Golfing in Paradise

Golfing in Paradise Photos Carolyn Wright

T

he Towa Golf Club of Hilton Santa Fe Buffalo Thunder boasts the best golf in New Mexico, recently winning accolades from World Golf Awards.

Towa’s three independent nine-hole courses, designed jointly by 20-time PGA titlist Hale Irwin and noted golf course designer/landscape architect William Phillips, provide golfers with dramatic elevation and scenery of extraordinary beauty. Towa sits at the base of the stunning Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the southernmost subrange of the Rocky Mountains. Golfers also have impressive views of the ancient volcanos that make up the Jemez Mountains.

Towa takes advantage of the natural topography, unique rock formations and natural vegetation indigenous to the region, providing excellent separation of the individual holes. The course’s fairways are a mix of Kentucky bluegrass, ryegrass, fescue roughs and native grasses. Tees and greens are sodded with bentgrass.

Elevation changes on the courses keep every golfer on his or her toes.

Director of golf Laurie Meredith brings to her job a love of the game. Retired from her real estate career, Meredith gravitated to golf, applying her sales and marketing skills to managing a golf shop in Trinidad, CO. When her husband accepted a

Towa hosts several tournaments and events throughout the year. Most notable is the wine and chile tournament, an event that caps the festivities of Santa Fe’s week-long celebration of wine and food. More than 90 national wineries and 75 of Santa Fe’s best restaurants show off with cooking demos, wine seminars, luncheons, dinners and a grand tasting at the Santa Fe Opera. Towa has hosted the closing golf tournament for 10 years. “It’s the culmination of wine and chile week,” Meredith explains. “The golf tournament is always on the last Sunday. It’s fun because everyone is eating and drinking as they are golfing. It’s just a blast!”

Another notable event in 2015 is the U.S. Golf Challenge, the nation’s premier twoman team best-ball tournament. Lodging is provided nationwide exclusively by Hilton. Local qualifiers move up to the state championships and Towa will host New Mexico’s state championship play in September. State winners will go on to the national championship in October to be held at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, FL. New to Towa this year is head pro David Johnson. Johnson began his golf career in 1988 and was most recently a golf pro at PGA West in La Quinta, CA. “We’re working on a player development program with clinics as well as private instruction. We also have plans to establish a golf academy,” Johnson says.

“I want to make this a year-round resort and golf academy. Snow outside does not mean you cannot work on your game.” position with Towa as superintendent, Meredith accepted the position of shop manager. Today, she is Towa’s director of golf and her passion is reflected in her enthusiasm for what Towa has to offer golfers of all skill levels.

“We have the only island green in the state and people just love it,” she says about Towa. “It’s gorgeous. The green is huge so it’s easy to hit. Number nine on the boulder course has a golfer standing up on a ridge with a 100-foot drop into the par three green. You have the entire valley laid out in front of you. You don’t get that anywhere else in New Mexico. No other course has the views that we do.”

For more experienced golfers, Meredith notes, “We have a few holes with blind

shots, but they’re not tricked up. It’s pretty straight forward and rewards you for a good shot. You definitely want to keep in the fairway because the rough, being desert, can be brutal.”

People from all over the world come to Towa to play and Meredith wants Towa to be the golf club of choice for any visitor to Santa Fe. As the only resort in Santa Fe with golf on property, she is in the process of making sure other hotels in the area have Towa’s package information so all visitors can enjoy the dramatic views and excellent golf.

For the lucky locals who can play year round, Towa offers a locals’ card which includes three prepaid rounds and a reduced rate on every round after the first

three. Cardholders get discounts in the golf shop, e-mail updates and invitations to member-only events.

Towa has recently undergone several improvements. “Last year we did a complete bunker renovation on all 27 holes,” describes Meredith. “We assessed each and every bunker, making determinations if it made sense for them to be there. Some bunkers did not make sense for playability. For example, we took out two thirds of a large bunker on boulder number one and made it one small bunker by the green. For those bunkers that made sense for the defense of the course, we made sure the floors were lifted up and not too deep. We softened the course considerably.”

Johnson adds, “We want to give people an opportunity to have fun doing something they can do for the rest of their lives. I tell people that the number one rule of golf is to have fun. Unless you’re on tour, you really don’t have a reason to get upset playing golf. It’s about having a good experience.”

For more information about the Towa Golf Club, visit www.buffalothunderresort. com and click on the golf link. There you will find information on tee times, course fees and clinic schedules.

Towa Golf Club Hilton Santa Fe Buffalo Thunder 40 Buffalo Thunder Trail 505.455.9000 ABOVE Director of golf Laurie Meredith, superintendent Jimmy Rodriquez and Skye, a rescue off a golf course in Colorado