birdies, eagles, & elk.

Starting your trek into the forested part of the course, the first hole is an undulating par-4 with a short, forced carry off the tee. The signature fir tree on your left is your aiming point. You don’t need to be long off the tee, but favoring the left side is best to avoid the thick forest on the right. The second shot is a blind shot to a green with two bunkers on the left and a large green with lots of movement. Par is a good score here.

This hole is a beautiful, downhill par-4 with an elevated tee and two fairway bunkers protecting the fairway on the right. You can challenge the two bunkers off the tee and go for a shorter approach shot, or use them as aiming bunkers and choose a club off the tee that will leave you short. The approach shot is still downhill, with the green protected by a large bunker to the right and a small “pot”-style bunker on the left. The green slopes from back to front, so being short of the pin will allow you to be aggressive with an uphill putt.

A beautiful dogleg right par-5, the third hole has a high risk-reward factor in play. The tee shot is somewhat blind with a fairway bunker on the right. The safe drive is to aim to the wide part of the fairway, left of the bunker, making it a three-shot par-5. Longer hitters may take a more aggressive line over the fairway bunker and have a chance at reaching the green in two. The green setting is beautiful with a large Black Cottonwood tree on the left and a stream crossing in front, which puts a premium on the accuracy of your layup shot.

The fourth hole is a par-3 that plays about one club downhill to a large green complex. Your tee shot is required to carry both a water hazard and bunker located in front of the green. The creek continues to the left of the green. To the right of the green is a bail-out area.

As the hardest hole on the front nine, the fifth is a difficult driving hole with three fairway bunkers on the right and a creek on the left. After your tee shot, you’re left with a long approach shot that plays slightly downhill. The green has one front left bunker and a bail-out area to the right over another bunker that sits about 50 yards short of the green. The bail-out area is a great place to hit, since balls often kick left and most of the time end up on the green.

This short par-4 has a funneling fairway, but since it plays uphill on the tee shot, it plays longer. A ball hit slightly left may catch one of the two bunkers on the left side of the fairway, and a ball hit down the right side should kick left back to the middle of the fairway. The approach may be one of your shortest of the day, but it’s not one of the easiest. A bunker sits in front of the middle of the green, dividing it in two. A lower tier on the left is the easier pin placement to get to, but anything behind the bunker or to the right is more difficult.

Playing slightly uphill, this par-5 has a creek running up the left side and crossing in front of the green. Two fairway bunkers come into play off the tee on the left. Longer hitters can cut the corner on the left and set themselves up for an opportunity to reach the green in two. Shorter hitters may want to aim for the right fairway bunker as this is the wide part of the fairway. A layup down the right side will put you in prime position with a short iron to approach the green. The green setting is very picturesque and sits over the creek, playing slightly uphill with plenty of slope to challenge even the best putters.

This short, downhill par-4 presents much strategy to consider. The hole features a split fairway allowing longer hitters to go for the green towards the right off the tee. The safe play is going down the left side, hitting a tee shot that is between 230 and 250 that gives you a short iron into the green. If your drive was successfully placed down the left side, you are faced with an approach navigating the hazard—a large cottonwood tree and three green-side bunkers.

The ninth hole is a challenging and picturesque uphill par-3 that plays a half to a full club longer. The green is surrounded by two bunkers on the left and one bunker on the right with a false front in the middle. Being pin high on this green is no easy task as it slopes from back to front, leaving you with a big breaking putt.

It may be a short par-4, but the tenth is a difficult hole. The drive needs to be up the left side of the fairway while avoiding the bunkers on the left. Everything slopes from left to right and is a narrow landing area off the tee. The green is elevated with two signature pine trees on its left. Given the elevation change, you need to take one more club on the approach shot to cover the bunker that protects the majority of the green on the right. The green complex does not make this hole any easier.

This slight dogleg left par-4 has a fairway bunker on the right and native grass on the left. An elevated tee shot presents a great view of the entire hole and the ability to cut a little off the dogleg. Still, the best approach is from the right side of the fairway, as a bunker and water hazard protect the left side of the green.

This downhill par-3 boasts one of the bigger and more undulating greens on the course. The design of the green is really what makes the hole difficult. It has three sections: a raised front right, a lower middle and an upper back left. If you find yourself in the wrong spot, you’ll have a very difficult putt.

This par-4 is the most difficult hole on the course, with an uphill blind tee shot. Longer hitters can take their tee shots over the right fairway bunker, leaving a mid-iron approach, but the ones who lay further back will have to carry a creek that sits 80 yards in front of the elevated green. The elevated and well-bunkered green makes this hole very challenging.

For the fourteenth, the tee shot is slightly downhill with a fairway bunker on the left and a relatively wide landing area. The layup is the key shot on this difficult par-5. Players can either lay up short of the fairway bunker and hazard on the right, or attempt hitting further up the left side into a tight landing area. This is a true three-shot par-5 with a difficult green complex. The views from the green of beautiful Lake Coeur d’Alene are spectacular.

This par-3 is one of the most unique in all of golf. The hole treats you with a 180° view of gorgeous Lake Coeur d’Alene and a downhill tee shot with two greens to choose from. The larger of the two greens—the one on the left—measures 236 yards from the back tee, but only plays about 200 yards. The green on the right is smaller and measures 199 yards from the back, but plays 175 with the downhill.

This short par-4 gives you two options off the tee. A proper layup tee shot to the right side of the fairway will give you the best angle into the green to attack the pin with a short iron. If you decide to attempt to drive the green, you’ll have to navigate a well-bunkered green.

The seventeenth is a par-5 with a generous fairway. Longer hitters can choose to challenge the two fairway bunkers off the tee, leaving an opportunity to go for the green in two. If laying up is your decision, you’ll have a bunker 80 yards from the green to deal with. You can lay up to the skinny right side and have the optimal angle for an approach, or lay back of the bunker and have a more difficult approach shot over a greenside bunker.

The final hole is a par-4, dogleg right around a land mine of bunkers. The ideal tee shot here is middle to the left side of the fairway, far away from the sand traps. This will give you an approach shot uphill, adding five to ten yards, over a greenside bunker. This difficult finishing hole does not let up once on the green. It’s a two-tiered green with plenty of break. Par on this hole is always a good score.