Los Alamos County Golf Course in New Mexico is expected to fully reopen in Spring 2026, following the completion of a renovation project by golf course architects Todd Schoeder and Forrest Richardson.
The architects sought to bring back many of the qualities that had been lost to ad hoc design changes and overcrowding trees. Schoeder said: “It was part restoration, but also part adding new design features to the layout. We also wanted to establish a new practice facility, and that meant re-routing a few holes to make room.”
The par-four fifth at Los Alamos County GC in New Mexico, which has been renovated by Todd Schoeder and Forrest Richardson (Photo: Russell Kirk)
The course was constructed in 1947, to help the Atomic Energy Commission attract workers to the remote Los Alamos National Laboratory, which sits high among the southern reaches of the Rocky Mountains and featured in the 2023 film Oppenheimer. Just a mile from the entrance of the Lab, the course has always been open to the public.
A 1960s advertisement to attract workers to the Los Alamos National Laboratory (Image: courtesy of Forrest Richardson)
The remote setting for the Lab was chosen by J. Robert Oppenheimer for security reasons and that means the current course – following a relocation in the 1950s – has a dramatic location, winding its way along two canyons, with distant views to mountains covered by ponderosas and pinyon pines. “It’s a true Alpine setting,” said Richardson. “New Mexico is known as the ‘Land of Enchantment,’ which may best describe this remote, hidden gem.”
The original Los Alamos layout was attributed to Willie Tucker. “Tucker worked for Willie Dunn in Biarritz, France, and then settled in the States in 1895. There he helped form the original Mount Hope course at The Saint Andrews Golf Club in Yonkers, New York. He also built courses, including work for Tillinghast.” Tucker’s original site at Los Alamos was abandoned in the mid-1950s, but many of his features and style were integrated to form the present 18-hole layout.
The course in the 1950s, shortly after it was relocated to its present site (Photo: courtesy of Los Alamos County)
Following two years of planning and two years of construction, Los Alamos County now has a reimagined 18-hole course, a widened range and a new short game area.
Schoeder led the restoration of features, including new tees, added forward tees and a full bunker enhancement programme. The course now has 35 bunkers, all rebuilt or added using the Better Billy Bunker system. All green surfaces were renovated and two new greens were built.
Richardson took on the task of rerouting to make room for new practice areas. Holes seven and eight were reversed to mitigate an adjacent road widening and to improve course flow. The architects shared responsibilities, working to meet a demanding schedule in the seasonal, high-altitude climate.
The drop shot par-three seventeenth on the renovated layout, which is expected to fully open in Spring 2026 (Photo: Russell Kirk)
Construction was completed by Mid-America Golf and Landscape and the renovated course is a par 72 of 6,800 yards.