Golf in New Mexico – Incredible Golfing New Mexico Style
If you’re heading to Carlsbad Caverns or the chic galleries of Santa Fe, golf in New Mexico, once a word-of-mouth secret among avid golfers, is a secret no longer.
There are four distinct destinations for golf in New Mexico, each boasting a cluster of high-quality, low-cost courses with great scenery and shot values.
Golfing in New Mexico’s North
Golf in New Mexico’s Northern section: Taos Country Club, Black Mesa Golf Club near Espanola and Marty Sanchez Links de Santa Fe are all modified desert-links courses winding across the high plateau. East of Taos is Angel Fire Golf Club, a mountain course. South of Santa Fe is Pueblo de Cochiti Golf Course, a Robert Trent Jones Jr. design.
Central New Mexico golfing
Golf in New Mexico’s Central area: Paa-Ko Ridge Golf Club east of Albuquerque, Twin Warriors Golf Club and Santa Ana Golf Club, as well as Sandia Golf Club, all north of town, offer resort golf, with Paa-Ko being the crown jewel of the bunch. The University of New Mexico Championship Golf Course, a hilly test and frequent venue of NCAA events, is just a 7-iron from the Albuquerque airport rental-car center. Only seven minutes south on Interstate 25 is the 27-hole Isleta Eagle Golf Course, part of the Isleta Casino & Resort.
Golf in New Mexico’s Southeast section
Golf in New Mexico’s Southeast section: Lincoln County, N.M., is where Billy
the Kid did most of his gun-toting and Ruidoso lies in the heart of the Kid’s old stomping grounds. Nearby are the Links at Sierra Blanca, Rainmakers, Cree Meadows and the Inn of the Mountain Gods, a Ted Robinson design. All are mountain courses rising and falling through Ponderosa pines. In Roswell, where two aliens bought it in a 1947 space-ship crash, play the Spring River and New Mexico Military Institute golf courses. In Carlsbad, you’ll Lake Carlsbad Golf Course, a low-cost muni gem.
South New Mexico Golfing
Golf in New Mexico’s Southern section: Between Las Cruces and Socorro, N.M., lie a handful of true bargains, starting with New Mexico Tech Golf Course, a tight parkland layout in Socorro. Farther south on Interstate 25 in Elephant Butte, N.M., Sierra del Rio Golf Course follows the folds of the Sonorran Desert. In Las Cruces are New Mexico State University and Sonoma Ranch Golf Club. In nearby El Paso, Texas, is Butterfield Trail, the only Tom Fazio design for hundreds of miles in all directions.
Out of the way but worth the drive if you want to explore golf in New Mexico elsewhere: Pinon Hills Golf Course in Farmington, N.M., in the Four Corners area; Silver City Golf Course in the Southwest New Mexico; and Coyote del Malpais Golf Course along Interstate 40 in Grants, N.M.
