Functionality alone does NOT get you there.

The layout created by Baxter Spann, in concert with then General Manager Eddie Peck and former Superintendent Pat Brockwell, still resonates for the range of holes and shotmaking challenges encountered.Ī meaningful strategic plan needs to be put into motion. The property, like the State motto, is indescribably enchanting. The ceiling for Black Mesa is much higher for a range of reasons. However, functionality attains only one level of success. My most recent visit this past October shows the dark days seem to be in the rear-view mirror now. Truly remarkable.īut as the course matured, issues tied to the overall preparation emerged. The experience was golf centric - an engrossing design situated on 360 acres of land with no intrusive elements charging less than $100 to play.

The course simply flowed over the magnificent terrain with golf holes devoid of any artifice. When Black Mesa first opened it garnered rightful acclaim. Kudos to the on-site senior team assembled and the central leadership individuals within the Santa Claran nation in doing what had to be done in order to resurrect Black Mesa. A level of 'functionality' is now in place and that has clearly stabilized matters. There had been talk - thankfully rejected - that golf would no longer continue. In the years since I have returned on several occasions and played the course at various times and experienced the widest array of playing conditions.īlack Mesa has recovered from abysmal turf conditions prevalent several years ago. My familiarity with Black Mesa dates back to 2002 when I came upon the construction of the course. The final routing of the course leaves the possibility of a second 18-hole track to follow in the future but for now, the existing layout is good enough on its own to merit a visit from the more intrepid golfer who might venture to play in this south west corner of the USA. In keeping with this spirit, we incorporated some hidden target areas and semi-blind uphill shots which will require some local knowledge and familiarity with the course to negotiate successfully.”

With fairways that rise and fall between enormous sandstone formations in a remote part of the New Mexican desert, the 80 acres of irrigated turf that make up the Black Mesa course form one of the most spectacular 18-hole layouts that any golfer could imagine anywhere in the world.īaxter Spann certainly bucked the trend of designing routine, formulaic golf holes and his loose regard of architectural convention has resulted in a wonderfully fresh, creative layout that incorporates an element of random excitement throughout the routing.Īs its designer says, “the site has a wild Irish links look to it, particularly in the spring after a wet winter when the native grasses are leafy and blowing in the breeze. Praise indeed for developer Eddie Peck and the man who brought the course to life, architect Baxter Spann, whose routing of the Black Mesa course was influenced in part a visit to the Tobacco Road course in North Carolina, where he was impressed by the fact that its designer had been prepared to work “'on the edge” to create innovative, non-conventional golf holes. Laid out on the moonscape of Santa Clara Pueblo, Black Mesa 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