The hardest hole in golf can be found in Lubbock

Written by Stratton Sims
Alpha Media Intern

There is no such thing as an easy hole in golf.

You can have a simple 150 yard par three that seems like nothing much, and in a split second one wrong or one gust of wind can take something so sweet and make it sour.
As for Lubbock, Texas, most golf holes around town seem to fall a bit on the easier side of the game’s spectrum, especially the municipal courses that make up the golfing environment found
in west Texas. From the wide-openness of the fairways found at Reese Golf Center to soft and slow greens at Shadow Hills Golf Course, these courses allow for all kinds of play from golfers, whether you’re
a professional or just starting out in the game of golf.

But when asked about the hardest hole found in Lubbock, there is always one that comes to the mind. One hole that every player dreads as it will take you through the ringer and make you want
to never play the game again. Finding yourself tucked in the very back part of the course on a long-straight away par four that leaves you with a second shot in, No. 8 at the Rawls Golf Course might be an arch-nemesis to all
players who step foot on the university’s course.

There is no easy way to approach this hole which feels like it should be a par five. At times, the Rawls can play so hard with the speed fairways and greens plus the gust of the winds, that this
hole sometimes requires the “Hit and Hope” approach. Although you may find yourself playing this hole with a northern or easterly wind, nine out of ten times it will be blowing from the South or just out of the West, heading right into player’s faces adding on what feels like another 200 yards to the already 479 yard par 4. If you can manage to poke one out to that fairway, there is a chance you will find yourself just over 200 yards out, maybe even more. From there, players must attempt another shot back into the wind into a green which is guarded by the most intimidating bunkers known to mankind. With a severe upslope holding four large scaled bunkers that overwatch a dried out pond, your
second shot (or your sixth shot) must carry all this mess in order to make it onto a massive green.

Once you’re on top of what feels like the highest point of the golf course and also the windiest, players will have to make a putt over the undulating green to a pin location that can normally be found in the very back left portion of the green. If you can manage to escape this hole with a bogey or better, you have done what feels “impossible” to some people. But if you are like me, you feel blessed to come out in one piece as
you have just gone through golf’s gauntlet of a hole.