When Mexico News Daily visited Campo Alto for a profile published in April, about 80 workers were spread across the property with an assortment of heavy machinery. Thirteen holes had already been grassed and looked almost ready to play. The five finishing holes, which are the most dramatic stretch of the routing, were still very much a work in progress.
Now Mexico News Daily reports that a grand-opening event for members is planned for Nov. 6. Querencia's own course page still lists the debut simply as 2026. Both say the same thing: Querencia is about to have two Tom Fazio courses. The second one was designed to feel like a different club's golf.
Two Courses, Built on Opposite Instincts
Campo Bajo set the standard here. It was Fazio's first international design, and Golf Digest ranked it No. 73 on its list of the World's 100 Greatest Golf Courses for 2022–2023. A sequel would have been the easy choice. In its April profile, Mexico News Daily reported that a sequel was never the plan. Campo Bajo is carefully planted, with bougainvillea and palms framing many greens. Campo Alto is meant to show more of the natural sweep of the Baja California Sur terrain, with big elevation changes as it winds through ridgeways, valleys and canyons.
Set side by side, the differences show up in nearly every design decision:
| Campo Bajo | Campo Alto | |
|---|---|---|
| Setting | Desert plateau above the Sea of Cortés, with holes running along rocky canyons and arroyos | Ridgeways, valleys and canyons across 400 acres |
| Planting | Bougainvillea and palms framing many greens | Native terrain left closer to its natural form |
| Greens | TifEagle Bermuda | Smaller and less undulating |
| Turf | Tifgreen 328 Bermuda fairways since the 2018 renovation | TifTuf Bermuda, a lower-water hybrid |
| Ocean views | Every hole on the front nine | Views across desert and the Sea of Cortés |
These are two clear points of view on the same piece of land. A member who has played Campo Bajo for years is not getting a familiar course with new scenery. The way the new course asks to be played is different too.
A Course Built Around the Second Shot
Fazio has said Campo Alto will be more of a second-shot course than Campo Bajo. On a course where the greens are smaller and gentler, the approach shot decides how the hole plays. On greens with heavy contours, more of that work falls to the putter.
The terrain supports that approach. "Because there are a lot of elevation changes through valleys and ridges, there is a lot of movement to the land and natural definition to the holes," Fazio told Mexico News Daily. "That creates interesting drama and variety."
Querencia's Campo Alto page describes an 18-hole, par-72, non-returning routing, meaning the course heads out along the ridges and through the canyons without coming back to a central point at the turn. That page also quotes Fazio on what he wants players to think after the round:
"One of the greatest things about this property is dramatic land features and elevation changes over ridges and through canyons. We're using these to create movement and framing for each hole, so that the first thought in your mind after you finish a game is 'can we go play again', because what you just experienced was so interesting and fun."
He made the same point to Golf.com in 2024, as Mexico News Daily recounted: "On every hole, you want people to say, 'Wow, I can't wait to play this.'"
What the Two Courses Share
The grass is where Campo Alto's differences reach below the surface. TifTuf is a hybrid Bermuda developed at the University of Georgia in 2014. According to Mexico News Daily, it has an even better sustainability profile than the grasses on Campo Bajo and needs significantly less water. In Southern Baja, choosing a grass is also choosing how much water a course will use for decades.
The water itself is one of the things the two courses have in common. Querencia has an agreement with the city of San José del Cabo to receive its gently used wastewater, which the community filters and recycles as greywater for irrigation. As Mexico News Daily reported, that means neither course draws on local water resources. The two courses play differently on the surface but run on the same water.
Nearly Five Years From Routing to Opening
Mexico News Daily's account of the build shows how long a desert course takes to make:
- Early 2022. Querencia hosts Fazio and his team for the first site visits and work on a routing plan.
- Early 2024. Permits are approved. Heavy machinery is purchased, the routing and irrigation plans are finalized, and clearing begins, followed by the heavy earthwork that shapes the holes.
- Early 2025. Drainage and irrigation work begins alongside grassing of the first nine holes.
- July 2025. The pump station starts up, able to push water from storage to any part of the course.
- 2026. Irrigation and drainage are completed, the final five holes are grassed in May, and finishing touches go in, including the comfort stations.
The routing came first and the grass came last, after a long stretch spent on drainage, irrigation and pumping that golfers never see. By the time players arrive, most of the work on Campo Alto will be underground.
The First Weeks on a New Course
Querencia's course page says tee times will be spaced 12 minutes apart "to maintain a comfortable pace of play as players learn our new golf course." Comfort stations will sit along the route as places to recharge mid-round. Mexico News Daily noted that comfort stations are something of a Los Cabos specialty. On a routing that does not come back at the turn, they also serve as the gathering points along the way.
Like Campo Bajo, the course will be open only to resident members and their guests. Golf media is already paying attention. LINKS Magazine named Campo Alto one of the top international course openings for 2026. For the people who will play it most, the opening is a smaller matter. On any given morning they will have two different courses to choose from.
Where Campo Alto Fits in the Season
The new course arrives as Querencia's season begins. The Clubhouse calendar opens with the Blue Agave season-opening Member/Guest golf tournament and also includes pickleball and tennis tournaments, a Speaker Series, a haunted house, holiday dinners and wine-tasting nights. After a round, the choices range from La Parrilla, the signature Clubhouse restaurant, to El Grotto Bar at the edge of the infinity pool.
Campo Alto is also the second recent addition to the community. The Canyon Club, Querencia's newly opened family campus, added La Mesa, which the club calls its newest eatery, along with an indoor climbing wall and a splash area. Both additions follow the same idea as Campo Alto: a new space that gives members a different kind of day from what they already had.
At Corcoran The Baja Real Estate Co., we follow Campo Alto's arrival closely because the setting of a home and the course it overlooks shape how ownership at Querencia feels. If you would like to talk about homes near either Fazio course, our team is here for that conversation. Explore Baja Properties.
