Our YH graduates high school this year and has chosen a trip to the Southwest during mid-June for his graduation gift. Priorities are stopping to see art museums/draw, “desert golf,” and food.
We’re spending three days in Santa Fe before moving on to points west and looking to get in one round there. It seems after looking through the thread that the best options are: Black Mesa, Marty Sanchez, and Cochiti.
A couple questions I’m hoping the locals can help with.
Black Mesa seems to hide its greens fees, can anyone ball park the figure?
We’re very used to heat + humidity (live near Pinehurst), what can we expect in June temp wise? Do we need to plan on early AM, or can we deal with later AM if we drink water, etc…
Is there a course within 45 mins of SF we are missing?
I think it’s $70/90 weekday/weekend with a cart. Unfortunately it is not walkable unless you are really up for a workout.
It shouldn’t get above low 90s up there but the altitude and sun will get you if you aren’t ready. Playing in the middle of the day is fine with precautions.
I haven’t played Santa Fe CC (public play allowed) but hear that sits nice. Definitely more parkland and not as spectacular as the three you mentioned but another option if needed. I would play the other three first anyway.
I’d check out Rowley Farmhouse Ales. They make really cool beer and the restaurant looks awesome. Second Street is good and they have a taproom right near downtown SF. SF Brewing beer is fine but the brewery location is cool.
Just FYI on the pricing, when you go to book the tee time online it shows the pricing for each time slot. Just head to the booking area of the site, put in your date and it’ll show you available times and pricing.
I played in mid April last year and it was the same prices as the pic below.
Hi from Dallas! Has anyone played Cochiti GC recently? I’ll be in NM at the end of the month and was hoping it’s in better shape than what the reviews are saying from last year. Any intel would be great.
The tee boxes have been in pretty rough shape the last two years. They’re struggling with hiring so they don’t have enough people to maintain the course. Last report I heard from this last summer is exactly how it’s been last I played it. Fairways and greens are mostly fine but the rough is wildly thick. They don’t have enough people to keep up with the mowing so they focus on fairways and greens. This might not be the case right now because the grass is still probably dormant.
Honestly one of my favorite course designs ever, such an awesome course when it’s in playable shape. Summer before last I lost 5 balls in the rough and the entire group saw each ball land in the rough. It was frustrating but I still love that course.
If you haven’t been - Marty Sanchez Links De Santa Fe is a great alternative. Not quite as idyllic as Cochiti but in better shape and IMO a better course overall.
If you would like to join us in the Chile Pepper Classic on April 27 please sign yourself up here by Monday so I can book the correct number of players. Thanks!
The Suncountry Section just cancelled the first Pro-Am of the season at Isleta on May 5th due to course conditions being unplayable. The majority of NM golf seems to be struggling from this last winter.
For sure, Sandia has the highest budget in the state for a public course not names Pakko. They have more maintenance people than Santa Ana/twin combined.
