Eastbound And Down

An I-90 high-elevation experience awaits golfers from Spokane to Kalispell

BY BOB SHERWIN • SPECIAL TO CG

For those of us golfers who once took our rounds, our familiar foursomes and our faraway golf trips, for granted, the pandemic experience, like virtually all phases of life, has been acutely disruptive. We’ll probablynever get back what we lost, but the flags are up again, there are plenty of holes to play and the courses — aswell as the road — are wide open. Our options are manifold and include the great American golf road trip.

Circle this option — a vast tri-state loop to Washington’s eastern border, the western edge of Idaho, a swingthrough dense west-central Idahoan forest to McCall, followed by a swing north to northwest Montana and theincredibly beautiful Flathead Lake region. It’s a big, bold and beautiful Northwest-style golf trip that circles us back to the once-familiar.

STOP 1 • THE INLAND EMPIRE

Kalispel Golf and County Club and Northern Quest Resort & Casino

Kalispel Golf and Country Club • Spokane, Wash.

For many of us who live west of the mountains, the avid golf community of Spokane is a pleasant change. We can start at the Kalispel Golf and Country Club, which is connected to the Northern Quest Casino. Both course and casino are operated by the Kalispel Tribe of Indians.

In 2015, the Tribe purchased the historic golf course, its origin dating back to 1898 when it began life as Spokane Country Club. It was notable for hosting the inaugural U.S. Women’s Open in 1946, won by Hall of Famer Patty Berg. Other great players such as Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Fred Couples and Nancy Lopez have played there.

The Tribe has revitalized the layout as a shining amenity for its active casino crowd. Situated on the banks of the Little Spokane River, water comes into play on seven holes. If you can avoid the wet, there are still 54 bunkers to out-maneuver. The par 72, 6,662-yard layout features five par 3s and five par-5s. The par-5 16th hole, at 558 yards, is the longest and most memorable of the bunch. The elevated tee affords a glorious hillside view, through a gap in the trees, to the green valley below. Your drive will fly over the club’s entrance road and should be steered right on a curvy dogleg line. A long protective bunker covers most of the green’s front. There’s also, rather incongruently, a tall, spindly pine tree that seems inches to the left of the green, giving you pause on your approach.

STOP 2 • IDAHO BORDER

Circling Raven / Coeur d’Alene Casino and Coeur d’Alene Resort

Circling Raven • Worley, Idaho

Following Kalispel, venture out of Washington to two western Idaho stops essential for any golfing nomad — Circling Raven and the Coeur d’Alene Resort. Circling Raven, near Worley, opened 18 years ago in the summer of 2003 as an extension of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s successful casino operation. The course has been ranked in Idaho’s top two almost from opening day.

Original architect Gene Bates has been retained to oversee a series of improvements in anticipation of the course hosting a Symetra Tour event Aug. 27-29. This includes expanding the practice putting green an additional 25 percent to 12,000 square feet.

What stands out most at Circling Raven is the impressive collection of par 3s. Three of the four are more than 210 yards, including the monster, 253-yard 13th. Big sticks are definitely required. The others are the 217-yard 3rd,

The course is long, wide and spread out over an incredible 620 acres. The back tees can stretch the layout to 7,189 yards which wind through a varied landscape of woodlands, wetlands and rolling hills. The average elevation is around 2,600 feet. 212-yard 7th, and the only sub-200-yarder - the 192-yard 16th (multiple forward tee boxes do, of course, allow you to play each hole from closer to the green).

“Our signature holes are probably No. 8 and No. 15,’’ says David Christenson, the Director of Golf. “Both are downhill par 4s, framed by the tree-line where you can see the mountains in the background.’’

At the 426-yard 15th, golfers hit from an elevated tee down into a scenic valley, where two massive left-side fairway bunkers gather balls with regularity. The hole is called ‘Steals Horses,’ but ‘Steals Birdies’ may work just as well.

Many of the same folks who play here also play the venerable Coeur d’ Alene Resort Course whose best-known feature is, of course, the world-famous floating green of the 14th hole. The 15,000-square-foot green complex sits on a barge that can be re-positioned daily, the hole’s yardage fluctuating between 95 yards and 218. The barge is two years removed from a major five-month refurbishing. The soil was removed, and the gardens beds, sand, grass and trees replaced. The green is back in position with 25,000 to 30,000 shots bearing down on it every year. From a spark of an idea in resort owner Duane Hagadone’s imagination, the illustrious green has grown into a world icon and made the 14th by far the most famous hole in Idaho and perhaps the western half of the USA outside of Pebble Beach.

