photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Grant Suderman, general manager and golf course superintendent, for The Rustick Golf & Fare is pictured on Aug. 24, 2026 at one of the facility's high-tech driving range bays.

Yes, golf is meant to be a genteel game, but there are occasional four-letter words associated with the sport. The one that has perhaps produced the biggest wince in recent years: T-i-m-e.

To play a moderately-challenging 18-hole course requires anywhere from four hours to a pup tent.

In a world with more time demands, the time issue has been seen as one of the sport’s biggest growth challenges. The time issue, though, didn’t stop the development of a new multi-million dollar golf complex between Lawrence and Eudora on Kansas Highway 10.

Rather, the time issue fueled the development of The Rustick Golf & Fare, which is located at the interchange of K-10 and County Route 1057. The site is the former location of Twin Oaks Golf, but the new ownership group completely revamped that decades-old facility with a new clubhouse, restaurant, bar, high-tech driving range, and a rebuilt nine-hole, short course.

“That’s exactly what our model is,” Grant Suderman, general manager and golf course superintendent of the facility said of bringing time efficiency to the sport. “Everything you can do at The Rustick, you can come in and do in an hour.”

Almost any hour, for that matter.

Another big part of The Rustick’s strategy is nighttime golf. While there are several facilities in the region that have lighted driving ranges, The Rustick has an entire nine-hole course that is lighted and open until 11 p.m. or midnight, depending on the night.

Suderman said the nine-hole course — a short par three course with its longest hole totaling about 150 yards — is the only lighted golf course in the region, to the best of his knowledge.

“That’s how unique we are,” he said.

It also is proving to be popular. He said The Rustick, since opening about two weeks ago, has had a steady stream of golfers throughout the daytime hours, but its busiest periods have begun at 8 p.m. when the lights come on.

Suderman said the idea of playing a round when the sun has gone down is appealing on several fronts. One, in July and August it provides for more comfortable temperatures. Two, anybody who has played a nighttime baseball or softball game knows it just feels different being under the bright lights. But, perhaps most importantly, the idea is just new at a time when many people are looking for new forms of evening entertainment.

“I think people still want to get out, but they want to try something new,” Suderman said. “I think the old days of maybe just going down to the bar, grabbing dinner, I think you need to add a different level of entertainment to it now.”

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

The coffee counter and bar area of The Rustick Golf & Fare is pictured on Aug. 24, 2026.

But make no mistake, the grabbing dinner and having a drink component is a big part of the new facility. Inside the new clubhouse is a 120-seat, full service restaurant and bar. In a second part of the clubhouse, there is room for another 120 guests who can rent space at high-tech driving range bays that are each equipped with multiple TVs and a tables.

The restaurant, Suderman said, is meant to be a standalone facility. You don’t have to be a user of any of the golf amenities to come dine at the facility.

“We’re really proud of what we’re able to do and what we can bring restaurant-wise to the area,” Suderman said. “We’ve had an amazing response to the menu. It is a very extensive menu. It is an elevated menu.”

Indeed, the menu goes beyond typical golf shop fare. While a pair of signature dishes are called “Dogleg Right,” and “Dogleg Left” — both hotdogs, with one topped with Chicago-style giardiniera and beer cheese, and the other topped with pimento cheese and house-made tomato jam — the menu also features full-on entrees.

One signature dish is a coffee-brined pork chop, which uses a cold-brew coffee produced at The Rustick’s on-site coffee house. The restaurant serves as a full-service coffee shop from 7 a.m. to just before the lunch hour. Regular breakfast offerings include several breakfast burritos, cinnamon coffee cake and a croissant sandwich. Drinks include a list of coffee-based drinks, plus Italian sodas, crème sodas, and even ice cream floats.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Breakfast bakery items and the coffee bar area of The Rustick Golf & Fare are pictured on Aug. 24, 2026.

