the years to come, but I don't think they will come into play too much.  Just look at the bottom photo of 13 & 14 ... The pines on the right might get in the way if you hit it 60 yards to the right of the middle bunker on 13, but I don't think that is an excessive penalty.  And on 14, they'll only get into play if you hit it in the right rough, missing 75 yards of fairway.

Matt:  Was the course too easy the day you played?

Tom D:

Frankly, the answer is yes. I would say no less than two  / three shots easier than what a SW wind can do.

The premise of the design is to feature the dominant southwest wind which is the norm when playing the course. I played the course from the tips and the northeast wind direction is clearly not calculated in a prominent way to provide design balance.

Give you an example -- my tee shot on the par-4 8th actually crossed the road that cuts-in front of the green about 100 yards out. Ditto the 9th hole -- which nonetheless is a superb green because it is so small -- was a simply 9-iron approach home. Flip the wind around and the holes encountered would be much more demanding. Of course -- the opening holes at #1 and #2 were in my face -- turn the wind around and it's likely a lower score is possible.

Of the holes that played tough into the northeast wind -- were the 10th (a full five-iron) and the 11th -- a superb par-4 in either wind direction. The other two long par-4's played much shorter (#13 & #14). And although the 15th did have some bite into the wind it wasn't that demanding overall. With a helping wind the par-3 16th also becomes a good bit easier.

I reached #17 into the wind with a solid drive and two-iron and followed that with a drive & 7-iron into the 18th with the wind helping.

Tom -- I'd like to play the course again to see the effects of a SW wind. But there's little doubt the long holes, as they are situated now -- including the par-3 16th -- are routed so that you would face a souwthwesterly breeze.

I still like the course immensely and believe there are a number of underrated holes -- like the par-4 7th which I previously mentioned. For you and your crew to take a site that was completely and utterly flat and nondescript and get the finished product one sees now is indeed a well done effort.

I drove up to Lubbock from Dallas a year and a half ago to play the Rawls Course.  I played 36 holes over a Sat. and Sun., and found it fun, handsome, and thought they created some instant character and complicated strategies.

The green complexes dictated play from the tee.  It was fairly still ( 10 - 20 mph) so I didn't get to play it with full blast.  

The par three third hole was my favorite, but was one of many memorable holes.

I've recommended making the trip to others and hope to make it back sometime soon.

That's funny Pete, My friend Jimmy, here, asked me that exact question yesterday, when I showed him this thread.
I took a total guess (just from that great aerial photo above). My guess was that the total of the square, visible in the pic, was somewhere near 200 acres. Then I guessed the course to be on somewhere between 120-150 acres. I suspect I'm over.

I will interested to see how far off I am. For a city boy.

More pictures? I don't remember who sent me these but it was from someone on here.