GREAT GOLF, GAMING, A SUPERB CLIMATE AND A SPECTACULAR LAKE MAKE COEUR D’ALENE AN IDEAL SUMMER GETAWAY 

MY WELCOME-TO-NORTHERN IDAHO moment occurred in the first minute of the dinner hour at the Coeur d’Alene Casino Resort Hotel’s Red Tail Bar & Grill. There on the menu, in small, bold face letters: Huckleberry Soda, house-made, 32 oz., $7.95. For an extra buck and a half, they would add huckleberry ice cream and make it a float. I felt like a kid again.

Set before me, the blueish-purple concoction crackled and fizzed like a seventh-grade chemistry experiment.

The sweet-tart flavor ofIdaho’s state fruit didn’t disappoint. Neither did anything else about thisJuly trip. Superb, affordable golf, pleasantly warm, dry weather, ridiculously sweet scenery and plenty of local color make Coeur d’Alene worth the journey.

SOARING HIGH AT CIRCLING RAVEN

If the golf course of your dreams revolves around absolute tranquility, Circling Raven GC is your wakeup call. Often ranked in America’s top100 public courses, this2003 Gene Bates design unfolds over 620 roomy acres — three times the space allotted to most golf courses — on a site unencumbered by houses, roads or any other man-made intrusions.

Admittedly, a stray elk or bear might occasionally disturb the proceedings, but otherwise, it’s 7,189 yards of piney woods, meadows flecked with native prairie grasses and wetlands teeming with quiet activity.

“You can be out at certain spots on the course and not know that there’s anybody elsealive in the rest of the world,” said Don Rasmussen, director of golf at Circling Raven. “It’sa very peaceful and comfortable feeling when you’re playing golf here and there is acomplete absence of hustle and bustle.”

That’s not to say golfers will be lulled to sleep at Circling Raven. While the fairway landingareas are sufficiently wide to permit power players to smack drivers all day long, huge, brilliant white bunkers and equally massive greens can book even low handicappers a ride on the bogey train.

For those with a sand phobia, it could be a long day. Not only are the bunkers large, but they are also artistically sculpted, most with noses or tongues of turf that extend into the sand. If you find one of these sizable sand traps, the pro’s advice is to take your medicine. 

“People get caught up trying to get too cute and they leave it in the bunker,” said Rasmussen. “The key is that even if you have to take the pin out of play, get the ball on the green.”

From my four trips around Circling Raven, I’m partial to the standout set of par-3s. Measuring 217, 212, 253 and 192, each is beefy and beautiful, especially the 212-yard seventh, benched into a small hill and bracketed by a vast wetland ravine, a bunker front-left and ponderosa pines in back.

Yet, Rasmussen’s trio of favorites is awfully strong as well.

“The 15th is a downhill [426-yard] par 4 where you don’t have to be exceptionally long, butt he left side is guarded with a good bunker and the right side is all trees,” he said. “Over the green is no good — a big slope leads straight down to native grass and shrubs. No. 9, at 474 yards, par 4 is just a great test of golf — a bear — and then you go right into the short [336-yard, par-4] 10th, a great risk/reward hole where you can be conservative or, if you’re feeling a little moxie, you can try and drive it.”

A STELLAR HOTEL

Circling Raven is perhaps the top amenity at the Coeur d’Alene Casino Resort Hotel, but it’s far from the only one. The tribally owned, full-service facility offers 300 handsome rooms, golf packages, casino gaming, the elite Spa Ssakwa’q’n and several superb restaurants. In addition to the huckleberry offerings and tasty pub fare at Red Tail, it’s worth the splurge to dine at Chinook, which specializes in steak, seafood and pasta. I’ve feasted on the Baked Sockeye Salmon and the Cider Brined Pork Chop during my last two visits, both outstanding, but do not miss the Nitrogen Ice Cream for Two — another chemistry experiment dessert that’s not on anyone’s diet, but c’mon — you’re on vacation!

“You can be out at certain spots and not know on thecourse anybody else that there’s alive in the rest of theworld.” 

