Golf in Coeur d'Alene

The Fairways Golf Course’s layout unfurls over rolling terrain teeming with wetlands and native grasses. Multiple water hazards and fast greens pose challenges for experienced players, and relatively open fairways and a set of closer, forward tees cater to junior clubbers, beginners, and golfers testing out a set of repurposed spatulas. A dramatic conclusion awaits at the par-4, 419-yard 18th hole—the course’s most challenging hole—where golfers must contend with a dog-leg right and a small pond that arches around the front and left sides of the green. Golfers can prepare for the round at the driving range and practice green, or simply ask the course’s beverage-cart operator for the liquid cure for a slice-prone swing.

Awarded one of the “Top 10 Golf Experiences Within Idaho” by Golf Digest, The Highlands Golf Course beckons golf enthusiasts with forests of towering pine trees and rolling terrain of verdant beauty. The course was originally designed by Jim Krause and opened for play in 1991, though anyone who hasn’t played it since 2006 will appreciate the additional tee boxes and marked improvements in bunker playability resulting from course renovations. Six lakes come into play, demanding deft club selection around the greens and impeccable swan dives to retrieve errant golf balls. Narrow fairways and several doglegs also place a premium on flawless drives off of your playing partner's belly button.

As a warm-up or a cool-down, practice at the driving encourages skill development with grass tees and nearly 400 yards of open expanse. A short-game practice area recreates most on-course situations a golfer can conjure up, with sand bunkers and two regulation flagpoles that double as golf cart jousting lances.

Course at a Glance:

• Par 72

• Four sets of tees

• 6,385 yards from back tees

• Rating of 69.7 and slope of 120 from back tees

• 1991 Jim Krause design

• Renovated in 2006

Cool breezes gain steam over the waters of Hayden Lake before moving through the pine trees that line the fairways of Avondale Golf Course, adding to the bucolic splendor of the 18-hole, 6,600-yard layout. The course's short-grass corridors switchback through a combination of tree-lined and open terrain, with water hazards complicating passage on five holes, placing precise shots and webbed golf shoes at a premium.

A stint at the natural-turf driving range helps golfers to warm up for the round, a necessary measure for slow-starting swings that may struggle to reach the lengthy par 4 second hole—rated the course's hardest from the men's tees—in regulation. After hunting birdies and inflating the egos of smug putters across the landscape, players can recess to the Water Hazard Bar & Grill to recap memorable shots over dinner and drinks.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 72 course
• Length of 6,600 yards from the farthest tees
• Course rating of 72.0 from the farthest tees
• Slope rating of 130 from the farthest tees
• Five tee options