"On every hole, you want people to say, 'Wow, I can't wait to play this,'" Tom Fazio told Golf.com in 2024, as Mexico News Daily later recounted. "And when they're finished, you want their first thought to be, 'Can we go play again?'"
Fazio was talking about Campo Alto, his second course at Querencia. Mexico News Daily reported that a members' grand opening is planned for tomorrow, Nov. 6. For roughly a quarter century, golf inside the gates has meant one course, Campo Bajo, and most members know every bunker on it. Campo Alto is not built to be a second Campo Bajo. Nearly every design choice works against the strengths of the original course. Querencia now has two kinds of golf, and the first few rounds on the new course will feel unfamiliar to people who know the old one well.
Fazio never meant to build a sequel
Campo Bajo set a high bar. Golf Digest ranked it No. 73 on its World's 100 Greatest Golf Courses list for 2022-2023. The magazine described a routing that "wanders the rugged terrain and low-growth vegetation of a high desert plateau above the Sea of Cortés," with holes that "jump across or sidle up to the edges of rocky canyons and arroyos."
With a record like that, a follow-up that tried to repeat the formula would have been easy to justify. Mexico News Daily's Chris Sands visited the site this spring and wrote that a sequel "was never the plan." Campo Bajo is carefully manicured, with bougainvillea and palm trees framing many of its greens. Campo Alto shows more of the raw ground of Baja California Sur. It has large elevation changes and winds through ridgeways, valleys and canyons.
Querencia's course page calls it a "desert-meets-sea" design: an 18-hole, par-72 course spread across 400 acres. It is a non-returning layout, so the routing does not loop back to the clubhouse at the turn. Campo Bajo is also a par-72 course, but it covers more than 300 acres. The new course has more room, and Fazio used that room for elevation and distance between holes rather than for gardens.
Two courses side by side
| Campo Bajo | Campo Alto | |
|---|---|---|
| Format | 18 holes, par 72 | 18 holes, par 72, non-returning |
| Acreage | More than 300 acres | 400 acres |
| Setting | Manicured, bougainvillea and palm-framed greens | Natural desert terrain along ridges, valleys and canyons |
| Where the challenge sits | Rippling fairways, greens tucked behind stone outcroppings | Approach shots into smaller, less undulating greens |
| Turf | Tifgreen 328 Bermuda fairways, TifEagle Bermuda greens since its 2018 renovation | TifTuf Bermuda |
| Irrigation | Recycled wastewater from San José del Cabo | Recycled wastewater from San José del Cabo |
Water and views are what the two courses share. Querencia has an agreement with the city of San José del Cabo to take its lightly used wastewater, which the club filters and recycles as greywater for irrigation. Neither course draws on the area's freshwater supply. Both courses also look out to the sea. Every hole on Campo Bajo's front nine has an ocean view, and Campo Alto has wide views of its own from higher ground.
The second shot matters most
Fazio has said Campo Alto plays more as a second-shot course than Campo Bajo does, with smaller and less undulating greens. On Campo Bajo, much of the difficulty sits around and on the greens: hidden pin positions, stone outcroppings, and putts that roll across humpbacked contours. On Campo Alto, the test comes earlier. The approach shot decides the hole, and a smaller target leaves less room for a loose iron.
The greens also explain the switch in grass. TifTuf is a hybrid Bermuda developed at the University of Georgia in 2014. Mexico News Daily reported that it has a stronger sustainability profile than Campo Bajo's turf and uses significantly less water. A course with more natural ground and less ornamental planting needs less water across its whole footprint. Fazio's two Querencia designs reflect two eras of thinking about desert golf.
Nearly five years from first site visit to opening day
Campo Alto has been visible from parts of the community for a long time, but the full timeline shows how much work went into it. Mexico News Daily traced the build year by year:
- Early 2022. Fazio and his team made their first site visits and drew up a routing plan.
- Early 2024. Permits were approved. Heavy machinery was purchased, the routing and irrigation plans were finalized, and clearing began, followed by the large-scale earthwork that shaped the holes.
- Early 2025. The first nine holes were grassed, and drainage and irrigation work started. That work took about a year.
- July 2025. The pump station came online, so water could be pushed through the pipes to any part of the course.
- Spring 2026. About 80 workers were on site. The first 13 holes were grassed and looked close to playable, while the five finishing holes were still being built. Those last five were scheduled for grassing in May.
Sands called those last five holes "dramatic." Because they were finished last, they have had the least time to grow in. A member playing the full 18 in the first weeks will see the closing stretch at its youngest.
What the first weeks look like
Querencia has planned the opening around members getting to know an unfamiliar course. Tee times will be spaced 12 minutes apart, which the club describes as a way "to maintain a comfortable pace of play as players learn our new golf course." On a non-returning layout with big elevation changes, those gaps leave time to look for the next tee and to stop and take in the views.
Comfort stations will be placed along the route "to accent the landscape and provide welcome moments to recharge mid game." Mexico News Daily has called the comfort station a Los Cabos specialty, and it listed the stations among the finishing touches still to come this spring. On a course routed through canyons and away from the clubhouse, these stations stand in for the halfway house.
Access works the same way it always has at Querencia. Campo Alto is for resident members and their guests, according to Mexico News Daily. Both Querencia courses are reserved for members and their personal guests. Campo Alto is also one of three new courses due in Los Cabos around this time, along with Oleada Golf Links and the Legacy Club at Diamante. Together they bring the area's total from 18 courses to 21. A member who wants to try a new Fazio course can do it inside Querencia.
Two courses mean more traffic at the clubhouse
A second course brings more golfers, more guests and more cars to the clubhouse. Querencia's "See What We're Building" page shows the club already preparing for that.
- Clubhouse parking garage. The club says parking at the clubhouse "has become increasingly demanding." An underground structure will more than double capacity and will include solar panels.
- Clubhouse Fitness Center. Plans include expanded strength training, cardio machines, a large Pilates reformer space, a dedicated spinning room, functional and mobility training areas, physical therapy and recovery rooms. A golfer adjusting to a new course may find the recovery rooms useful.
- Courts expansion. Four professional Adidas padel courts and additional pickleball courts will join the existing pickleball and tennis complex, along with a juice bar, shaded seating and overhead lights for play after dark.
All three projects are still under construction, according to Querencia. They sit close to amenities that have already opened. The Canyon Club has more than 20 family amenities, including a climbing wall, a trampoline park, a golf simulator with a shifting floor and a BMX pump track. The same campus includes La Mesa, a casual lunch spot, and El Mercado, which carries coffee, grab-and-go food, groceries and fresh flowers. A household can now split a morning between Campo Alto, the simulator and the climbing wall without leaving the gates.
The Golf Digest ranking, the palm-framed greens and the ocean views on the front nine will stay with Campo Bajo. Campo Alto adds a second option: more open ground, more elevation, smaller targets and a round decided by the approach shot. Once Campo Alto opens, members will be able to choose which kind of round they want to play.
If you are thinking about how two Fazio courses could fit your time in Los Cabos, or which part of Querencia suits the way you play, the team at SunLinks Real Estate would be glad to talk it through with you. We live this coastline and know these communities, and we enjoy helping clients match a home to the golf they want to play. Contact Us.
