Laid out on the moonscape of Santa Clara Pueblo, Black Mesa Golf Club opened in 2003 to plenty of favourable critical acclaim, with one commentator likening the course to Tom Doak’s Pacific Dunes, another terming it “one of the premier American layouts built in the last 25 or 30 years.”
Black Mesa Golf Club features some of the most stunning vistas and terrain an inland golf course can enjoy with a setting distant from highways and city lights. The Baxter Spann layout north of Santa Fe is carved in among high desert terrain, rocks, and arroyos which lends to hosting undulated fairways and greens, blind shots, and over 100 bunkers. The links course is void of any trees and thus subject to the crossing winds that can change the way the course plays on a daily basis. Black Mesa is highlighted with an impressive collection of par 3s, unforgettable par 5s, and engaging elevation changes that lead to a variety of enjoyable shots. The biggest letdown by far was the poor conditioning that existed during my visit; fortunately that can always change.
Memorable Holes at Black Mesa Golf Club
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 people call 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.
There is no doubt that Black Mesa has one of the most intriguing layouts in the West and is a must-see in New Mexico
