Cree Meadows Country Club

Ruidoso sits at roughly 6,900 feet in the Sacramento Mountains of south-central New Mexico, and Cree Meadows has been a fixture of this mountain resort town for decades. The elevation gives the ball a noticeably longer carry than golfers are used to at sea level, and the cool, pine-scented air makes the experience feel more like playing in the Rockies than the desert Southwest most people associate with New Mexico.

The course occupies the meadow terrain that gives it its name, winding through the valley floor with the surrounding Sacramento peaks forming a dramatic backdrop. That setting alone — tall ponderosa pines, the Rio Ruidoso nearby, mountain light that shifts dramatically through the afternoon — makes this a memorable place to play regardless of the scorecard.

As the only regulation 18-hole layout in Ruidoso proper, Cree Meadows serves as the town's golfing hub, drawing both vacationers up from the Chihuahuan Desert heat below and the community of year-round residents who make this mountain enclave their home.