Albuquerque NM advice needed

[IHearChains]

I have one day to golf in Albuquerque area, and looking for a true destination course, one to write home about. Looks to be 2.5 hours drive to Sipapu. Is it pay to play and if so do you need to contact them in advance? When does it close for season? Is Sipapu the best option, or are there other ones I'm missing that are closer to Albuquerque? Thanks for the advice!

 

[Skulboy]

Brent Baca was my favorite course in the Albuquerque are.
Play early and bring lots of water.

 

[alpha_dave]

Sipapu is awesome. its not a short drive from Albuquerque, but worth it. it is free to play, and i imagine the course will be open until it starts snowing. in the same area near Taos there is also Two Grey Hairs DGC (small pay to play) and Picuras Pueblo DGC (several interesting Basket placements), both are worth playing if you are going to drive all the way up there...or you can try and play Sipa twice...

If you are staying in Albuquerque, def play Brent Baca, it is a very unique course.

 

[IHearChains]

Thanks for the input, and if anyone else wants to add more, I'd welcome it!
:thmbup:

 

[atl scott]

I was driving through town 2 days ago and decided to play brent baca. I had a blast (actually randomly met 2 other guys out there which really helped with course navigation). I think a "course rating" of 3.5 may be about right but I would rate it a 4 because I had so much fun. The course is crazy. I took around 100 pictures. I 2nd the advice to bring water!

 

[wake_rider]

I have one day to golf in Albuquerque area, and looking for a true destination course, one to write home about. Looks to be 2.5 hours drive to Sipapu. Is it pay to play and if so do you need to contact them in advance? When does it close for season? Is Sipapu the best option, or are there other ones I'm missing that are closer to Albuquerque? Thanks for the advice!

When are you going to be out there?

 

[IHearChains]

When are you going to be out there?

late Sept

 

[wake_rider]

Ah. I ask because I'm going to be in Taos in about 2 weeks on a little get away with the wife and child, but I really wanted to get in a round or two in the area. I would have met up with you, however, we'll obviously be there different dates.

I'll let you know which I hit up and how I felt about them so you can get some info from another outsider to the area.

 

[IHearChains]

good, thanks, I'll be looking for your post!

 

[aksargon14]

Brent Baca is pretty sweet. Bring lots of water. It has sweet man made objects that were pretty unique. I also have played Roosevelt park and it was a nice park course. Crowded with non golfers on weekends and homeless people are abundant. If your up north at all I would highly recommended Lions Dens DGC in Farmington. I drove down from Durango every weekend to golf. (also because you couldn't buy beer in Colorado on Sunday's at the time)

 

[mrriddle]

I was driving through town 2 days ago and decided to play brent baca. I had a blast (actually randomly met 2 other guys out there which really helped with course navigation). I think a "course rating" of 3.5 may be about right but I would rate it a 4 because I had so much fun. The course is crazy. I took around 100 pictures. I 2nd the advice to bring water!

That was us! :thmbup: Brent Baca for sure! Bring water... had a blast.

 

[mfcastillo17]

Ah. I ask because I'm going to be in Taos in about 2 weeks on a little get away with the wife and child, but I really wanted to get in a round or two in the area. I would have met up with you, however, we'll obviously be there different dates.

I'll let you know which I hit up and how I felt about them so you can get some info from another outsider to the area.

The Taos area is a fantastic place to be. No good courses in the town itself but a good center point for all the ski mountain courses. Sipapu is awesome, and only about 20 miles from Taos. Picuris is cool as well. Don't waste your time with two grey hares. Red River Ski Resort is the most amazing course in the state. $5 to ride the lift if you are a pdga member. Angel Fire Ski Resort is a very good course too. PM me if you need info on any happenings in the state while you are here.

 

[mfcastillo17]

I have one day to golf in Albuquerque area, and looking for a true destination course, one to write home about. Looks to be 2.5 hours drive to Sipapu. Is it pay to play and if so do you need to contact them in advance? When does it close for season? Is Sipapu the best option, or are there other ones I'm missing that are closer to Albuquerque? Thanks for the advice!

If you are planning on staying in ABQ, "The Baca" as we call it is the best course in town. If you are willing to drive a bit, Sipapu or Red River is what I would recommend. PM me if you need any info on minis, tournaments or other happenings anywhere in NM.

There is no destination course in Abq itself. You will have to head to northern NM for that.

 

[wake_rider]

I hit up Sipapu yesterday, and that course was really cool. I believe it's about a 2.5 hour drive from Albuquerque, but in my opinion, it's well worth the drive. I'd easily drive 4+ hours to again play that course.

Playing from the Pro's allowed a bit of distance to be thrown on a few holes, but your midranges and short fairway drivers will be just about all you need to lug along with you at this course. On hole 1 (340ish feet) I busted out my TeeBird and luckily parked it for a deuce, however, that was only because the trees right above the basket caught the disc about 75' off the ground and funneled it down to the basket for a lucky deuce. Had it not hit trees, I think it would have been another 500' past the hole. Crazy. I had never played a mountain course before so it took a moment to get used to, but driving 500+ feet down a ski slope using a buzzz was pretty rad.

I'll see if the wife will again be down for another trip and hike (she's the one lugging the 1.5 y/o daughter all over the course in a hiking pack), and try to hit up Red River. A few of the guys I ran into at the base after playing Sipapu said that Red River is their favorite course in the state, so I'm really hoping to get to play that one.

 

[IHearChains]

Good info -- I'll be flying out and don't really want to take the big bag anyway, so thanks for the note on disc selection!

 

[IHearChains]

I hit up Sipapu yesterday, and that course was really cool. I believe it's about a 2.5 hour drive from Albuquerque, but in my opinion, it's well worth the drive....driving 500+ feet down a ski slope using a buzzz was pretty rad.

:thmbup::thmbup::thmbup:

Just got to play Sipapu today...loved it! I believe you are talking about hole 18, yes that was fun, not too often I get a chance to drive it pin high on a 580ft hole. I wanted to empty my bag there but then I thought it might be a lot of work to recover all the discs! Ha Ha! I also liked the benches made out of old skis. My only "con" (a very minor one) was having to do a few big climbs to get to tees where you throw back down the hill, I think that is a design flaw, should build the climbing into the prior hole whenever possible. But its so fun throwing down those ski slopes, I didn't really mind the extra climbs. Thanks everybody who added advice in this thread. (I will make a point to try Brent Baca another time.)

 

[mfcastillo17]

Glad you enjoyed Sipa. Had I known you were going to be here last weekend I would have told you to go to Red River Ski Area where we had the first tournament on that course. Hope you make it back to NM soon and experience more of our courses!