The Legend Lives On

Twin Warriors Golf Club is routed in and around more than 20 ancient cultural sites

By Roger Graves, PGA Magazine

According to Native American legend, twin warriors Mase'ewi and Uyuye'ewi have watched over the Santa Ana Pueblo tribe through times of war and protected them in peace. Now, the twin warriors will watch over The 36th PGA Club Professional Championship, June 19--22 at Twin Warriors Golf Club just 20 minutes outside Albuquerque, N.M., in the shadow of the Sandia Mountains. Paying close attention to cultural sensitivities and 800-year-old Native American artifacts, golf-course architect Gary Panks routed Twin Warriors' 18 holes around 20 historical sites that included a sacred butte called Tuyuna, or Snakehead, that serves as a backdrop for the 14th hole and borders the 15th and 16th (pictured above) holes. There also is an ancient cave dwelling between the tee boxes of the second and 15th holes. The course meanders through 12 natural arroyos and a dormant volcano that serves as the backdrop to the par-4 10th hole.

"The original routing plan of the holes was far different from the finished product that Gary Panks designed. Many changes had to be made to preserve the cultural and archeological artifacts found on the property that is now Twin Warriors Golf Club," says Roger Martinez, general manager and director of golf for Santa Ana Golf Corp. "When you build a golf course on Indian land, the government holds the land in trust for the tribe. When the tribe moves the land from federal trust to Indian control, the Bureau of Indian Affairs must be involved as well as the state historic preservation society to ensure that no land or antiquities on the land are impacted by the golf-course construction.

"When the routing plan was going to a final design stage, we had environmental, archeological and BIA officials literally walking the land an arm's length apart to look for pottery chards, flint chips, arrowheads and anything that might indicate prior habitation. They found thousands of pieces of evidence, from pottery pieces to cave dwellings, that proved Indian tribes had lived on this land hundreds of years ago. They found more than 20 ancient cultural sites on the land, so the golf course had to be routed in and around these cultural sites of prior habitation.

"There were originally 13 or 14 tribes along the Rio Grande River Valley called Pueblos, and the most prominent tribe here was the Santa Ana Pueblos. The golf course is built on their land. It has over 400 acres, but only about 90 acres are irrigated and grassed to be sure the cultural areas are not disturbed."

Twin Warriors is the golf cornerstone of the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort & Spa, which features 350 guest rooms on more than 500 acres. A kiva pool designed after a native ceremonial chamber, an oxbow pool reflecting the shape of the nearby Rio Grande River, and the 27-hole Santa Ana Golf Club down the street have made this resort a popular destination for Southwest travelers. In designing Twin Warriors Golf Club, Panks utilized the natural, rugged beauty of the land, preserving knolls of native grasses and ridges dotted with juniper and pinion pine. Panks enhanced the natural landscape at the par-3 fourth hole, which has become Twin Warriors' signature hole. From the back tee, the fourth plays 197 yards over a large lake -- the only lake on the course -- flanked on the left side by a series of terraced ponds and waterfalls. A single bunker guards the right-front of the green, which is a two-tiered brain teaser that can confound those golfers who think they are home free after negotiating the lake fronting the putting surface.

"Gary Panks did a masterful job of rerouting some of the holes and creating a masterpiece on this site," says Martinez, a multi-facility manager and member of The PGA of America. "The fourth hole is a great example of what a golf-course architect can do to enhance the natural lay of the land without going overboard. Obviously, the waterfalls weren't there originally, but they were created to capture and accentuate the peaceful beauty and atmosphere of the sacred land on that hole. The waterfalls and lake offer a peaceful view."