Story and most photos by Greg Wise – Golf the Wise Way
Imagine
…a golf course where time seems to stand still.
…a feeling that you and your foursome are gloriously alone.
…a tranquil, spiritual golf experience on the Native American owned course.
…leaving the course thinking “this is the greatest golf course I have ever played.”
Nature’s finest golf –
“as the Creator intended”
huy ‘isnme’Itsi’n
…or as Coeur D’Alene Tribe members greet you at the resort and golf course – “Welcome Home!”
We are talking about Circling Raven Golf Course, an amenity of the Coeur d’Alene Casino Resort Hotel in Northern Idaho, 50 minutes from Spokane, Wash.
Circling Raven is celebrating its 20th Anniversary season this year. It has garnered too many best-of-course honors to list them all, but some national awards include Top 100 Resort, Top 20 Casino, and Top 100 Public. It also is ranked the No. 1 Public course in Idaho and has been for most every year it has been open.
Interesting Facts
Circling Raven is named after a seminal tribal medicine man-prophet who guided the tribe through difficult times in the 1700s. His son, Twisted Earth, is also commemorated – through the superb clubhouse restaurant which is named after him.
It’s hard to imagine, that 620 acres of tribal land have been set aside to build an 18-hole golf course. That’s roughly five times more a acreage than the average course globally. That enabled golf course architect Gene Bates to organically design the holes by letting the land dictate where they should be.
The construction team started work in early 2021 and took 2.5 years to complete the course.
There are five sets of tees, ranging from Gold, measuring 7,189 yards (74.1/144), to Red at 4,560 yards (66.7/121). There are several other combinations to adjust the course to your game.
There are 7.5 miles of golf cart paths to get you around the incredible golf course, which traverse through wetlands, woodlands, and heaving Palouse Region terrain. Suffice it to say, this is not a course that can be walked. Even the Epson “Road to the LPGA” Tour players who competed here from 2021-2023 were ferried from a couple of greens to the next tees.
The Backstory
When the tribal council members were taking the final vote regarding whether to build Circling Raven, one council member stood and said, “We don’t even know how to run a golf course.” Very quickly came a response from another council member. “We didn’t know how to run a bingo hall when we built it either,” referring to the casino’s highly successful predecessor.
The council decided to proceed and chose Bates as its golf course architect. Bates’ firm was headquartered in North Palm Beach, Fla., thousands of miles across the nation, but he had the vision that the tribe sought.
“We selected Gene Bates from his presentation, focusing on the undisturbed land,” said longtime Coeur d’Alene Tribal Council member and erstwhile Chairman, Ernie Stensgar. “His thoughts were, if we didn’t have to move land or touch it, we won’t touch it.”
Other architects against whom Bates’ was competing for the job focused on land across the road that passed in front of the casino. But Bates found the terrain behind the casino more compelling.
“This piece of land had all the characteristics to design a masterpiece,” said Bates, a longtime design partner with Fred Couples. “When we walked the property, I could see how to lay out the holes on this unbelievable property. Once the initial footprint was conceived for the holes, my job was to connect the dots.”
Experiencing Circling Raven
The first tee presents the first of many risk-reward shot decisions to come. From the tees we played on the dogleg left par 5, it took 220 yards to clear the bunker at the corner of the dogleg. Fly the bunker and you are set up for a second shot that can reach the green. Pull it a little left and you are in knee-deep grass, looking at a double bogey right out of the gate. Middle-right of the fairway is the safest play, and while not reachable in two for most players from there, it’s an ideal place to chase birdie from.
As you play the front nine, you’ll be amazed on how wide the fairways are, player friendly even. Yet the masterpiece qualities of Bates’ design require you to find the correct landing areas, hit precise approach shots, and putt well. What it gives you off most of the tee boxes, it takes away with tricky greens complexes and putting surfaces. The Epson Tour players raved about the course’s conditions and its ingenious holes.
Back Nine Magic
Like the first hole, No. 10 presents another risk-reward choice. You can attempt a 230-yard carry into a prevailing breeze to be on or by the green, but if you are short you’re in wetlands. Time to re-tee. How do I know that? You guessed it. I could have hit something 175 yards to the fairway before the hole doglegs to the right and had a short wedge shot to the green. Duly noted for next time!
