Course Review: Black Mesa Golf Club
28 Jun 2011
by Mike Stubbs of AmateurGolf.com
see also: Black Mesa Golf Club, All Course Reviews
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Great golf courses are hard to come by. I
don’t mean that there aren’t
that many— there are. The problem is
that most of the truly great ones are either
private or cost prohibitive. On a recent trip to
Santa Fe, New Mexico, I played Black Mesa
Golf Club, which is neither private nor
expensive. Calling it great only scratches the
surface of what this marvelous collection of
18 holes is all about.
Although the course is carved among the
sandstone ridges of the Santa Clara Pueblo,
Black Mesa has more than hint of old world
Irish feel to the grounds. Take any great links
course and Photoshop out all the heather and
green that surrounds each hole and replace it
with jagged arroyos filled with soft sand and
creosote bushes and you have Black Mesa.
There are mounds, bumps and blind
shots—just like in Ireland—which
will, no doubt, drive every level of player mad.
But you are quickly overcome with pleasure
when you stand on each tee and admire the
beauty of a course that follows the natural
terrain so perfectly that you’ll wonder if
dinosaurs roamed on the same Kentucky
bluegrass that appears to drip off the
sandstone formations.
Memorable Holes
On the first hole out of the gate, the course
architect Baxter Spann perplexes the golfer
with a blind shot over a ridge that may have
been there for a million years. Rather than a
heavy-handed use of bulldozers, Spann left
the ancient ridge in place and starts the loop
with a mental challenge. Your eyes say go left
where you can see a glimmer of fairway, but
the notes say hit it over the native ridge. The
hole is not that tough—assuming you
can overcome the fear of the unknown and
blast it to the right.
The par-four seventh is a drivable hole
that looks out over the vast expanse of the
Santa Clara Pueblo. Options abound off the
tee, but they must be played with precision
as the fairway is protected by native areas
both left and right as well as by a cross bunker
about 180 yards from the tee. Although it is a
short hole, the multi-tiered green offers
tremendous protection against par. The
seventh looks easy on the card, but it is very
tricky.
Some holes you just love to play in your
head over and over again. For me, the par-
four 14th is just one of those holes. Like the
devilish first, it is very deceiving off the tee.
Your eyes wander left in a straight line to the
green, but the play is to the right over yet
another native ridge. If you hit it hard it
enough, the ball will wind up just in front of
the green; if you elect to take a more direct
line you will be left with a poor view of the
approach to the green. If you take the direct
line and fail to fly it 300 yards (like I did
—twice), you will find yourself in the
native area or in one the many bunkers that
protect the left side. The 14th is wildly
fun…just aim right off the tee!
Head pro Tom Velarde calls the
demanding par-five 16th “stairway to
seven.” There are many ways to make
that number and more if you are not careful.
It is a dramatic hole that looks as if it were a
glacier of green snow permanently fixed
among the sandstone formations. It is long
and, when played in the left-to-right
crosswind, very difficult. The tee shot from
the elevated back tee demands a well struck
drive to a steeply inclined fairway. Once on
the green, two putts are certainly not
guaranteed. The surface has huge undulations
and it falls off severely to the back.
Black Mesa may well be the premier course
in entire state of New Mexico. Whether you
are traveling with your buddies on a
golf/gambling trip or there for a romantic
weekend in Santa Fe, this course needs to be
on the itinerary
Go to
w
ww.blackmesagolfclub.com/for
information and rates