“It’s always kind of looming on the back-nine,’’ says Andy Mackimmie, the Resort’s head golf professional. Really, it’s in your head as you work your way around the whole of the 6,803-yard, par 71 layout and it arrives with just four holes remaining — not enough time to make up for a possible watery double bogey. “To call the Island Green our signature hole is a major understatement,” Mackimmie adds. Three other water-influenced holes directly leading up to the 14th also have a sneaky way of wrecking a round. Then water-water everywhere on 14. As signatures holes go, it really does set the standard.

Once you get off the island, as was once sung during a simpler era, it’s time to get back to the land and set your soul free. And there might be nothing better for the soul than to immerse it in the raw nature of western Idaho, among the most primitive stretches of land in the continental U.S.

STOPS 3 & 4 • SW IDAHO

McCall Golf Club and Jug Mountain Ranch are calling

Jug Mountain Ranch • McCall, Idaho

Head east and drift south along the interstate into the Idaho wilderness, where various national forests converge, among them the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest, the Wallowa Whitman National Forest and the Payette National Forest. As you reach the southern shore of Lake Payette, the wilderness resort town of McCall welcomes all vagabond foursomes who can tee it up at a pair of golfing gems — McCall Golf Club and Jug Mountain Ranch.

McCall GC has been around longer than many of the surrounding pines. No one is really sure who built it or when, though it’s said to have opened in 1928 which would make it among the oldest courses in the state. “They decided to build three holes initially,” says Allen Morrison, McCall GC’s head golf professional. “Then, three more the next year, and three more the year after that.”

By all accounts, it became a ‘recognized’ golf course by 1935 when nine holes were complete. That was also the first year the course hosted the McCall Amateur, a popular tournament that continues to this day. The weeklong event is such a summer highlight in town that the waiting list to enter once pushed past 400.

It was more than 30 years later — in 1968 — that a second nine was added to complete the 18 holes. A third nine was authorized and completed in 1995. That was designed by noted course architect Robert Muir Graves, with more than 75 courses, mostly in the western U.S., to his credit. “The (Graves) nine is a cool addition that really takes advantage of the terrain,’’ says McKenzie Kraemer who promotes the McCall and Jug Mountain Ranch courses. “It’s in the middle of the city, but there is a point in the course where you feel like you’re out in the middle of the forest. It’s a fun, unique experience.”

McCall’s three nines are designated simply as A (Aspen), B (Birch) and C (Cedar). C came 60 years after A. All three nines feature much of the same terrain that surrounds the town, just slightly more cultivated. As Morrison labels it, “big lake, mountains, pine tree’’ terrain. That wilderness influence also includes the surrounding wildlife, much of it visiting from the nearby Ponderosa State Park. “Every year we have bears and their cubs come through,” says Morrison. “There’s elk on the course, and we also have 20 to 50 deer living on the property. Foxes too.” The ever-present deer, called ‘townies’’ by the locals, all play through.

One hole that stands out on the Aspen Course is No. 5, a short par-5 called, with some affection, Double Ditch. Two streams run across the fairway, and the play for most might be to drive short of the first though that will, of course, leave you a longer second — 160 yards or so — to clear the second. To complicate matters, there’s OB right and hazards left.

Birch (B) has what Morrison calls ‘birdie alley’ in which Nos. 4, 5, 6 and 7 all have the potential to be birdied. No. 5 and 6 are back-to-back reachable par 5s. The third hole on Birch can provide an instant appraisal for golfers approaching the green. Kraemer says the clubhouse, which sits at the top of the rise, has a deck on which many people might be enjoying a beverage. “The gallery will either cheer your shot or let you know how they feel about it,” she adds.

While the wonderful McCall course is within the city, Jug Mountain Ranch is six miles due south of town. It is named after the distinctive 8,310-foot peak of Jughandle Mountain that serves as the eastern backdrop for this west-central Idaho burg. The early settlers named the mountain that because its rock formation looked like a moonshine jughandle.

