Idaho Golf Resorts: Where to Play in the Gem State

Idaho's resort golf, in brief

Idaho is not the first state that comes to mind for golf, but it has produced a small cluster of resort courses that draw national attention, largely on the strength of setting and pedigree rather than sheer volume. The state's best-known layouts were built or renovated by recognizable names in golf-course architecture and competitive golf, and several are anchored to full resort properties that pair the course with a lake, a ski mountain, or both. What distinguishes Idaho's resort golf from a typical municipal or private course is less about difficulty and more about the terrain: elevation changes, mountain backdrops, and water are built into nearly every layout described here.

These courses also tend to reward a different style of trip planning than a golf-only vacation elsewhere might. Because nearly every notable Idaho resort course sits inside a larger property with lodging, dining, and often a lake or a mountain, a round of golf is usually one piece of a broader stay rather than the sole reason for the visit. That combination of destination scenery and multi-activity resorts is arguably the throughline that connects courses as different as a lakeside layout in the Panhandle and a mountain course above Sun Valley.

The Coeur d'Alene floating green

The signature attraction in Idaho golf is the Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course, a par-71 course designed by Scott Miller that opened in 1991 on the shore of Lake Coeur d'Alene. Its 14th hole is the course's calling card and a genuine novelty in competitive-caliber golf: a floating, movable green anchored in the lake, reached not by a cart path but by a shuttle boat. The green's position and yardage can be adjusted day to day, which changes the effective distance of the hole. It is frequently cited as one of the most photographed and most unusual holes in American golf, and it alone has made the Coeur d'Alene Resort a bucket-list stop for golfers who might otherwise never plan a trip to Idaho.

The rest of the course, set among the lake, the surrounding hills, and the resort's marina district, is a solid par-71 test in its own right, but the floating green is what gives the property its identity beyond the golf world. It functions almost as a piece of resort infrastructure as much as a golf hole: a boat shuttle, a dockside starting area, and a design gimmick that has been widely copied in concept but rarely matched in scale anywhere else in the country.

Mountain courses: Tamarack, Sun Valley and Teton Springs

Several of Idaho's other notable courses are built into mountain terrain rather than along a lakeshore. Osprey Meadows at Tamarack Resort is a Robert Trent Jones II design set above Lake Cascade, playing to roughly 7,300-plus yards from the back tees; the course underwent renovation and reopened in 2023 as part of Tamarack's broader redevelopment, and it combines mountain elevation with long lake views.

At Teton Springs, near Victor in eastern Idaho, the Headwaters Club pairs an 18-hole championship course with a separate nine-hole par-3 layout. The championship course was designed by golf legend Byron Nelson working with Steve Jones and opened in 2004; it is built around spring-fed lakes that are stocked with trout, giving the layout a working-landscape character beyond pure scenery. Sun Valley, meanwhile, has offered resort golf in the Wood River Valley for decades, with 27 holes across its courses, making it one of the longest-running golf operations at any Idaho resort and a natural complement to the resort's better-known ski and outdoor-recreation identity.

Lakeside golf: Shore Lodge and Priest Lake

McCall's Shore Lodge is home to the Whitetail Club course, a roughly 7,200-yard, par-72 layout designed by Roger Packard together with Andy North, a two-time U.S. Open champion. The course sits on Payette Lake, combining the same lake-and-mountain setting that defines much of McCall's appeal with a competitive-caliber design pedigree. Farther north, the Priest Lake Golf Course offers a lower-key lakeside round in one of Idaho's more remote resort regions, where golf is generally one part of a broader lake-recreation trip rather than the sole draw.

StoneRidge and North Idaho

In Blanchard, in the Idaho Panhandle, StoneRidge offers an 18-hole course whose origins date to 1968, with a significant redesign completed in 2002. It is one of the older established courses in the state's resort golf landscape, and like the other North Idaho options, it plays through forested, rolling terrain rather than the more open mountain-valley settings found farther south and east. Together with the Coeur d'Alene Resort course, StoneRidge gives North Idaho a real concentration of resort golf distinct from the central and eastern Idaho cluster.

When to play

Idaho's resort golf season is short by national standards, generally running from roughly May through October depending on elevation, snowpack, and a given course's specific location, and it can compress further at higher-elevation mountain courses. Courses at lower elevation and closer to the state's milder western valleys, such as Coeur d'Alene, tend to open earlier and close later than mountain courses near Sun Valley or Tamarack. Snowmelt timing varies from year to year, so early-May and late-October tee times are worth confirming directly with a course rather than assuming a fixed calendar date.

Because nearly every course covered here is attached to a full resort, golf is rarely the only activity on offer: spa facilities, lake access, hiking, and, at the ski resorts, warm-weather chairlift or mountain-biking access typically round out a stay built around a round or two of golf. That overlap with skiing is a distinctly Idaho pattern: several of the same properties that host these golf courses, including Tamarack, Sun Valley, and Coeur d'Alene, are equally or more prominent as winter destinations, so a traveler researching Idaho resorts may encounter the same names in a ski-focused search and a golf-focused one. Booking well ahead of a summer visit is generally advisable, since the golf season compresses a full year of resort golf demand into roughly five to six months.

Frequently Asked Questions