Elfego Bacal Golf Shoot

[zeg]

I've heard of the crazy par 3 off a mountain in South Africa, but this was new to me. The Elfego Bacal Golf Shoot, played from a mountain top in Socorro, New Mexico. One hole, 3 miles long through unimproved desert, with 2500 feet of vertical drop. Record score: 9 (although it's not played under the rules of golf, for many obvious reasons).

http://www.hiltonopen.com/Elfego.htm

Sadly, it seems to be discontinued as of 2004 (based on the website winners list), but it sounds like it'd be a crazy experience. Only $75, including transportation!

Anyone know of any other crazy events? Know anyone who played in this one?

[MSU Fishing]

Holy crap. The site says the average length of the course depending on the route is 2.5 miles.. and he shot a 9. Thats an average of 550 yards a shot and 1 putt.

[DAZinKC]

Elfego Baca . He's an old "Bandido" from the early 1900's. Many stories written about his adventures in New Mexico. Reads like an old Clint Eastwood cowboy movie. Great stuff to research.
I can see the 9 happening. That ball would roll a little bit in the desert.

[zeg]

Holy crap. The site says the average length of the course depending on the route is 2.5 miles.. and he shot a 9. Thats an average of 550 yards a shot and 1 putt.

Yeah, well it's half a mile of descent... the site says 500-600 yard drives are typical. You're also allowed to tee up within 50 feet or so (not nearer to the hole!) of where you find your ball, so that you don't get stymied by sagebrush or other desert features... Still, I'd bet it's a challenge to find your ball, even with three spotters.

Elfego

Sorry, I copied the name from the title of one of the pages on that site...

If you find an open space, I bet it'd roll like anything. Right up until it finds a cactus! It looked like typical winning scores were in the upper teens, except for this one guy who had the 9 and a few 12ish scores. My guess is he's a long drive guy---it'd be hard to string together 2.5-3 miles worth of drives, even with the vertical drop helping you...

[cougar978]

I've heard of the crazy par 3 off a mountain in South Africa, but this was new to me. The Elfego Bacal Golf Shoot, played from a mountain top in Socorro, New Mexico. One hole, 3 miles long through unimproved desert, with 2500 feet of vertical drop. Record score: 9 (although it's not played under the rules of golf, for many obvious reasons).

Dude, I went to college at NMT and played two years on the team there (I'm not sure if they still have one, the school is more geared toward Star Trek dorks vs. golfers and I have no real connection to it anymore outside of my bachelor's degree). The 15th green and 16th tee run right past my dorm and were lit by street lamps so I'd go out at night and work on chipping and putting.

As for the Elfego Baca shoot, it took place right after the spring semester, so I was never there for it but I heard it was pretty cool. The Hilton Open was a huge event back in the day - I think they lost their sponsorship a few years ago and it just became the Socorro Open and they dropped the shoot because of it.

[Open-Faced Club Sandwedge]

Holy crap. The site says the average length of the course depending on the route is 2.5 miles.. and he shot a 9. Thats an average of 550 yards a shot and 1 putt.

No putts, the article says the "hole" is a 50-foot patch of dirt.

-Andrew

[MSU Fishing]

No putts, the article says the "hole" is a 50-foot patch of dirt.

Sure enough, Would be helpful if I could read huh?

[zeg]

Dude, I went to college at NMT and played two years on the team there (I'm not sure if they still have one, the school is more geared toward Star Trek dorks vs. golfers and I have no real connection to it anymore outside of my bachelor's degree). The 15th green and 16th tee run right past my dorm and were lit by street lamps so I'd go out at night and work on chipping and putting.

That's cool, too bad you never got to play. They don't have any winners posted since 2004, so I guess it's dead. I have been out to Socorro once to visit the VLA and the NRAO offices, which are also right next to the golf course. Sadly I was only there for an afternoon, and didn't have my clubs...

[cougar978]

That's cool, too bad you never got to play. They don't have any winners posted since 2004, so I guess it's dead. I have been out to Socorro once to visit the VLA and the NRAO offices, which are also right next to the golf course. Sadly I was only there for an afternoon, and didn't have my clubs...

Trust me, you didn't miss much outside of VLA/NRAO. Socorro is nothing more than a shit splatter on I-25 in between ABQ and El Paso. I have never seen a college town with townie problems like it before. The NMT campus is really nice, but once you're off campus, you're fair game for assaults by drunken/high on crack townies. Since it's a dry campus and the RA's and hall directors are dicks about drinking in the dorms, you have to go off-campus to go to any parties and/or go to the Capitol Bar. When I was there, the Cap was basically a front to sell crack, and I had townies pull guns on me twice when I was at parties (the first time was for knocking out a guy who hit a girl there and his dumbass friend pulled a 12-gauge on me - that was a life-changing experience). Also, there's a 2.5/1 male-female ratio and about a 10/1 male-attractive female ratio there, so every party you go to is pretty much a sausage fest. Again, great school, nice golf course, shit town.

I haven't been there since '01, so maybe it's improved since then, but I really wish they could dig the campus up and set it down in Albuquerque.