Perhaps the most underrated course in America lies in Worley, Idaho at the Coeur d’Alene Resort Casino. The area is best known for another course, Coeur d’Alene. I am a big fan of that course and I featured it earlier in this list, but the best public course in Idaho is Circling Raven.

Gene Bates has created a handful of really good golf courses, but Circling Raven is his best. Circling Raven’s terrain helped Gene Bates create it’s excellent routing. The course features rolling hills, wetlands, grasslands and woodlands.

The course sits on the 345,000 acre Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation and while the course itself only uses 100 acres for golf, it is spread over 620 acres of land. The Space is one of the courses strongest features. It’s as much golf solitude as I have experienced. Almost every hole sits alone without view of the next. The grand scale is dramatic.

This drama is first felt on the 395 yard second hole, now that you are away from the clubhouse the sheer scale of the the property becomes evident.




The par 4 4th hole is an excellently designed hole that requires you to make a decision on the tee. The 406 yard par 4 has two fairways devided by extensive bunkering. The left fairway is the shortest route to the green, but brings the wetlands into play. The safer route is the right fairway, but this path requires you to carry the bunkers and will make the hole play longer than the yardage.



The signature hole is the Par 4 8th. A 386 yard stunner framed by pines, native grass and wetlands.




The fairway slopes from left to right and the perfect play is a little draw down the middle or a cut That lands on the hill and bounces right into the fairway. I chose the ladder with my 3 wood and hit it just right...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO5WeyJFnVc



Another great hole is downhill the Par 5 12th. Pine trees sit right in the middle of the fairway so you must choose your line right or left of the trees. Right is the best angle toward the hole but you will need Everything you got out of your driver to reach the fairway. The left is a more manageable carry, but once again playing safer here lengthens the hole considerably.



12th green



The 13th is a 250 yard par 3 set in a meadow of trees. This hole is a bear, a couple guys in my group hit driver on this hole.



The 15th is another stunner framed by pines. This 426 yard par 4 Requires a great drive to put you in prime position. Anything off the fairway can end up in the bunkers left or a Forest right. Myself...I ended up in the Forest.


Circling Raven is an excellent golf course that everyone should experience. For me it falls just out of my top 10 at Number 11. But it is a course I would be thrilled to play everyday. I can’t wait to go back.