THE LAKE LIFE

As compelling as the attractions are at the Coeur d’Alene Casino Resort Hotel, don’t missspending at least an afternoon on or next to Lake Coeur d’Alene, just 30 minutes to thenorth. Once called one of the five most beautiful lakes in the world by National Geographic,the 25-mile-long body of water is a smooth, gorgeous haven for boaters and jet skiers,and along its sandy shores and adjacent trails, for walkers, joggers and cyclists. It’s alsobecome a haven for entertainment and sports celebrities.

Fortunately, you don’t need a Screen Actors Guild card or an MVP trophy to book a stay at The Coeur d’Alene Resort. Perched impressively on the lake, it boasts a superior location, flawless service, an award-winning restaurant called Beverly’s and a golf course that put the region on the national map, thanks to its 14th hole, the par 3 with the floating island green.

It’s hard to believe that more than 30 years have passed since golf’s greatest gimmick rose to the surface, but even purists who find themselves here drop their stuffy mindsets and enjoy the ride. That ride consists of boarding a six-passenger mahogany boat after hitting a tee shot and disembarking at the 15,000-square-foot green, which is further adorned by a pair of gleaming white bunkers, a trio of modest junipers and beds of red geraniums.

The hole can stretch 218 yards, though most mortals play it between 150 and 175 yards.On the ultimate bucket list of golf holes, Coeur d’Alene’s 14th is unquestionably top 10. A fistful of other perfectly conditioned holes wow on the 6,803-yard, par-71 layout, but people cross oceans just to play this golf hole across a lake.

Circling Raven’s Rasmussen, who spent five years in San Diego but has otherwise worked in eastern Washington and northern Idaho for 32 years, touts June, July and August as peak weather time for golfers, but adds, “If you want to get away from Southern California and have a great fall outing, autumn here — late September, early October — is just beautiful.”

Summer or fall, it took me five years to get back to Coeur d’Alene before my most recent visit. I vow not to wait so long next time.

BORDER BAR GAINS IN SPOKANE

Southern Californians flying to Coeur d’Alene will most often arrive at Spokane,Washington’s Spokane International Airport (GEG), then drive 40 minutes east to TheCoeur d’Alene Resort or 50 minutes east/southeast to Worley and the Coeur d’AleneCasino Resort Hotel. For those who want to extend their golf adventure and stretch their golf dollar, point the compass back to Spokane. Its collection of city and county courses comprises some of the best golf values in America.

Most renowned of the Spokane municipal spreads is Indian Canyon GC, which is as famous for its history as for its layout. Indian Canyon GC opened in 1935 with a 1930design from Pacific Northwest legend H. Chandler Egan. The U.S. Amateur champion in1904 and 1905, Egan also renovated Pebble Beach GL ahead of the 1929 U.S. Amateur.Indian Canyon GC hosted USGA national championships on three occasions, and it was also the venue for the PGA Tour’s Esmeralda Open in 1945 and 1947. Byron Nelson captured the 1945 event, firing a final-round 64 for a 266 total. It was Nelson’s 16th win out of his 18 total victories in his record-setting season.

Short by modern standards at 6,255 yards from the tips, par 71, Indian Canyon GC keeps big bashers at bay through its wildly rolling, rumpled fairways, 240 feet of elevation change and landing areas narrowed by tall pines and cleverly tilted greens. As with its sibling city layouts, Downriver GC, Esmeralda GC and The Creek at Qualchan, Indian Canyon asks $56 to pre-book a tee time and an $18 cart fee. 

Spokane County’s courses can’t quite match its citycounterparts for tournament history, but for scenery,challenge and value, they more than hold their own.

Liberty Lake GC, which benefited from a Rick Phelpsredesign in 2010, and MeadowWood GC a 1988 RobertMuir Graves creation, both reside in the town of LibertyLake, 18 miles east of downtown Spokane.

Twenty minutes south of the city center is Latah CreekGC, a 1969 Bob Baldock design that until 2021 was known by the evocative name, Hangman Valley. But whatever it says on the entrance sign, visitors will warm to just the right blend of elevated tees, canted fairways, firs and pines that frame but never encroach and the presence of Latah Creek GC, which meanders through portions of seven holes. All come into play at the 335-yard third hole, with its green tucked into the trees in a corner of the property.

It’s $48 to play one of Spokane’s three county courses in 2025, $52 if you pre-book, and another $15 to ride. Wallet watchers, rejoice!