Rochelle Ranch Golf Course

Overview: Rochelle Ranch Golf Course is a public, city-owned links-style layout in Rawlins, Wyoming, set at roughly 6,800 ft in the open high-desert prairie. Ken Kavanaugh's design has unusually broad fairways, bent-grass greens and almost no conventional rough: landing areas give way to sand, sagebrush and scrub, so a wayward shot can quickly become a recovery problem. Wind is a constant strategic factor, and the course can stretch to 7,925 yards from the championship markers. With only two holes running parallel, the routing keeps changing direction and perspective across the property, while the surrounding openness gives the round a distinctly Wyoming character.

History: Rochelle Ranch was made possible by Curt and Marian Rochelle, local sheep ranchers who paid for construction as a gift to the Rawlins community. Ken Kavanaugh designed the course for the city, and the grand opening took place in August 2004. From the beginning, the project was intended to be a municipal championship course that could challenge strong players without relying on narrow corridors or artificial visual clutter. Its design instead uses the scale of the site, prairie breezes, expansive sandy edges and elevation to create difficulty. The city continues to operate the course and describes the original design as something it aims to preserve while improving playing conditions.

Did You Know? The longest championship yardage is not the only unusual number at Rochelle Ranch. The official city description says the course can play from 7,925 down to 5,706 yards, a span that changes the character of the same routing considerably. The broad tee menu is important here because wind and altitude can make a hole play very differently from one round to the next.