Aug. 12--SANTA ANA PUEBLO, N.M.--Peter Chase of Santa Fe searches for his golf ball among the pinon trees and Indian paintbrush surrounding the 10th green at the Twin Warriors golf course. Finding his Titleist 2, he chips it onto the green oasis and sinks his putt. 

"I love this course," said Chase. "It's quiet, it's beautiful, and it's damn hard." 

Opened to the public in May, the Gary Panks-designed Twin Warriors is the latest tribally owned public golf course to open in New Mexico. Affiliated with the Santa Ana Pueblo's new $80 million Tamaya Hyatt Regency Resort & Spa, Twin Warriors brings 18 desert links holes to the reservation, which opened 27 holes at the Santa Ana Golf Club in 1993. 

On these courses, the hazards are coyotes and rattlesnakes, along with cactus-spiked rough. In the pro shop, traditional Pueblo pottery is sold next to Ping clubs. 

After a boom in casino business in the late 1990s, many tribes in New Mexico are turning to golf courses as the next wave of Native American business. 

The money earned from golf is dwarfed by the tens of millions of dollars in annual revenue from gambling. But tribal leaders say they are attracted to golf courses because they bring added revenue and jobs without devastating the land. And in the pitched battle for water in the West, these courses also help tribes preserve their water rights. 

Native American tribes in about 10 states are developing golf courses, including the Pequots' plan to build two courses near the Foxwoods casino in Connecticut. But the action is heaviest in New Mexico. 

"What we have is land, water, and now money," said E.J. Lujan, assistant superintendant of the Santa Ana Golf Club. "Cities and counties have run out of land, and water is expensive or just not there. That's not an issue with us, because we already own both." 

Much of New Mexico is federal land, huge swaths of private property, or local government acreage that has already been developed or spoken for. What is left is the land owned by New Mexicos 19 Pueblo tribes, the Navajo Nation, and the Mescalero and Jicarilla Apache tribes. 

The Santa Ana, Isleta, and Cochiti Pueblos and the Mescalero Apaches own established courses. The Sandia and Santa Clara Pueblos have courses in the works, and Pojoaque's Towa Golf Course will open in September. 

On these courses, islands of green are surrounded by desert terrain. Taking advantage of the contours of the land, top-notch golf course designers are making the courses some of the most beautiful and challenging in the Southwest. 

"The tribes have absolutely changed the face of golf in New Mexico," said Mo Olguin of Golf New Mexico magazine. "In the case of too many courses, we'd go in with a bulldozer, flatten everything, and plant grass hole to hole, just like anywhere else. The tribes were really the first to bring the `desert links' concept here and really work with the land to make the courses unique."

Calvin Tafoya, tribal administrator for Santa Clara Pueblo, said: "Where we're building our golf course, people used to go out there and dump, ride motorcycles, party, things like that. 

"But now we're taking care of it, and it's in much better shape," Tafoya said. "We're not building a shopping mall. We want it to be natural, because that's what the customers want." 

There is still the unavoidable question of water. 

Before Europeans arrived, the Pueblos settled on choice farmland along the Rio Grande River, which serves as the lifeblood of the state. The Spanish respected these land and water rights, which were preserved under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that settled the Mexican-American War in 1848 and under which the United States took possession of what became New Mexico. 

More than 150 years later, with available land filling up as the state's population increases, those rights are more valuable than ever. And, tribes fear, they could be in jeopardy. 

"In my grandfather's years, they had to farm," said Tafoya of the Santa Clara, whose Black Mesa Golf Course is slated to open next summer. "They had to put away corn for the winter to live. 

"Farming is still an important tradition, but today we all have jobs and go grocery shopping," he said. "Golf creates more jobs and revenue per acre than raising alfalfa for the cows does. And with water, possession is nine-10ths of the law." 

As more people vie for a finite amount of water in New Mexico, water rights are more controversial than ever. Determining who should get how much water and still meet downstream commitments to Texas and Mexico is a growing headache for the state engineer's office. 

Golf courses, whose water consumption takes the place of farms, help the tribes maintain a level of water usage that can be cited if there are future court fights over supplies. 

"There's a `use it or lose it' threat hanging over the tribes," said Santa Ana's Lujan. "Putting greens have become our new cash crop. We're establishing that just because we don't farm like we used to doesn't mean we don't need water." 

Paul Saavedra, director of water rights for the New Mexico State Engineers office, said, "I don't think a tribe would ever lose existing water rights, but it may be difficult for them, like anybody, to gain additional rights." 

Aside from economic and resource issues, golf is something that directly benefits tribal members, said Cleophus Melvin Jr., director of the Pueblo de Cochiti golf course, built in 1981. The tribe has decided not to build a casino, fearing that it could damage their the traditional lifestyle. 

Ranked by Golf Digest as one of the nation's top 75 affordable courses, the Cochiti course is designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. and is the tribe's major source of income. 

"Our kids are seeing Tiger Woods and Notah Begay on TV playing golf, and they're saying, I could do that," Melvin said. 

Tribal members often play for free or receive a discount at their courses, he said. "Golf is a way to get our kids outside and enjoy our land. It's a source of pride for us, and it's something our grandfathers would approve of." 

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