More"It's different. It's unique. It's wonderful," said Dwaine Knight, golf coach at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and a former resident of Albuquerque, where he coached at the University of New Mexico, his alma mater, after playing five years on the PGA Tour. "I've heard people who play golf in New Mexico for the first time say they'll never forget it."
Naturally, there are terrific golf courses. But there is so much more. You'll marvel at the melting pot of pueblo Indians, Mexican-Americans and cowboys. There's an almost surreal scene everywhere you turn, with the earth tones of high desert giving way to alpine mountain ranges.
The air here is crisp and clear and invigorating. A collage of colors, changing by the hour from sunrise to sunset, has inspired some of the most notable artists this country has ever produced. You may not be able to paint like Georgia O'Keeffe or R.C. Gorman. But you can see what they saw, and just as easily get lost in its natural beauty.
"The variety of scenery is just staggering in a lot of ways," Knight said. "That's the lure of New Mexico: its variety, its culture. People say it's a spiritual experience. It's so diverse and interesting. Golf has picked up on that."
Chances are, each clubhouse (more than likely designed in an adobe style) will have a story to tell. In Socorro, for example, giggly golfers hike to the top of a small mountain during an annual tournament and try to see how close they can get to a pin hundreds of feet below. Bombs away!
New Mexico State University in Las Cruces held "rock parties" in 1962 when its golf course was being constructed. Not rock and roll parties, but true rock parties to gather rocks from the fairways.
Those rock parties must have been a success -- Lee Trevino frequently drove up from El Paso to play the NMSU course and often commented that several holes on the back nine are as good as any he had ever played. Trevino, ever the hustler, probably did quite well there in skins games, too.
Nancy Lopez grew up in Roswell and learned the game on the local nine-hole muni course. At age eight, and just a year after holding a golf club for the first time, Lopez won her division in a 27-hole, pee-wee event at Alamogordo by 110 strokes. That's right, 110 strokes. By age 12, she was New Mexico's state women's champion. Not yet a teenager, Lopez defeated women of all ages.
A Wake Forest University golf team featuring Curtis Strange and Jay Haas arrived in 1976 at the University of New Mexico course seeking to capture a third straight NCAA Championship for the Demon Deacons. But the winds kicked up and Wake Forest players couldn't keep their drives in the fairway.
They found it difficult to hit out of the sage and cactus -- or off the desert hard-pan -- and finished a frustrating fourth, nine strokes behind champion Oklahoma State.
Notah Begay took up the game at an Albuquerque public course and in 1999 became the first Native American to win a PGA Tour event since Rod Curl some 25 years earlier.
LPGA Hall of Famer Kathy Whitworth grew up in Jal, a tiny New Mexico town tucked in the extreme southeast corner of the state that will never be mistaken for golf country. But that's just a hint at what New Mexico has contributed to the world of professional golf.
For more history and legend, let's start our magical mystery golf tour with the 45-hole Santa Ana complex near Bernalillo.
In 1540, Spain's Francisco Vacquez de Coronado, along with 300 soldiers and 800 Indian allies, entered the Rio Grande valley. Coronado was either searching for the fabled cities of gold or a perfect site for a golf course, because he camped about 500 yards from what is now Santa Ana, near the Tiwa pueblo of Kuauna. Settled by American Indians since about 1300 AD, Kuauna's earthen village was excavated in the 1930s by WPA workers. It has since become the Coronado State Mounument.
Play some golf at Santa Ana, then soak in the ruins and its mural paintings, which represent some of the best examples of Pre-Columbian art in North America. Better yet, set aside an extra day for the ruins exploration because you'll want to play all 45 holes at Santa Ana.
Opened in 1991, the original 27-hole Santa Ana Golf Club has served as host for a Buy.com Tour event with rave reviews. A golf pro at a rival course, trying hard not to sound too jealous, calls Santa Ana's high-desert setting "slam-dunk gorgeous."
A fine example of that beauty is found on the tee box of the 167-yard eighth hole of the Star nine, which gives you a glimpse of the surrounding area so breathtaking that you'll want to grab your camera.
Your tee shot here must carry entirely over a lake to a two-tiered green that is shallow from front to back, sloping 25 feet toward the water. And, oh, yes, pot bunkers front and back make things even more interesting. The tougher challenge is to concentrate on your swing rather than the amazing view.
The hole itself is pretty enough, but the backdrop of the cottonwoods lining the Rio Grande and the Sandia Mountains (nicknamed "watermelon mountains" because they can take on an orange hue during sunset) create an awesome scene. It's too bad Coronado didn't carry a club or two among his supplies.
The eighth on the Cheena nine also usually makes the annual best-holes-in-the-state lists. It's a 633-yard par five that borders the bosque of the Rio Grande, a wetland area adjacent to the legendary river that has been called the largest cottonwood forest in the world.
Your tee shot must carry 200 yards over a waste area of four-inch high bluegrass. But don't hit it 280 yards because on the right side you may be blocked out by three bushy junipers and go too far to the left and your ball could bounce down into an arroyo.
Santa Ana is undoubtedly one of the nation's best links-style golf courses. But they weren't content to stop there. Wait until you see Santa Ana's new kid brother, Twin Warriors Golf Club.
Twin Warriors has become the first public golf course in New Mexico charging a green fee of more than $100. And you know what? It's well worth it.
