You will want to double check your club selection on the floating, movable, island green at Coeur D’Alene Golf Resort. You will also want to double check your spelling after typing out the city name, Coeur D’Alene. Both tasks require a certain amount of precision and even slight mistakes will bring serious wrath. Upon completion of reading this blog post you will be able to easily navigate both tasks.
You should be able figure out the spelling and we shall get into the details of the island green later, but first, it is my duty to give you the details on one of Idaho’s greatest public golf courses, Circling Raven. Often ranked at the top of many lists, the Gene Bates design opened for play in 2003. The golf course sits on the land of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe. In the tribe's own ancient language, it is called Schitsu'umsh, meaning "Those who were found here" or "The discovered people." Take my word, you will want to discover Circling Raven for yourself.
Our crew got several chances to play Circling Raven and both rounds managed to hold my interest providing a fresh experience each time we played the course. As you can see in the aerial photograph below, the course is void of surrounding homes and visual distractions. Circling Raven is often forgiving off of the tee and provides a fun challenge for the casual golfer as well as the scratch player.
Holes 2-5 at Circling Raven take place on the other side of the tracks.
Golf Snake Alert! This harmless little guy was hanging out near the pin on the 2nd hole. He witnessed several pars and a lip out bogey.
The view from the 8th tee box at Circling Raven
The Director of Golf at Circling Raven, Dave Christenson, watches his golf ball land safely on the 16th green.
For those that like to gamble with more than their $5 pro V1’s, there is a casino located right next to the golf course. Lee Abbamonte and I hung out in the casino bar, listened to some live music, and conversed with the locals. Circling Raven has hotel accommodations on the property and you can actually walk from your hotel room to the first tee.
While Circling Raven is certainly an excellent golf course, one course alone does not make Coeur D’Alene area a certified golf destination. However when you add in The Coeur D’Alene Golf Resort, you have a golf location worth making a trip for.
The Coeur D’Alene Golf Resort has somehow managed to make a name for itself based just on one golf hole alone. Home to the world’s only floating, movable, island green, golfers come from all over the world to see this feat of golf engineering.
The view of the floating 14th green emerges as soon as you step outside of the clubhouse.
In 1991 the first golf ball was struck onto the 14th hole and golfers have been inspired to visit and try their hand ever since. The green is reachable only by boat and usually plays anywhere from 140 - 170 yards. An underwater cable system adjusts the green’s position on a weekly basis. The good news is that they don’t make any changes while your golf ball is in the air. I like to imagine that there is a little underwater golf den where Golf Satan is at the controls. Golf Satan just sits there and moves the green out of the way on every shot, laughing maniacally. What a horrible thing to do, but that’s just how Golf Satan does things.
On the day we visited the hole was playing about 150 yards. Everyone but Lee Abbamonte found the green safely. However, Lee threw down not one, but two extra balls and found the green with each one. He banged in back to back birdie putts of 30 and 25 feet and exclaimed “This is my greatest golf moment of all time.”
A little boat called the “Putter” gives you a ride back to the mainland and they even provide you with a certificate for successfully completing the golf hole. The certificate is signed by the Captain of the “Putter” for authenticity. While the island green is a one of a kind experience, there are 17 other golf holes to play as well and trust me, you will want to golf ‘em all.
The ride to the island green via the “Putter”
The view from above CDA Golf Resort.
One of my favorite holes at CDA resort was the short 4th hole, which places a strong emphasis on accuracy off of the tee as well as the approach to the green.
The tee shot on the short par 4 4th hole.
The collection of 5 par 3’s at Coeur D’Alene Resort stand out as one of the best in the entire country. You might make some 2’s, you might make some 7’s but you will certainly enjoy the views and challenges that each one provides.
The par 5 11th green with the par 3 12th hole in the distance
The floatin’ 14th
The downhill 6th hole.
The lakeside 3rd hole.
The fidget spinner 5th hole.
When it comes to booking your trip to Coeur D’Alene, you have several options. You can stay at the CDA Resort or the Circling Raven Casino. We stayed at the casino and just made the 30 minute drive into Coeur D’Alene. If you tell em pjkoenig sent you, you won’t get a discount but there is a 1/10 chance that you will receive a high five.