On the restaurant front, other offerings include wings, salads, smash burger-style hamburgers, and pizza. Dinner entrees include pasta, shrimp, salmon and braised beef tips. The menu also includes several golf references — the Hole-in-One Bites are breaded smoked brisket sausage bites with house-made pimento cheese dip, while the Bunker Buster is a hamburger with onions, mushrooms, garlic aioli and a fried egg.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

The driving range at Rustick Golf & Fare between Lawrence and Eudora on Kansas Highway 10 is pictured on Aug. 24, 2026.

Perhaps one of the most interesting offerings at the facility, though, won’t be seen on the menu, or actually seen at all. They’re radar waves that cover much of the property.

The Rustick’s driving range is a big part of the facility. It has 49 driving range bays that are walk-up style, meaning that you don’t need a reservation to play. Each one of the bays is equipped to be high tech.

The entire driving range area is covered by a radar network that is the key piece of technology that fuels the Trackman golf system. From every bay, golfers can see advanced statistics about each shot they take. That includes total distance, total height, how close the ball landed to a particular flag on the range, and other such stats.

On most of the bays, golfers would see those statistics on their smart phones. The bays are labeled with a QR code, which allows users to log into the Trackman golf system. However, 15 of the walk-up bays are actually equipped with a touch-screen television monitor. On those bays, you get additional options, including playing a simulated game on real courses.

At any given time, there are about a dozen different courses loaded into the system. That means if you want to try your luck at landing a golf ball on the famous island green at Pebble Beach, you can do so without the need of a plane ticket to California. (Or SCUBA gear for your second shot.)

The Trackman features come with any bucket of balls that you purchase at the range. In other words, if you want to use those balls playing a simulated game, it won’t cost you any more than if you are simply hitting the balls on the range without taking advantage of the technology.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Fully-covered driving range bays are pictured at The Rustick Golf & Fare on Aug. 24, 2026.

The facility also includes covered driving range bays that may remind you more of the Top Golf model. Those bays include machines that provide you a ball with the wave of your club. The Trackman technology, though, is the same included in the walk-up driving range bays. The big difference, Suderman said, is the fully covered bays are set up for parties and entertaining. The bays come with tables, restaurant service, and include multiple TVs to watch the results of your fellow golfers. Those bays are rented for a flat-fee in half-hour increments, rather than purchasing a set number of balls to hit.

Also in the facility are five indoor Trackman golf simulators. Those include the large projector-like screens that display actual scenes from selected golf courses around the world. In addition, those simulators have more advanced features, including a camera that captures details such as whether your club head is square when it makes contact with the ball.

All the different options are in addition to the nine-hole course that has been entirely replanted and slightly lengthened from its days when it was a true “pitch-and-putt” course. The course has been given the name The Oxbow, a reference to the fact the facility is located along an oxbow of the Wakarusa River. In addition to the new fairways and greens, the course also has added a starter’s station and a large practice putting green.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Greens on the nine-hole course at The Rustick Golf & Fare are pictured on Aug. 24, 2026.

The high-tech nature of the driving range will give the facility the ability to host some unique competitions, Suderman said. For example, it easily allows for longest drive and closet to the pin competitions. But due to the simulator function, it could also host some virtual golf tournaments.

The thought may make some traditional golfers queasy, but Suderman is not among them. He’s a veteran of the traditional golf industry, having served as the course superintendent for the Village of Loch Lloyd, a highly-regarded, gated country club course in the Kansas City metro.

Suderman said he decided to move to the less-traditional facility because he recognized how impactful technological advances can be to the game, and how they can help bring in an entirely new group of players to the game.

“We can hit all levels of play here, but we’re definitely a gateway to the game for people who are just learning, for junior golfers,” Suderman said. “At the same time, we provide a high level of technology for your low handicap golfers to also up their game as well.

“We just really want to be able to provide a space for all golfers.”

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

A seating area and the clubhouse entrance at The Rustick Golf & Fare are pictured on Aug. 24, 2026.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

A golfer takes a swing in one of the five indoor golf simulator bays at The Rustick Golf & Fare on Aug. 24, 2026.