The Rawls Course ...

[Tom_Doak]

... is the official name for what I've previous called the Red Raider Golf Course at Texas Tech.  It's been named for the donor, Jerry Rawls, no relation to Betsy.

I had the honor of playing the inaugural round on Friday with Jim Urbina, superintendent Eric Johnson (not the same EJ who occasionally posts here), head pro Leon van Rensburg, and men's golf coach Greg Sands.  It was a weird day with almost no wind at all ... the only calm day I've ever seen in Lubbock ... and with 2 inches of rain the day before the greens were soft and forgiving, so it wasn't the kind of master's test on using the wind which it is designed to be.  

None of that takes away from Greg's five-birdie round of 68, which was a thing of beauty to watch, and a score which will probably stand up for a while after the course officially opens in September.

The course is still pretty rough around the edges and needs the rest of the summer to grow in.  It's still not exactly photogenic, but I will try to post a few pictures here once I get back home.

What did I think of it?  I wish the wind had blown more so I could have a better feel for it.  The fairways are huge and the greens are a bit more tame than what we have built on other courses lately ... but you have to respect the fairway bunkers, and you have to hit good approach shots throughout.  There are several good birdie opportunities, and a few holes where you're thrilled to walk away with par.  I think it will be playable for the university community, and I think it will make a good tournament venue someday, although it certainly won't produce the kind of scores they did at Karsten Creek last month, or at Prairie Dunes where the Big 12 often wraps up the year.  (It isn't even as hard as Colbert Hills, because there aren't many forced carries, and we didn't want to use grasses in the outlying areas which would cause lost balls for the masses.)

We did not manage to transform a cotton field into something as exciting as Pacific Dunes or Cape Kidnappers, or Shadow Creek either ... but the course is a tribute to the creativity and talent of Jim Urbina and Brian and Eric and the rest of my crew, because I will vouch for the fact that few of the coolest things they did were actually on my original grading plan.  (That's what devoting 300 days of shaping to a project does for you.)  

I have learned some valuable lessons if we ever try to do another project like this one, and I hope our work will give other architects a few new ideas, too.  But for now I'm excited to head back to Cape Kidnappers and Barnbougle in two weeks and work with land where God has given us much more to work with, instead of trying to play God ourselves.

[Norbert P]

 Tom, congratulations to you and your crew.  It sounds like another fine accomplishment.  
  Judging by the layout, which I have printed here before me,  it looks not only very strategic, but very educational.  Was this in mind as you were designing for a university?  I had always assumed this was your venture into a "Competition Layout".  Does this infringe or change yours and Alister's doctrine of designing for all levels of players?  
 
  You say there aren't many forced carries but to position oneself for scoring, from what I see, the carries are there for the ambitous and courageous golfer.  It looks very exciting to me.

 
 
 

[Mike Nuzzo]

Tom-
Those practice facilities looks pretty nice.
Did you actually build that many bunkers around the target greens (on the range)?  I'm not too sure I understand what is to the immediate right of the large range tee...  Is it rough or fairway?
Thanks

Congratulations

Here is the link...
http://texastech.ocsn.com/trads/text-rawls-golf-course.html

There seems to be a nice contingent that are going to visit on their way to New Mexico (me included).

[Norbert P]

  Here's a site with descriptions of holes and a rendering of layout.   (may be dated material) ...

   http://texastech.ocsn.com/trads/text-rawls-golf-course.html



 

[Tom_Doak]

Slag,

I would hope that all good strategic courses are educational, in that to play them well you have to learn where you can miss and where you can't.  Such "local knowledge" is not always popular at courses where you may only play one time, but we don't expect it to be much of a problem in Lubbock ... though it's not a private club, I expect there won't be too many one-time visitors from out of town, as the play will primarily be from the university, alumni, and locals.

What I've tried to design is a course where you need to learn to play the wind, which is why it was so disappointing that it was calm yesterday.  The downwind holes are the most interesting from that standpoint; we have tried to build greens where you have to play run-up approaches to certain hole locations.  My ode to the 11th at St. Andrews and the 15th at Crystal Downs are also going to be interesting with a strong tailwind ... on the latter, you'll either have to put the ball in a very narrow slice of the fairway in order to run the second shot in, or you'll have to figure out what distance you want to leave yourself so you can stop the pitch shot over the bunker.

