Golf in New Mexico

New Mexico gallery patrons know the works of Georgia o’Keeffe, Fremont Ellis, and Nicholai Fechin, but how about Ken Dye Jr., Robert Trent Jones Jr., and Baxter Spann? They are, in fact, the artists who sculpted new Mexico’s desert and mountain terrain into some of the most memorable golf courses anywhere in the American Southwest. Here are their local portfolios:

...artists who sculpted new Mexico’s desert and mountain terrain into some of the most memorable golf courses anywhere in the American Southwest

Paa-ko Ridge Golf Club

Perhaps the most dramatic golf course built since golf came to new Mexico in 1900, Paa-Ko Ridge offers players the distinct feeling they’re playing the only golf hole in the world.

Cut through a piñon and juniper forest, the course rises and falls across mountainous terrain on the eastern slope of the Sandia Mountains near Albuquerque.

Paa-Ko’s design stays with you. “With some courses, you try to replay the round in your mind and you get stuck—was that dogleg No. 4 or was it No. 7?” says John Tipping, who reviewed Paa-Ko for the Pacific Northwest Golf Association’s magazine. “after a round at Paa-Ko, you can see every hole in your mind’s eye. Every hole is different, every hole is unique,” he says. “That is the definition of a great golf course.”

Paa-Ko Ridge is ranked No. 11 on Golf World magazine’s 2010 Readers’ Choice awards. It is on GoLF magazine’s list of the “Top 100 You Can Play” and on Golf Digest’s list of “America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses.” The Zagat Survey calls Paa-Ko “extraordinary,” the only course in the Southwest so described.

Importantly, the Golf Digest/Fodor’s “Best Places to Play” guide gives Paa-Ko fi ve stars—an honor accorded to just 26 courses in the United States. (Hint: You’ll fi nd Paa-Ko under “P,” just ahead of Pebble Beach.)

Paa-Ko has 27 holes, all designed by Ken Dye Jr. The third nine has three par 3s, three par 4s and three par 5s. To preserve the identity of the original awarding-winning 18, the new nine is named, simply, Nos. 19-27.

See the Essential Guide listing for Paa-Ko Ridge Golf Club

Black Mesa Golf Club

A recent reviewer for GOLF magazine described Black Mesa’s ribbon of green across desert brown as an “inland Bandon Dunes.” So wild, so uncluttered is Black Mesa, one sees only desert, turf, and sky. No houses, condos, or roads lie within eyeshot or earshot. The only sounds on the course are those made by you, your club, and the ball.

Designer Baxter Spann insists that just because a player successfully navigates his canted and wrinkled fairways, the player’s work isn’t necessarily done: Two- and three-tiered putting surfaces make for dramatic, even hair-raising, putts.

Black Mesa, built on Santa Clara Pueblo land north of Santa Fe, was named Golf Digest’s “Best New Affordable Course” when it opened in 2003 and it, too, is on national magazines’ top 100 lists.

Its rugged beauty compares favorably with that of Northwest Ireland. In fact, the landscape’s sternness leaves players feeling they’ve just navigated a links course—even though the nearest deep water lies 600 miles southwest in the Gulf of California.

See the Essential Guide listing for Black Mesa Golf Club

Towa Golf Course

The 36 holes at Towa, part of the Buffalo Thunder Resort and Casino on Pojoaque Pueblo, are perhaps some of the most enjoyable, fun golf holes anywhere in New Mexico.

Straddling a rocky ridge and looking out over the same high-desert vista beloved by Georgia O’Keeffe, Towa enjoys commanding, expansive views of the Pojoaque Valley, Los Alamos, and Abiquiu.

Towa features the only true island green in New Mexico, No. 4 on its Piñon Nine. Take away Towa’s elevated teeboxes and the ball-catching bunker beyond the green, and you have No. 17 at TPC Sawgrass, perhaps the most exciting hole on the PGA Tour.

Designed by architects Hale Irwin and Bill Phillips to test but not abuse resort golfers drawn to the on-property Hilton Resort, most of Towa’s holes look more difficult from the tee than they really are. The secret, simply, is to stay out of the desert, avoid hitting through doglegs, and keep your focus on the shot at hand, not the 360-degree panorama.

See the Essential Guide listing for Towa Golf Course

Taos Country Club

If you’ve wondered what drew the painters of the Taos Art Society to Taos, the light at Taos Country Club will answer your question. In early evening, as Wheeler Peak glows to the east and the maw of Taos Gorge gapes sullenly to the west, a magical bioluminescence seems to roll across Taos Country Club. The reds and yellows of wildflowers and the dusty green of knee-high sage in the desert areas radiate on a higher frequency. The grass glows, and the greens seem to sigh and say, “For these 20 minutes only, I will let you make a putt.”

Although Taos’ reputation for art, skiing, and spas spans the years, Taos Country Club has inexplicably remained under the radar. Now back under local control, that’s changing, thanks to first-rate conditioning, superb shot values and, best of all, a climate that makes Taos a special place in midsummer and fall.

See the Essential Guide listing for Taos Country Club

Marty Sanchez Links de Santa Fe

“Marty,” the local moniker for this city-owned course, named for a beloved former Santa Fe amateur champion, is country club golf at “muni” prices. Built by the architect who later built Black Mesa, Marty is a gorgeous, yet testy journey through junipers and piñons, punctuated by gargantuan greenside bunkers.

Marty is just 15 minutes west of the Santa Fe Plaza. For players lacking time for 18 holes or for families with young children, Marty’s “Great 28,” a nine-hole executive course with a par of 28, is a delightful two-hour respite.

Pueblo de Cochiti Golf Course

If you have time during your visit for just one more round, it must be Pueblo de Cochiti, a 1981 target-golf design by Robert Trent Jones Jr., set against the sandstone canyons of the Jemez Mountains on Cochiti Pueblo.

Like Black Mesa, there is no development at Cochiti to distract you from your game—unless you count the shadow of a circling hawk, the wind caressing an evergreen bough, or a fleeting glimpse of a coyote loping across an adjacent fairway.