Sandia Golf Club

 As we were driving on the freeway toward Sandia Golf Club we could see the Sandia Resort and Casino raising out of the brown flat desert just north of Albuquerque and couldn't believe that a top rated golf course could be anywhere nearby and if so it had to be flat and boring.  Wow, were we wrong! 

Sandia Golf Club is a very memorable layout that was carved out of the rugged high desert landscape by Scott Miller.  Scott leveraged the natural folds of the sloping desert terrain to create this impressive course and he must have moved mountains of dirt and desert to create the elevation changes, sparkling lakes with fountains and waterfalls, contoured rolling fairways, and challenging green complexes.  And every hole has panoramic vistas of the Sandia Mountains, Rio Grande River, Corrales Bosque, and greater Albuquerque area.  

Sandia Golf Club has received several accolades and awards, some of which include:

• Golfweek's "Top 5 Best Places You Can Play in New Mexico"
• Golf Magazine's "Top 10 New Courses You Can Play"
• Golf Digest's "Best Places To Play"
• Golfweek's "Top 100 Golf Resorts"

When you walk out to the deck of the Pro Shop which overlooks the 18th hole with a rolling downhill fairway leading to a plush green next to a lake with a waterfall and a fountain, you know that if the rest of the course is like this hole, you're in for a special treat – and you won't be disappointed.  Sandia Golf Club is a desert style resort course with friendly, expansive fairways that make your tee shots less of a concern than your second or approach shots.  The course  plays through the desert and if you spray the ball missing the fairways and rough you're in the  transistion areas of sparse desert landscaping and decomposed granite – miss that and you're in the sage brush, cactus, and desert sand!   If you can find the ball and you're not buried in the cactus or scrub brush, then you might have a shot back to the fairway.

Sandia Golf Club is the longest course in New Mexico but it has 4 sets of tee boxes ranging from 5112 to 7755 yards – don't bite off more than you can chew.  From the back tees you'll face plenty of long forced carries over natural and waste areas, several excellent risk reward shots, and strategically placed bunkers waiting to catch your ball. 

When we played in mid September, the course was in perfect condition from the tee box to the pin.  It was meticulously maintained and extensively  landscaped with a variety of colorful desert fauna – purple, red, yellow, and white.  The fairways are lush and plush, rolling and contoured, and ample.  Miss the fairway and the rough is thick but playable. Most of the holes give you an illusion of offering far less landing areas than is actually available – make sure you study the GPS and layout before you tee off.  There are also several excellent risk reward shots to shorten the hole – but don't miss.

The bent grass greens at Sandia Golf Club were also in perfect condition plus they were huge, true, held the ball well, and ran at a good speed of around 10 to 11 or so.   Ridges, spines, slope, and undulation can come into play but it isn't dramatic and reading the breaks wasn't a major problem.  This is a resort friendly course but the greens are guarded by mounds, swales, and some big bunkers as well as most are raised and some demand a precise uphill shot.

The sand in the 48 bunkers at Sandia Golf Club was some of the best we played on the Santa Fe Golf Trail – thick and soft, making it easy to get under the ball.  However, most of the bunkers are strategically placed, big and treacherous, and steep faced and deep.

Sandia Golf Club has some very unique, challenging, and memorable holes that are a blast to play.  Some examples include:

• #1 is indicative of some of what you'll encounter during your round – a 380 uphill shot that twists through 4 fairway bunkers to a guarded two tier green with the Sandia Mountains as a backdrop
• #5 is a three shot 662 yard par 5 that requires some strategic play to avoid the bunkers, clear the natural area crossing the fairway and leading all the way to the green
• #7 is fantastic – a 592 yard beauty with a steep and deep bunker splitting the fairway and a large waste area that is a challenging carry to the green
• #15 is a fun one that requires a precise drive to avoid a cluster of bunkers, avoid the arroyo, and position yourself for the dog right green that is across an arroyo and hidden by some bunkers
• #18 is going to make you want to play Sandia again – a bunker and natural area split the fairway and make it difficult to decide which side to take through the downhill slot to the green with two bunkers, a lake, and the Resort's pool guests watching you

What a fantastic and upscale course and the Sandia Resort and Casino is equally impressive, plus they have some great stay and play options.