One thing we realized yesterday is that the course should be great at teaching the college golfers how to handle their emotions ... the starting holes are downwind and offer a lot of birdie chances, the middle of the back nine is just a grind, and then the two par fives at the end give you a chance to get some back or throw it all away.  Greg started well, got excited, and then really had to grind through the back nine to preserve his good score.  If his players can learn to handle this as well as he did yesterday, they're going to be a good golf team.

P.S.  The only bogey Greg made was on the par-4 12th, where he crushed a drive to the left side of the fairway but left himself with a blind 3/4 SW approach, which he misjudged, even though he had the yardage.  Pete Dye would have been proud of me there!

[Norbert P]

Mike, you got me by 2 seconds!  

  Slag - the 167th fastest gun in the West.

[Norbert P]

  Tom, I was wondering about what the defenses were on 12 as it is the only hole without a bunker and looks like the most generous fairway.  Blind shot from left!   Anything else there or am I going to have to play it a bunch?

  Also, judging from the picture above, the trees were planted in groves, (excepting the perimeter plantings).  I admire that feature as it hides the winds effects better and still leaves good circulation.  Does this practice give good variablity to the winds directions?  What I mean is, does it have much of an effect with eddies, venturis, updrafts, downdrafts, etc?

My brother-in-law is a TT alum, I'd better be extra nice to him.

[Tom_Doak]

Slag,

The intention of the plantings is mostly to break up a very wide-open space into a series of spaces of various sizes, so the holes don't all look alike.  It will take a lot of years before the trees I planted get big enough to have much effect on the kind of winds that are common to Lubbock.

There actually wound up being three bunkers on the 12th hole, but they are pretty much out of play, on either side of the gap you walk through on the way to the green.  They do tend to lure players to the left on their tee shot, since players assume I must be putting bunkers there to defend a preferred route of play.

The plan reproduced above is based on our grading plan, not the final shaping.  The bunkering is just the way we drew it on holes 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 15, 16, and 17, but we either added or subtracted something on the rest of the holes.

[ed_getka]

Tom,
 You mentioned you learned some things from this project that you hope to improve upon in the future. What areas of the project are you referring to?

Do you have any information to provide regarding some upcoming Colorado projects?

[Carlyle Rood]

Tom:

Who on your staff did the following rendering?  It's marvelous.  I wish I could see a larger version.

[Michael Dugger]

Carlyle
Mr. Doak has mentioned on occasion that Mr. Placek is the finest artist in the office.....I'd venture to guess the drawing is his.  

By the way, where did you find that??

[Tom_Doak]

Yes, the drawing is Don's.  He is the only one in the office who could come anywhere close to that.

They've actually used it on the scorecard, which is a bit funny because it's a "before" concept sketch, not a sketch of the finished product.  It is actually pretty much a sketch of the 5th hole at Royal Melbourne West, which we were using as our basic model for the 6th at The Rawls Course; but the bunkering has now been adapted to our "eroded" style, and the plantings are a bit different than what Don drew.

Ed, I'd be glad to elaborate on what we could have done better someday ... but not right now.  The course hasn't even had its moment in the sun yet, so I'm not going to start knocking it.  Ask me again in about six months.

I went out again this afternoon by myself and played another 18, since the light wasn't too good for additional photos.  It was a bit windy, 10-15 mph from the east, which is an unusual direction for Lubbock.  Was surprised to see that the course played only 1-2 shots harder for me, mostly because I couldn't hit it close enough to make any birdies this time; there is a lot of room out there for the average player to miss.

The New Mexico tour is the week after the big fundraiser opening with Coach Bob Knight and all his friends; I won't be able to stick around, but I will talk to the professional about getting some of you out to play that week.

[ed_getka]

Tom,
  No sweat. I'm not asking you to knock the course, I was just curious about what you learned. I'm sure you learn more with every project and I find that sort of info interesting.

Thanks for the offer to try to arrange some times for us.

