Alto Lakes Golf and Country Club: Outlaw Course

Founded in 1967 at an elevation of 7,550 feet within the Lincoln National Forest near Ruidoso, Alto Lakes Golf and Country Club is a member-owned private club comprising three 18-hole courses on its Sierra Blanca property. The facility includes the original par-71 Alto course designed by Milton Coggins with later updates by Pete Dye, Robert Trent Jones Sr., and Ron Kirby; the par-72 Outlaw course designed by John LaFoy and added in 2011; and Kokopelli, an 18-hole par-63 executive hybrid opened in 1998.

Alto Lakes Golf and Country Club was established in 1967 in the mountain village of Alto, New Mexico, at an elevation of 7,550 feet on the flank of Sierra Blanca Peak. The club sits five miles north of Ruidoso, surrounded by Lincoln National Forest, at one of the highest-altitude private club settings in the American Southwest. Development of the community was led by Don Blaugrund beginning in 1967, several years after the 1961 opening of the nearby Ski Apache ski area had begun drawing Texas and southwestern visitors to the Sierra Blanca highlands for year-round mountain recreation. The original golf course — known today simply as the Alto course — was designed by Milton Coggins and plays at par 71 over approximately 6,550 yards from the back tees. Coggins shaped the routing to work with the mountain terrain, using the rolling hillsides and natural drainage of the Sierra Blanca foothills to produce a layout with genuine elevation change and consistent scenic framing.

Over the years, portions of the Alto course were updated by Pete Dye, Robert Trent Jones Sr., and Ron Kirby; their specific contributions have not been documented with precision in public sources, but each of the three is credited by the club and by multiple golf directories as having shaped the present-day layout. The course plays on Kentucky bluegrass fairways and bentgrass greens — cool-season turf that thrives in the mountain climate where summers are mild and winters bring significant snowfall at this elevation. Alto Lakes expanded to three courses over the following decades. Kokopelli at Alto Lakes debuted in 1998 as an 18-hole executive hybrid layout — a par-63 course with no par 5s, measuring 3,854 yards from the back tees. Its design emphasizes precision irons and short-game play, offering a shorter-round alternative for members who prefer to walk or play in under three hours.

In 2011 the club added The Outlaw at Alto Lakes, a full 18-hole championship course designed by John LaFoy. The Outlaw plays at par 72 and measures approximately 6,754 yards from its back tees, giving the facility a higher-par, longer championship option to complement the original Alto course. The three courses together give Alto Lakes 54 holes on its Sierra Blanca property, a scale unusual for a private club in any region and particularly so at this elevation. The thin air at nearly 7,550 feet reduces air resistance on ball flight, causing shots to carry noticeably farther than they would at sea level — an effect that golfers accustomed to desert or coastal play notice immediately. Surrounding ponderosa pine and Douglas fir forest frames virtually every hole on all three courses, creating tight corridors that reward accuracy over distance.

The Ruidoso corridor has continued to develop as a mountain resort destination in the American Southwest, anchored by Ski Apache to the west, Ruidoso Downs horse racing to the south, and the surrounding Lincoln National Forest. Alto Lakes Golf and Country Club serves a membership composed of both year-round highland residents and the seasonal visitors and second-home owners who make the Ruidoso area their mountain retreat — sustained across nearly six decades by the combination of Coggins's original mountain design, the later additions of Kokopelli and Outlaw, and the cool-climate mountain golf that distinguishes the club from every other private facility in New Mexico.