In addition to the golf courses, Santa Ana's complex includes the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort and Spa, and a casino.
Now if you're wondering about the quality of Twin Warriors, here's a clue. Approximately 427,000 cubic yards of dirt were moved to build Santa Ana Golf Club, but almost one million cubic yards were moved for Twin Warriors, creating a layout where few holes run parallel to each other.
Staff members boast that Twin Warriors, a 7,690-yard, par-72 layout, is the first golf course in New Mexico designed with "cultural sensitivity."
Golf course architect Gary Panks routed the holes in and around 20 historical sites, including a sacred butte Tuyyuna ("Snakehead") that serves as a backdrop for the 14th and borders the 15th and 16th holes. There's also an ancient cave dwelling between the tee boxes of the second and 15th.
Perhaps the most picturesque hole on the course is the 200-yard fourth, which features an elevated tee box and a fairway funneling down toward a sacred mining area.
The course is laid out among 12 natural arroyos and a dormant volcano that serves as the backdrop to the 10th, a 460-yard par four. Twin Warriors will host the Buy.com Tour event this fall and has already been selected by the PGA of America for the 2003 National Club Pro Championship.
You can also rest assured that the name "Twin Warriors" wasn't created by some Madison Avenue advertising agency.
As legend goes, the people of Santa Ana pueblo believe twin warriors Mase'ewi and Uyuye'ewi showed them the path to the Yellow Light, the Upper World, along the banks of the Rio Grande.
Carrying a rainbow bow and lightning arrows, the twin warriors are said to protect people in times of war and stretch out their hands in prayer for prosperity, health and all good things. The twin warriors "pray for answers to return with the speed of eagle's wings." And perhaps for an eagle to land on the scorecard as well.
Sure to rival Twin Warriors as New Mexico's best public course is Paa-Ko-Ridge, a new Ken Dye creation that made this year's GOLF MAGAZINE's "Top 10 You Can Play" list.
Paa-Ko-Ridge is carved through a forest of pinon and juniper evergreens on the eastern side of the Sandia Mountains and couldn't differ more from the desert layout of Twin Warriors.
The course sits at an elevation of 6,500 feet and offers an alpine golf experience with views of no less than five mountain ranges. You'll find dramatic elevation changes, rock outcroppings and, on the par three fourth hole, one of the largest greens to be found anywhere. The putting surface measures 100 yards deep -- yes, 100 yards -- with a tiered design that drops 13 feet from front to back.
Head pro Warren Lehr says that depending on the pin placement, wind conditions and which of the five sets of tees are used, you may hit everything from a driver to a pitching wedge. He's not kidding.
The hole measures 77 yards from the front tees and 193 from the back. But that's to the center of the green. With a deep pin placement, a low-handicapper hitting from the tips may need all of 240 yards to the flag.
Located just 45 minutes from downtown Albuquerque or the airport, Paa-Ko-Ridge feels like a vacation getaway. You'll see only a few housetops and no highways or power lines. The idyllic finishing holes are a treat.
The 16th is a fun, downhill par three that measures 228 yards from the back tees. There's water on the left and a tricky green awaits.
The 17th hole measures 419 yards from the back -- an elevated tee box with the best view on the golf course. You'll spot all five mountain ranges, three ski areas and a 90-foot drop to the landing area. Ever whack a golf ball off a cliff? This is your chance. Make believe you're a field-goal kicker and aim for a spot between the two ponderosa pines that frame the fairway.
The 18th hole, a 474-yard par four, requires an approach-shot carry over an arroyo to a tiered green. Pars are not guaranteed, but this much is certain: You won't want the round to end.
Moving northwest to the Four Corners area, could there be another golf course with a green fee ranging from $13-$25 that has received as much publicity as Farmington's Pinon Hills?
We seriously doubt it.
Why all the attention? Because this may be the absolute best golf value in the nation, and it doesn't take a back seat to either Twin Warriors or Paa-Ko-Ridge.
A 1988 Ken Dye creation, Pinon Hills is a links-style layout sprawling through sandstone hills, towering mesas, deep arroyos and craggy rock formations. The fairways and greens at exclusive country clubs aren't in any better condition.
Speaking of rock formations, just off the back of the green on the par-three sixth hole sits a giant boulder. We're talking just off the back, as in about three feet.
Shaped like a cylinder, the boulder measures about 15 feet high and 20 feet in circumference -- there's no way anyone was going to move it.
The boulder comes into play more often than it should, but that's half the fun. Just be careful when trying to lob a wedge shot over it so that the ball doesn't ricochet back at you. That part would not be much fun.
There are nine sets of tee boxes on the sixth. That's right -- nine sets of tees, measuring anywhere from 235 yards off the back to 147 yards from the front.
And your shot must steer clear of the waste-area wash that runs the entire left side of the hole.
The most difficult hole on this course may be the best. For most courses, that's unusual. But the par-four fifth hole includes just about everything, including a tricky, lay-up tee shot, an approach shot over a deep canyon, a boomerang-shaped green that wraps around a bunker and a putting surface with two tiers.
The 470-yard 18th hole is a terrific test of golf. Shots are aimed into the teeth of a prevailing wind and it's a par four. This green also features two tiers, with a ridge running down the middle. Anything that lands short will roll back to the froghair. It's everything a finishing hole should be.
The nationwide publicity received by Pinon Hills has drawn golfers from everywhere. And we mean everywhere.