Even with that inauspicious start to the back nine, it was hard to dwell on that outcome. That’s because what I went on to experience was like nothing that I have ever seen on any course that I’ve played.
Going to 11th tee requires passing over railroad tracks to what I describe as a magical journey. You can’t see the next hole throughout the entire back nine until you arrive at the next tee. Because of the undulating landscape and Bates’ keen design expertise, every hole is hidden from the others.
pop up on your GPS Monitor?
Each hole feels completely different. and you begin to wonder how this is possible. Then you begin to feel the spiritual aspect of the setting, a place where the Coeur d’Alene’s have been hunting and gathering on for eons. The powerful feeling takes your experience to the next level. “As the Creator intended,” tribe members are known to say.
During dinner one evening with Laura Penney, CEO of Coeur d’Alene Casino and Resort Hotel, she explained that she got married on the 15th hole. An avid golfer and tribe member, Penney said the breathtaking setting inspired her and her husband to exchange vows there. The hole starts on high, then unfurls down to a green that sits exquisitely amid a nature cathedral framed by towering pines. With the Bitterroot Mountains in the background, how could a marriage be more memorable?
Golf Done Right
Circle Raven is more than just an 18-hole golf course. It has a complete set of options for players. We met with Don Rasmussen, the club’s Director of Golf Instruction. I’m not sure you can find a finer gentleman in golf. We were discussing the golf swing in the middle of the Pro Shop, when I noticed the tattoo on his arm. “It’s my philosophy in life, front and center, and it has never let me down.”
Circling Raven has a 25-acre teaching academy, including a short game practice area, and Don and his team will help you get to the next level in your game. New indoor golf simulators will open in late 2024; to add more playing and instruction options during the cold North Idaho winters.
Off the Course
When you arrive, it doesn’t take long to realize that you are now in a special place.
When you arrive, it doesn’t take long to realize that you are now in a special place.
Welcome Home, is how you are greeted at every entrance, including the one with a huge teepee out front. The atmosphere oozes with quality and authenticity.
There are 300 well-appointed rooms and 24 suites. You’ll feel pampered at Coeur d’Alene, thanks to an incredible staff and the attention to detail at every turn.
Speaking of pampered, Spa Ssakwa’q’n has you covered with 15,000 square feet of space dedicated to your relaxation and refreshing rejuvenation.
The casino hosts top name acts in its event showroom, it has multiple restaurants and eateries, and there are merchandise shops. It even has RVer’s covered with a parking area adjacent to the resort.
The casino has the latest, greatest video gaming machines anywhere. The “Discovery Den” is a place where, through a unique arrangement, players can test the very newest machines before they’re found anywhere else.
…and YES… They still have BINGO!
Save time to wonder around the resort. You may find things unique to Coeur d’Alene Resort that you will not find anywhere else.
Imagine opening a door to an outdoor space between the original hotel and casino to the newer Spa Wing that reads ”Chinook Meadow” and finding a one-acre walking trail through a nature park of native vegetation. I walked past this door four times before discovering the mini paradise.
Chief Morris Antelope stands sentinel at the entrance to Coeur d’Alene Casino Resort Hotel. I noticed you don’t see his face. That was interesting to me, that he wouldn’t be greeting you to the resort.
But then I went around the other side of the rock formation and discovered why. He sits atop a rock formation overlooking a tranquil reflecting pool while facing toward the resort and its guests, as if to say:
“You are safe here. Welcome Home!”
Circling Raven’s 20th Anniversary Video –
PS: If not driving to the resort, those who fly go into Spokane International Airport just across the border in Washington. There are seven good to great municipal golf courses in and around Spokane, ideal for playing a round on arrival or departure day like we did at Latah Creek. There’s a revered Donald Ross designed course called Indian Canyon there too. Maybe next time!
Greg and Beverly Wise have been traveling the world, playing and writing about their golf experiences as “Golf the Wise Way,” and submitting to numerous publications.
Greg has played golf for more than 60 years and truly believes that “a picture is worth a thousand words…” so, Beverly and Greg both excel in getting the right photos to enhance their stories.
