[October 24, 2021]
The moto for this second of a two-day northeast New Mexico golf tour is “Links of Enchantment” … a great moniker for this sleeper of a course was tucked away in the small town of Kirtland that was certainly an enchanting surprise.
Arriving for an early morning round (second tee time of the day, scheduled for 8:40am), we pulled into a fairly empty parking lot at Riverview Golf Course. We were glad to be paired with one of the few others at the course, a single player who was on his own golf tour across the country.
After teeing off on the first hole down a long, straight tree-lined fairway, this would prove to be the tale of two nine holes. During our round the day before, the friendly native that we were paired with us described the course in detail and so we had some preconceived notions, but it was funny to see how it truly played out.
Hole #1 is a par 4 and the men played the white tees, while I played the forward tees that were the color turquoise. It was still a cool 50 degrees, skies were overcast and the grass was dewy … it was a little difficult getting in the swing of things with not much time to warm up. I struggled a bit making the greens in regulation with not much advantage for the forward tee placement. However, the fairways were in really nice shape and the small round greens made for some two-putt opportunities.
The nearby sagebrush pastures were home to a small herd of antelope that frolicked freely on the fairways and they were happy to pose for photos. The front nine was flat geographically, but our scores were not as evenly smooth.
Once it was time to make the turn, we had sunshine for the back nine. The ambient temperature and our golf shots really warmed up. While the sun burned off the cloud cover, the moon made a celestial appearance as it set along the horizon.
The next nine holes were set amid the hilly basin and each fairway offered some exciting ups and downs. Hole #12 was the first of three par 3s on the back nine and was a fun elevate tee box with panoramic views. And, each of those in our threesome walked away with pars.
The last several holes offered enchanting sneak peeks at the Shiprock formation out to the west. The Shiprock silhouette also serves as the shape for the tee box markers, In Navajo, the landform is known as the rock with wings.
Unfortunately on hole #18, my drive did not take a good flight and the unflat fairway was a difficult par-4 finishing hole. Meanwhile, Mark’s drive had a great flight pattern and he finished with a birdie.
As we packed up the car to head back home, our friend from the previous day’s round pulled up and we got to thank him for sharing his course knowledge.
| PLAYERS | Mark and Karli (+Remington) |
| Scores | 80 / 100 |
| Course Conditions | Very Good |
| Greens | Very Good |
| Ambient Temperature | Front nine 45, back nine 54 |
| Winds | Light breeze |
| Cart path condition | Very nice asphalt paths |
| Club House | Nice outbuilding with friendly staff |
| Snack Bar/19th Hole | Nice, clean cafe with good assortment of grilled goodies |
| On course artwork | Celestial appearances of the moon and sun |
| Wildlife spotted | Antelope, bunny rabbits, and quail (no turtles as advertised on the course website) |
| Yucca count (New Mexico’s state flower) | One |
my hankerings 