New
Mexico is known as the "Land of Enchantment" and that
is not a lie! Not too many people are aware of the huge range
of climates in New Mexico. A drive form North to South or East
to West will take you through Desert to Alpine and all you can
imagine along the way.
Golf is and has been a part of
New Mexico for many years and yet the neighboring State of Arizona
takes most of the press publicity. Yet there are golf courses
such as Paa-Ko Ridge and Twin Warriors within an
hour or so of Albuquerque International Airport. Paa-Ko Ridge.
This Golf Club has been selected as one of the Top 100 Modern
Courses in America by Golf Week Magazine which has
just published their seventh annual list of America's Best Classical
and Modern Golf Courses for 2006. The award-winning course was
listed as #23 in America among over 10,000 "modern
courses" which includes all courses built since 1960. Paa-Ko
Ridge was also selected by the publication as the #1 Public Access
Course in New Mexico. Last year, Paa-Ko Ridge debuted on the Top
100 Modern list at #69. The big jump this year places Paa-Ko ahead
of numerous well known courses as well as several great Southwest
courses such as, Troon North, Grayhawk in Arizona,The Broadmoor
in Colorado, and many others.
Twin Warriors is exceptional and is part of the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort and Spa, just north of Albuquerque and within the Santa Ana Pueblo, owned by the Tamaye. Twin Warriors is home for the 36th PGA Club Professional Championship in 2006. The Club is eighteen holes of high desert, championship golf routed in and around 20 ancient cultural sites of previous habitation and activity. The course has beautiful grassy knolls and ridges dotted with wonderfully aromatic Juniper and Pinon Pine. Wonderful dry river washes known as arroyo's and eroded land features, along with the sacred butte known as Tuyuna or "Snakehead" complete a picture framed by spectacular views of the Sandia Mountains.
In the south of the state, where the backbone of North America comes to an end at the southern tail of the Rocky Mountains, the Golf is also exceptional and ranges from just over 3000ft above sea level to one of the highest courses in the USA The Lodge Golf Course,Cloudcroft at 9,000ft. The Lodge Golf Course, built in 1899, was designed with its Scottish roots in mind and governed by the Scottish tradition of playing different tees and separate flags on each hole, this exquisite nine-hole course, when played twice, becomes a challenging 18-hole round. All of the courses around Ruidoso are beautifully contoured "mountain courses" and provide golfers of all abilities a real challenge.
