I spent a week in New Mexico in 2011. I played Black Mesa once, due to poor conditioning, reportedly due to the harsh winter (I was there in May).
I played Paa-Ko Ridge three times and the University of New Mexico tournament course once.I found the playing experience at Paa-Ko Ridge to be exhilarating, particularly the elevation changes and playing at this elevation. I spend a lot of time in the Pacific NW and have played lots of courses with significant elevation changes, trees, and narrow fairways. I've also played lots of desert courses in Arizona. I found Paa-Ko Ridge to combine features of mountain and desert style courses quite well. By the third round I played there, there was less ambiguity for many of the holes which were initially confusing. I played under conditions of strong winds. Don't seem to remember losing a lot of balls.
I would play it again without hesitation if I travel again to New Mexico. I might have posted somewhere that it was in my top 25 all time list, but around #25. I think it was playing at this altitude and liking the elevation changes that contributed to the memorability of the experience in a positive sense.
Sorry the person starting thus thread had such a negative reaction to the course.The rankings of New Mexico courses from Golf Digest are shown below:
1. (4) The Club at Las Campanas (Sunset), Santa Fe
2. (1) Paa-Ko Ridge G.C. (1st/2nd) (above), Sandia Park √ ★
3. (5) The Club at Las Campanas (Sunrise), Santa Fe
4. (3) Rainmakers G.C., Alto
5. (2) Black Mesa G.C., Espanola ★
6. (6) Twin Warriors G.C., Bernalillo ★
7. (
Piñon Hills G. Cse., Farmington ★
8. (7) Pueblo de Cochiti G. Cse., Cochiti Lake ★
9. (9) Sierra del Rio G. Cse., Elephant Butte ★
10. (10) Red Hawk G.C., Las Cruces
★ open to public
check mark - top 100 public courses
Charles Lund