Craig:
I don't have a picture of our routing plan or I could post it now.
The golf course occupies rugged land between the mountain and the last hill before the highway, but we are still set well back from the mountains. There are Douglas fir trees around a few of the holes and visible from most, but there are only a couple of holes where you would have any chance of winding up behind a tree; even so, they add a lot to the change of scenery as you progress around the course.
The fishing lodge and golf pro shop are located on the creek near the bottom of a big valley, before the creek goes through a narrow pass and on down to Clark Fork by the highway. The first fifteen holes are in a clockwise loop above the pro shop [nos. 2 thru 6 are uphill to the seventh tee at the highest point of the course]; the last three make a smaller loop below the shop. The creek is in play on the par-3 8th, the par-5 10th (if you really push the second shot), the par-3 17th, and all three shots on the par-5 18th.
The routing is not quite the standard mix of holes and I'm sure people will question why on such a large piece of property, but here's the scorecard and I am confident all the holes will hold up their part of the equation:
1 - Medium par-4, small tributary creek cutting in front of the green.
2 - Long par 4
3 - Medium-long par 5 through a meadow toward the mountains
4 - Long par 4 uphill to long skinny green in a bowl
5 - Short, wide par 4 with optional carry over a nest of fairway bunkers
6 - Medium-long par 4 over two dips
7 - Long 4 downhill to shelf of landing area, then over the corner of a rocky hill to green in saddle
8 - Picturesque par-3 crossing stream which runs along right of fairway and green (the stream is in a 20-foot-deep gorge at this point)
9 - Medium-short par 4 to large green in bowl against rocky hillside
10 - Long, downhill par 5 with green set back up on a shelf next to creek
11 - Long par 4 with split-level landing area and crowned green
12 - Short par 3, drop shot, to small green with bunkers all across front in a swale
13 - Very long par 3 across deep valley, a standout hole
14 - Long par 4, way downhill off tee, second shot thru gap in hills to unusual green site
15 - Driveable par 4 (330 yards from back, downhill, narrow gap in front of green between bunkers)
16 - Long par 4 with dry creek to carry off tee, tilting second shot to green in front of rocky knob
17 - Par 3 over the creek at the bottom of the valley
18 - Par 5 back uphill, must carry creek on tee shot and then climb toward green with creek hard on left side, mountains in distance.
This yields the somewhat unusual scorecard:
445 444 434 = 36 543 344 435 = 35 = par 71.
I think the course is about 7,300 yards from the back tees, but it is between 4600 and 4900 feet altitude.
From the time the routing has been set I've been convinced that holes 7, 10 and 13 would be among our best work. The first seven holes are shaped and the third and fifth are now personal favorites as well.