Paako Ridge, Twin Warriors, UNM Golf Course stand out

If you’re traveling to New Mexico and the Paaco Range is on your bucket list, or if you are but it’s not, this is one last plea not to miss this course – save it for last. This is the clear golf winner in the state and will make you want to plan a return visit.

Number 1 among the state’s public courses by Golfweek’s top raters, this layout features 27 holes amid the wooded Sandia Park just east of the Sandias. Most of the city of Albuquerque is on the opposite side of this mountain range, but this side attracts skiers in the winter if they take the tram up the west slope or drive to this growing community of huge homes and a home run. golf course.

Designed by Ken Dye, it opened in 2000 with 18 holes, is now 27 and offers 18 holes, day rate and membership. It’s only half an hour from Albuquerque, but while you’re here, why not try the all-day fare and get your money’s worth?

The course has generous fairways and rolling greens. There are plenty of places to lose your golf ball if you miss the fairway, and plenty of elevation changes to keep things interesting. Take your morning tea time, have a snack after nine, play some more and maybe find a snack or drink after two past nine, then continue.

Most of the 27 holes are carved in oak and pinon trees, with all kinds of sloping lies. Stay off the fairways because this golf course is not in the desert. If your ball finds a wooded area, it probably isn’t. But there are plenty of fairways to hit, all cut in a cross-country design to provide visually impressive targets.

The course maneuvers the terrain so you have to fly over the arroyo here or navigate blind. If the wind blows, so much the better.

The second requires a powerful second shot up over an arroyo and past several bunkers fronting the green. Once safely on the putting surface, the back pin will require a powerful uphill shot on the tiered green.

The first paragraph 3 you get to is the fourth one, which has four levels. The back-left position requires an accurate shot to the correct shelf. The green is absolutely huge, but if you’re on the lowest level, you have to hit your golf ball to get up those slopes.

The fifth tee box is one of the highest points on the course and the tee shot will be blind for big players. The second and third shots turn right into a curved downhill angle, then the green rises. There’s nothing wrong with hitting your second shot into the valley before the green, but you’ll want to make sure you know where to hit your third shot, which will be a blind shot.

There is water on the ninth hole, which can be a problem for some. The same lake is to the right of 10, but not actually in play. Water behind the green again on the par-5 15th, another long corner to the right. Behind the lake there is a rocky ridge that provides a beautiful background.

The challenging par-3 16 also has water, mostly on the left side of the hole. The back left pin will seem possible, but from the back tees it’s a 228. However you choose to attack it, this is truly a great hole of golf.

If you choose to visit the restaurant, you’ll find a menu as large and varied as the golf course itself. The lunch menu includes game such as smoked rattlesnake and rabbit sausage, oysters on the half shell, a Korean barbecue chicken sandwich and a green chili cheeseburger. For dinner, you’ll be offered oysters, fried alligator, rib eye steak and roast elk.

You can’t indulge here.