"It's football season, and Kokopelli is your one-stop shop to enjoy your favorite teams, your favorite food, your favorite drinks, and your favorite people!"
That invitation sits on the Alto Lakes Golf & Country Club website, under a page titled "Kokopelli at Alto Lakes." Where it's posted matters as much as what it says. Kokopelli's clubhouse, course and tennis courts now run on another club's schedule, and that shared schedule decides which October days feel busy at home and which ones send the action across Alto.
How Kokopelli Ended Up on Alto Lakes' Calendar
At a town hall on June 28, 2023, Alto Lakes described a proposed asset purchase. Alto Lakes Golf and Country Club LLC would buy from Kokopelli Mesa Homeowners Association Inc. and Kokopelli Mesa Water Rights LLC. The package covered the golf property, tennis courts, clubhouse, wells, water systems, equipment, furnishings, and the Kokopelli names and trademarks. That December, Lincoln County commissioners scheduled a January 2024 hearing on Alto Lakes' application to take over Kokopelli's on-premises club liquor license.
Today the club calls The Outlaw and Kokopelli its "sister clubs." It describes golf membership as year-round access to 54 holes across Alto, Outlaw and Kokopelli. Members can bring accompanied guests to all three courses. For a Kokopelli household, that turns the home course into one stop on a loop, and the published golf calendar shows when the loop comes back around.
The October Rotation, Read From Kokopelli
The 2026 golf calendar spreads the club's associations and couples events across all three courses. Here's how the Wednesdays and Sundays fall for the rest of October.
| Date | Alto | Outlaw | Kokopelli |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun., Oct. 4 | Couples Golf, 4 p.m. | ||
| Wed., Oct. 7 | AL9GA, 8:30 a.m. | AMGA, 8 a.m. | |
| Sun., Oct. 11 | Couples Golf, 4 p.m. | ||
| Wed., Oct. 14 | AMGA, 8 a.m. | ALGA, 8 a.m. | AL9GA, 8:30 a.m. |
| Wed., Oct. 21 | AL9GA, 8:30 a.m. | AMGA, 8 a.m. | ALGA "Christmas in October," 8 a.m. |
| Wed., Oct. 28 | AL9GA, 8:30 a.m. | ALGA Halloween, 8 a.m. | AMGA, 8 a.m. |
Kokopelli gets nothing on the first Wednesday of the month. After that, the rotation sends a different association to the home course on each of the last three Wednesdays. The themed ALGA day comes to Kokopelli on October 21 with "Christmas in October." The Halloween outing goes to the Outlaw a week later. Couples Golf opens the month at Alto this afternoon and moves to Kokopelli the following Sunday, October 11. The same calendar lists a Doug Bass event at Alto from October 9 through 11.
Over the next four weeks, that comes to four scheduled event dates on the home course, all falling between October 11 and October 28.
Wednesday Is When the Courts, the Course and the Kitchen Line Up
Those golf Wednesdays share the morning with Kokopelli's busiest standing tennis slot. The club's racquet page lists Men's 3.5+ Doubles on the Kokopelli courts every Wednesday from 9 to 11 a.m. Co-ed 2.5/3.0 Doubles uses both courts on Mondays and Fridays in the same two-hour window. The Outlaw courts run their own schedule: men's doubles Monday morning, ladies' doubles Friday morning and mixed doubles Sunday from noon to 2 p.m.
On October 14, 21 and 28, a golf association tees off at Kokopelli at 8 or 8:30 a.m. Tennis starts at 9, and the clubhouse opens at 11 a.m. A few rules apply on any day you play:
- All members and guests register in the golf shops before play, and courts are assigned by reservation only.
- When other members are waiting, court time is capped at an hour and a half or three sets, whichever comes first.
- The Kokopelli Pro Shop is at 575-336-3183.
- Alto Lakes Tennis Association dues are $10 per calendar year and Alto Lakes Pickleball Association dues are $20. Beginner pickleball clinic dates go up on the bulletin board at the Outlaw pickleball courts.
The Kitchen Behind the Football Pitch
The main Alto Lakes dining page lists the Kokopelli Clubhouse as open for the season, Friday through Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., closed Thursday. The phone number is 575-336-3180. The Kokopelli page itself lists "Wednesday-Friday" hours while also saying it's closed Thursday. Call ahead before planning a late lunch around a kickoff. The Membership page still says dining is "coming soon" to Kokopelli, while the dining page says the clubhouse is open for the season.
That Thursday closure falls the day after the busiest morning on the home course. Wednesday golf groups and the Men's 3.5+ tennis players finish while the kitchen is open. Thursday is the one day of the week it stays dark.
The Kokopelli Summer 2026 menu reads like it was written by people who know the course. It lists the Koko Cobb, Southwest Caesar, Socorro Sliders, Lamb on the Links, Hanger Steak and Sacramento Steak Fingers. The earlier 2026 opening menu added Putter's Salad, a Route 66 French Dip and a Filet of Beef Tenderloin. Weekly specials are posted on the Kokopelli page, most recently for September 25 through 30.
The club profiles Kokopelli's Chef de Partie, Thagen Sigamoney. He was born in Durban, South Africa, and his specialties include Indian curries and tandoori as well as French cuisine. He first came to the United States on the J1 program in 2010 and 2011, working at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Since 2018 he has split his seasons among Alto, Hunter's Run and Pine Creek Sporting Club in Florida. The club says he's Alto's first official green card recipient. "My goal is to be the best," he told the club.
Thursdays and Weekends Off the Course
The clubhouse calendar leaves Thursday open, and a short drive fills it. Alto Provision Co. held a grand-opening party for its new location at 491 Fort Stanton Road on June 20, with music from Matthew Palmer, burgers from Sacred Smash Shack and beer from Downshift Brewing. The locally owned liquor and provisions shop is open daily from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and until 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
Enchanted Vine by Noisy Water Winery in Alto is running its Pumpkin Patch through October 31, with pumpkins, photo spots and seasonal drinks.
The weekend of Couples Golf at Kokopelli is also the busiest weekend on the area calendar. The XTERRA World Championship runs Thursday, October 8, through Sunday, October 11. The swim is at Grindstone Lake and the mountain biking is on local forest trails. Plan errands into Ruidoso around those four days. By the 4 p.m. Couples Golf start on Sunday, the racing will be winding down.
Into November
After the last scheduled association day at Kokopelli on October 28, the dates to know move off the course. Reservations for Enchanted Vine's members-only Wine Club Thanksgiving Feast close Monday, November 2. The dinner is Saturday, November 7, and owner Jasper Riddle and head winemaker Fabian Olvera will join guests. On Saturday, November 28, the Ruidoso Turkey Trot 5K runs on The Links Trail as the final race of the 2026 Run Ruidoso series.
The club's event calendar sits behind a member login, so that is the place to check for November plans at Kokopelli itself.
Living at Kokopelli now means living on a shared calendar, and that's part of what a Kokopelli home offers to the next owner. If you're thinking about what your place is worth in this setting, Gavin R Bigger can put together a custom market valuation and a listing plan built around the club access, courts and clubhouse a Kokopelli buyer gets.