[Norbert P]

  Tom,  I was just watching 60 Minutes and one of the segments was on the Title IX law, which, if I can define it with just a few words, is a law that requires publicly funded college and  high school sports programs to give equal access in sports programs to women.  Since this golf course is intended for play by TT athletes, was there any governmental or school pressure to augment the course in any way to accomodate for this law?  

 Is this law having an effect in collegiate golf elsewhere?

 

[Don_Mahaffey]

A two inch rain followed by a calm day is not going to happen very often in Lubbock. It will be much more common to play in 30 mph winds, that's for sure!
The better players in AZ always thought they could take it low at Apache and yet when ever it hosted a tourney the scores were definitly not low. I think everone gets fooled by the large fwys. The difference at the Rawls course is the fwy bunkers look to be muck closer to the line of play and very penal. I saw some that will be a one stroke penalty at the very least. The course may be big with a lot of width and a good college player may shoot a good score, but I'll bet the field average score will not be that low.

[Mike_Cirba]

Don;

You're looking MUCH better than when I saw you last!    

[Scott_Burroughs]

Mike,

You're not!  

[Eric Smith]

Bump for this aerial tour of what looks to be one heck of a college golf course at Texas Tech University.


https://vimeo.com/304734556

[Lou_Duran]

Eric,


Unfortunately, without the wind, I think that Div. I players have their way with the course.  The greens do frustrate some of the younger guys. 


Rawls is one of my favorite Doak courses.  I think that the guys have achieved great balance and variety.  Considering the rectangular, flat cotton field they started with, it is amazing how natural the heaving, rolling terrain looks- unlike anything in that area.  Based on the state rankings, I am an outlier way on the high side. 


I haven't been back for two or three years, but the last time, in mid-June, the course was very green and unusually soft.  I asked if they had quite a bit of rain, but was told that no, that there was a conscious effort to achieve more parkland-like conditions.  Several golfers I talked to during the visit seemed to be happy with the course and the direction it was going.

[Tom_Doak]

Talking about The Rawls Course “without the wind” is kinda silly.  Lubbock is the windiest place I’ve ever worked - windier than Bandon or Ballyneal or Barnbougle! So the course is designed for heavy winds.  If you catch it on a calm day, you’d better post a good score while you can.


Sorry to hear that they are making it soft.  I’m sure that will be more comfortable for the average golfer there, because all the other courses in Lubbock we saw were ridiculously overwatered.  But the golf team will become less competitive over time.

[Lou_Duran]

What can I say Tom, I am just a silly guy!  BTW, the comment about Rawls without wind was an observation made by a guy at the club who may have witnessed a rare calm day during competition.


I've never heard similar comments about Karsten Creek, the U. of TX GC, Blessings, or Scarlet.  They are brutes under most conditions, just a lot more so when the wind blows (I remember the Kepler Invitational on Scarlet one year in the '70s when it was unusually cold and windy and a number of Div. 1 players had a hard time breaking 90).
[size=78%]  [/size]

Just for the heck of it, I looked at my records for the four rounds I played at Rawls during three visits.  In 2003, afternoon round, 25-35 mph S, SW; next morning round, 20-25 mph N.  2009 afternoon round, 25-30+ mph S, SW.  2015 late morning round, 10-15 mph S, SW.  Lubbock is one windy place.

[Tom_Doak]

Lou:


I just meant that I think it would be poor design to build a really hard course (even in calm conditions) in a place like Lubbock (or Bandon or Barnbougle) where it’s very windy a lot of the time.


If players like you are having trouble breaking 90 because of the conditions, most of the rest of us should just stay in the clubhouse on a day like that.  We had to make The Rawls Course playable on even the worst days, because it is after all the start of tornado alley.

[Jim Nugent]

Unfortunately, without the wind, I think that Div. I players have their way with the course. 

If so, it's in good company: I've read that in calm conditions, good players get their way with TOC as well.   

[Mark_Fine]

Tom,
I totally agree with you about the wind and the factor it plays in the design of a golf course.  But wind is still a factor that is "out of the control" of the golf architect even more so in some cases than something like the backdrops and surrounds of the golf course.  Many argue that these factors are not part of the golf course and shouldn't impact the quality of the design (e.g. the ocean along #18 at Pebble Beach).  I tend to think they are all very much a part of the design as they have such an influence.
Mark