Rockwind Named A Top Course of Last Decade By Brian Weis

Rockwind Named A Top Course of Last Decade

Rockwind Community Links Selected by Golf Advisor as One of the 24 New Courses That Shaped the 2010s

By Brian Weis

Rockwind Community Links in Hobbs, New Mexico, continues to earn honors for its excellent design and recognition as one of the region's most popular golf destinations. Golf Advisor, a global service that provides course reviews and ratings, named Rockwind as One of the 24 New Courses That Shaped the 2010s. Rockwind was selected to represent 2015 as the notable North American course of the year.

In its review, Golf Advisor stated: "Take an underperforming municipal layout, repurpose it complete with imagination, improved soil conditions and low-irrigation plantings and you have what innovative golf architect Andy Staples champions as a 'community links.' The first of these, in Hobbs, New Mexico, now serves as a thriving golf course, practice and learning center and (for non-golfers) a public park."

The Staples design, which opened in May 2015, has received numerous awards from leading golf publications including: Golfweek's ranking at #2 in New Mexico in their Best Courses You Can Play in each state list; inclusion in Golf Digest's 2017-18 Best in State course ratings at #7; named one of Golf Digest's Best New Courses of 2015; and cited as a Top Five New Golf Development in the World by Golf Inc. Magazine.

"This is another significant honor for Rockwind to be recognized as one of the world's finest new golf courses of the last decade," said Doug McDaniel, Parks & Recreation Director in Hobbs. "For Golf Advisor to feature Rockwind as one of just 24 courses is a remarkable achievement that we all celebrate. Everyone associated with the success and prestige of Rockwind is to be congratulated on this special recognition."

The facility is considered a trailblazer in uniting golf with the local community. "Community Links" is a concept introduced by Staples where the focus of the entire project was to link the golf course to the fabric of life in Hobbs. A special feature is a surrounding trail system complete with multiple trail heads, various outdoor seating areas, picnic spaces and scenic viewing points, including access to the site's five acre lake that overlooks the golf course. The United States Golf Association also singled out Rockwind for breaking the mold and being more than just a golf course in a special video entitled "A Model Muni: Rockwind Community Links."

About Rockwind Community Links
The main course, which offers five sets of tees with playing lengths ranging from over 7,100 yards for the accomplished player down to approximately 4,200 yards for the forward "express" tees, has been designed to embrace the flat nature of the southeastern New Mexico landscape, keeping irrigation to a minimum and the turf fast and firm. The design provides challenging features such as large elevated greens, disguised bunkers and interesting ground contours.

Architect Andy Staples has incorporated characteristics typically found on courses along the eastern seaboard of the U.S. built during the turn of the 20th century. Rock walls line fairways and a large interior lake is in play on a few holes that attractively punctuates the course routing. The 9-hole par-3 course called Li'l Rock is meant to complement the dual-ended practice range and short game area. It was built to facilitate walking, families, beginner golfers and kids. The length of shots ranges from a sand wedge to a driver. Rockwind Community Links also is a site for The First Tee of Southeastern New Mexico.

For more information visit www.rockwindgolfcourse.com or call (575) 397-9297.

Revised: 02/18/2020 - Article Viewed 16,941 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.