The notoriously flat and dusty West Texas terrain is not normally associated with outstanding golf courses, but golf course architectural expert Jay Flemma gives a hearty thumbs-up to the Tom Doak-designed Rawls Course at Texas Tech University in Lubbock:
He may not be a cowboy in the real or allegorical sense of the word, but the wild wind that is Tom Doakís design team blew into west Texas on top of the already legendary fierce howls that blow errant golf shots to New Mexico.
It was 2002. Doak and company had just conquered the world for the first time, fresh off the smash hit at Pacific Dunes. He was a bit of a cowboy in terms of golf course design. Unapologetic about his industry raking book The Confidential Guide to Golf Courses, Doak talked the talk, then walked the walk, proving that the success of a golf course lies not in the money or the marketing, but the golf course itself.
Doak wrote on his website, ìAfter Pacific Dunes, it was inevitable that the next site we had to work with would be a letdown, so we went back all the way to square one ñ a flat cotton field on the north end of Texas Techís Lubbock campus, bounded by major streets, power lines and apartment houses.î
Flemma concludes:
There is no way to overstate Doakís accomplishment here. The land use went from the outhouse to the penthouse.
It was a roar of dust and diesel. Now itís a shining Lone Star.
And in case you forgot, itís Doak . . . [for the eminently reasonable price of] $35-$42 a round.
By the way, check out Flemma’s idea of a tournament bracket during NCAA Basketball Tournament season.
THanks for the love, Big T Kirk.
Did you see where Houston Native Baxter Spann (who did the amazing Black Mesa), picked Alistair Mackenzie to win it all.
The winds in Lubbock usually come from the west. They don’t blow balls to New Mexico, they blow them to Oklahoma!
Wow.
Alistair Mackenzie vs Robert Trent Jones
and
Donald Ross vs Tom Fazio
matching off in the Sweet 16?
This group would be a pretty powerful Final Four.
Sounds like the Pairings Committee needs to look at their seeding process a little more carefully…..
Hey Jim Bob:
I’ll bet you a dollar to a donut Stanley Thompson beats Tom Fazio in the next round.
Remember this…Fazio, for all his press and his $$ has only designed ONE major venue…PGA Nat’l in ’87….still reputed as the worst venue in recent major championship venue history. now look who is in the bracket with Fazio. 1) (Ross…he’s not better then ross), 2) C.B. Macdonald. The father of american golf course architecture and the designer of National Golf Links of America. (Bow in homage we’re not worthy) 3) Old Tom Morris…Muirfield, part of st andrews, machrihanish…the list is long.
Just because you HEAR the most about Fazio and RTJ doesn’t make them good DESIGNERS.
As for Jones, dont even get me started. He was no Mackenzie, he was no seth raynor, and on his first try (his first try!) crump built Pine Valley. he’s ranked right where he should be…and he has lots o’ people closely nipping at his heels.
The people who should be crying are Brian Silva (second round matchup with Doak) Poor baxter spann who had a first round bout with weiskopf (I wanted to see Bax upset Dye, but that would have been a real long shot….nevertheless, go play black mesa and see for yourself.)
and Finally coorse and crenshaw vs. engh should be a regional semifinal, not round 2…oh well…just goes to show, win your conference tourney next year.