Opened in 2004, the course was designed by Donald Knott, a former Senior Vice President of Design for the Robert Trent Jones II Group. Among the more prominent of the 60-plus courses Knott worked alongside Jones on are: Makena (Maui), Beaver Creek (Colo.), Poppy Hills (Calif.), Spanish Bay (Calif.), Sunriver (Ore.) and elite courses in such far-off places as The Philippines, Japan, China, South Africa, France, Australia, and New Zealand.

Knott finished the first nine in 2004, and the second in 2006. Like any great designer, Knott took what the terrain gave him. Most of the early holes are characterized by significant elevation changes. As you weave through the course, water pops into play. “There are no parallel holes,” says Kraemer. “You never see another fairway.” Everything you need to know about the course – and much of what you’ll remember – is offered on the 410-yard opening hole from where you can see the whole course. Your spirit will soar as you watch your tee shot glide down to the valley floor. Your heart might sink, however, if you find your drive reached the chilly, mountain stream gurgling across the fairway.

There is another course in town you should work into your itinerary, but you’ll need to be staying at the elegant Shore Lodge on the banks of Lake Payette to secure a teetime. This stunning Roger Packard/Andy North design, a two-minute drive southwest of the lake, opened in 2002, and is definitely worth changing your lodging plans to play.

LAST STOP • BIG SKY COUNTRY

Northwest Montana

Whitefish Lake Golf Club • Whitefish, Mont.

If you can find your way out of this towering Idahoan pine paradise through the Payette National Forest, steer slightly east and north toward Missoula. From there, cross I-90 and continue toward the Flathead Lake/Glacier National Park region.

McCall GC’s Allen Morrison, who knows both areas well, says Flathead Lake area is beautiful. “If I didn’t live in McCall, I’d live there,” he adds. It’s here that the Northwest Montana Golf Association offers a nine-course collection of scenic beauties. Three of the nine are within just a short distance of each other in Kalispell, a picturesque city of about 25,000 that serves as the gateway to Glacier National Park in the state’s northwest region. The three Kalispell courses are Buffalo Hill Golf Club, Northern Pines GC and Village Greens GC.

The other six are spread out around the Flathead Lake region and north towards Glacier National Park. They are: Glacier View GC in West Glacier, Cabinet View GC in Libby, Indian Springs Ranch GC in Eureka, Meadow Lake GC in Columbia Falls, Polson Bay GC in Polson and White Fish GC in Whitefish, a 36-hole complex with stunning views of the lake.

Buffalo Hill is a popular Kalispell location, an elegantly rugged alpine course with gentle mountain ranges all around. It has a rolling terrain with ponds and streams, and is so peaceful you almost don’t mind hitting an occasional wet shot. All the courses have challenging, interesting, signature holes. But what brings you here is more than just the golf. What matters is the breath-taking scenery, the wilderness, the mountains, valleys and lakes. Two of the best places to experience the panoramas are Glacier View GC and Whitefish Lake GC.

Glacier View, as you’d expect from the name, is a spectacularly scenic course on the southern edge of Glacier National Park. Most of the holes have views of the snowy peaks on the horizon. Whitefish Lake is about 50 miles southwest from Glacier, and has double the views of any course in the area. That’s because there are two courses - the North and the South, both within sight of Whitefish’s southern shore.

Water features not only enhance the views throughout both courses, they also cause a fair amount of consternation. One of the terrible beauties – perhaps the toughest par 3 you’ll encounter on the trip – is the 195-yard seventh hole on the South Course. It’s an all-carry shot, as the water, which runs the entire length of the hole, juts out in front of the green. The South’s 354-yard 13th hole poses an agonizing water dilemma with an easy-to-find pond about 50 yards short of the green. It’s a 225-yard shot off the tee to the water so, unless you’re feeling mighty, a safe tee shot with a middle-iron might be the way to go.

On the North Course, water comes into play on at least four holes, the most compelling of them the 206- yard 4th. If you can hit it straight, there might not be an issue. But if your tee-ball strays just slightly left, the water all along that side will not allow the ball to return home with you.

It’s a long road back home, even just to get to I-90 from the Flathead region. Perhaps the journey can be broken up with a slew of other fine golfing properties all along the way. Maybe give the floating green another shot. When you pass by Coeur d’Alene, you might not see the island but you know it’s there, in your mind’s eye.

Polson Bay Golf Course • Polson, Mont.