Coeur d'Alene Casino Resort Hotel & Conference Center

For Immediate Release: November 15, 2005

Circling Raven Golf Club “Best of the Best” Grows to “Best of the West”

Fairways and Greens magazine lists Circling Raven Golf Club at No. 7 among the “Top 101 Golf Experiences” in the western states, shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of Bandon, Ore., Pebble Beach, and Trump National. At the same time, Circling Raven’s experience surpasses famed and prestigious venues including Edgewood Tahoe, Oregon’s Pumpkin Ridge and San Diego’s U.S. Open site at Torrey Pines.

Circling Raven is part of the Coeur d’Alene Casino/Resort Hotel complex, owned and operated by the Coeur d’Alene Tribe. It shares the No. 7 spot with the Coeur d’Alene Resort Course some 25 miles north, reflecting significant prestige for North Idaho and the Idaho Golf Trail.

The list comes with the just released December/January issue of Fairways & Greens, a publication focusing on “golf, travel and lifestyle for the west and beyond.”

With just over two full seasons behind it, Circling Raven is also the newest course among those honored.

“Circling Raven has no apparent weakness,” said the magazine. “Its 18 challenging and distinct holes enjoy a perfect isolation that almost gives you the impression you are playing 18 one-hole courses.”

“I won’t say we’re stunned, but we are humbled and extremely honored,” said Director of Golf David Christenson. “GOLF Magazine, Golf Digest and a number of others have listed us among the best new courses in America, but this is the first time we’ve been compared straight up with some of the greatest and most storied courses not only in the west, but in the world. To be ranked so high among them truly rewards the commitment made here at the resort and also by the Coeur d’Alene Tribe.”

The 101 courses rated, all west of the Rocky Mountains, are resort or resort area courses and are open to the public, although some require patronage in their hotels and/or spas.

“Our Circling Raven was listed “Top 10 Best New” by both Golf Digest and GOLF Magazine following it’s open in late summer of 2003. Along with its membership in the Idaho Golf Trail, the course is further honored as a member of Audubon International’s Cooperative Sanctuary System. Golf Digest also ranks Circling Raven as the top public course in Idaho.

At 7,189 yards, Gene Bates-designed Circling Raven meanders among wetlands, woodlands and natural Palouse grasses.

“We also take note that Fairways and Greens magazine is a very significant publication. Its writers and staff know golf and travel in the west as well, if not better, than those of any publication,” Christenson said. “We enjoy being listed among the ‘Best of the Best’ and now among the ‘Best of the West.’”

Coeur d'Alene Casino Resort Hotel & Conference Center