Currently ranked 46th in Golf Digest's 100 Best Public Courses in the US, it was an absolute pleasure to play Paa-Ko Ridge outside of Albuquerque this past Saturday. This course has it all - fantastic... Continue »

Currently ranked 46th in Golf Digest's 100 Best Public Courses in the US, it was an absolute pleasure to play Paa-Ko Ridge outside of Albuquerque this past Saturday. This course has it all - fantastic layout, unreal setting, perfect conditions and quality customer service. And believe it or not - it's absolutely affordable for the perfection you will experience.

Paa-Ko Ridge is a 27-hole course with the latter holes 19-27 having been added within the last decade I believe. My friend and I were instructed that we would be playing tracks 2 and 3 for the day and it only leaves me wanting more and the chance to play holes 1-9 next time I get the opportunity.

Holes 10-18 are a wild journey that feels more like you're in the mountains than the desert, and the way the holes serpentine through the valley is simply stunning. There's a great amount of greenery on this side of the Sandia Mountain range and it's highlighted even more when you see the picture perfect fairways winding through, up and around the topography. Each and every hole seems like the Signature Hole. Yes. Each and every one. It's fantastic. Throwaway holes? Forget it. None here. But you better believe that it's challenging as can be and the distances from the first two tee boxes are very intimidating (we opted for the green tees).

The newer part of the course, holes 19-27, feel a bit different and this new addition is actually even harder than the first part that we played. You don't feel as much isolation and solitude as you do on the other nines as this course is either up or down and has many more houses lining the property (though they're very aesthetically pleasing and fit into the landscape very nicely). Elevations galore here, long carries, tough angles, but even more beautiful scenery as the mountains in front and the valleys behind really sing to you all day long. This nine also features the 3-3-3 combo of par 5s, 4s and 3s so you get it all. And the par 3s are really tough and long and mostly downhill and terrifying. But awesome, too.

Conditions? What can I say that you can't already figure out for yourself? It's mostly immaculate from tee to green in every way. The fairways are lush and green and so inviting, especially off the tee. They pull you in very dramatically. The rough is thick and daunting but you can find the ball sitting up nicely if you're lucky. There are a lot of places to get in trouble though if you're off and we often heard back in Albuquerque, "Bring a lot of balls." It's good advice. Tee boxes perfect. The only knock? Bunkers were good, not great.

Greens were fantastic. Absolutely perfect and running around an 11 or 12 on the Stimp. No ball marks to be found - a gem of a surface on each and every hole. I didn't play very well sadly after the first four holes, but my buddy was -1 after 10 holes and had no problem at all stopping the ball on the greens from just about every conceivable angle. Amazing.

Can't say enough about this place. Easily now in my Top 10 of all time. And again - it's really affordable in relation to some other high-end tracks around the country. It's about a 40-minute drive from Albuquerque so you've really got no excuse to miss it. Staff was also very friendly and mostly helpful and there were water bottles and ice every third or fourth hole which was great and necessary. I love this place and can't wait to go back. Again and again.