"Nationally, there are nearly 40 resort courses on Indian land.

There is no more idyllic golf resort in the Northwest than the Circling Raven course on the lands of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe in Northern Idaho.

The course is built on 620 acres, four times the amount of land usually set aside for golf.

Its size requires you use a cart, but somehow the destination is worth it, holes on the back nine in their private passages, amphitheaters that play host to bear and elk and are about as far away from the gated community as you can get.

Because of the available acreage � the reservation is more than 345,000 acres � and the tribe's sensitivity to the environment, the course doesn't just deal with its wetlands, it embraces them.

The whole place has a sense of being unhurried, of being whatever the tribe and the architect � Gene Bates � wanted it to be. It meanders, almost casually, through woodlands, wetlands, and grasslands, a perfect Palouse kind of place.

You could easily make the case that Circling Raven is the aesthetic equal of the more famous Coeur d'Alene Resort north along the lake, and as a golf course even better."

Get the Story:
Tribal golf courses make good use of land (The Seattle Times 3/16)

nt Links:
Circling Raven Golf Club - http://www.golfcirclingraven.net
Coeur D�Alene Tribe - http://www.cdatribe-nsn.gov

Related Stories:
Coeur d'Alene Tribe's golf course wins praises (08/02)