Taos Golf

There will be a lot of talking this week in the golf world about St. Andrews, THE Open Championship, etc.

Here's my golf story.

This is a picture of my Dad and a couple of his buddies playing golf at the Taos Country Club about 1960.  It was a private 9 hole golf course carved out of sagebrush (duh - just look at the surroundings) and a clubhouse where lots of the business leaders ate, drank, played poker, and watched 16mm black and white movies of famous golf matches.

This is a picture of the golf course taken last week.  What once was the Taos Country Club, on the road to Taos Ski Valley, became the Quail Run Resort and the home to condos, etc.

I actually worked at a golf course when I was in high school.  It was developed by two of my uncles, Sid and Clinton Johnson in an area east of Taos known as Tienditas.   It is part of a beautiful valley, and the development was ahead of its time.  It remains a hidden valley.

And the golf course remains open.  The summer rains have helped keep it in nice mountain condition. I recall working there - slip sliding around the dirt roads after a summer rain - driving the road grader and dump drunks. And I remember having the responsibility for pin placements on the greens.

This pond - which we called a lake - was right outside the front door of Uncle Sid's first cabin on the site.  The pond remains.

Valley Escondido remains hidden - there are some locals and some Texans who have vacation cabins there - and I can certainly see why.  A beautiful place to get away from it all - and I mean that!