A sign at Black Mesa Golf Club sums up this 7,307 yard course on the Santa Clara Pueblo 20 miles north of Santa Fe big course big medicine it will kick your butt Completed in April 2003 Baxter Spann s design skirts desert brush and is framed by the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the plateau called Black Mesa Players must shape shots suited to the land s contours At the 216 yard 15th a small hill fronting the green kicks clever approaches to front hole locations otherwise impossible to find The 16th hole 536 yards uphill bears the taunting name Stairway to Seven But the real struggle here is on the greens By the time you find an old ranch windmill creaking in the breeze behind the 18th green you may suspect the course is having a laugh at your expense Some visitors complain about the blind shots at Black Mesa but that s part of the experience Just ask anyone who has played Ireland s Royal County Down If this track were in Ireland those same quirks would be considered charms excerpt from the article Top Ten You Can Play GOLF MAGAZINE February 2004