[Kalen Braley]

There has been discussion in the past about the general Spokane area and the vast areas that seemingly could be good for quality golf courses.  Up until now, its mostly been just discussion without pictures....so I thought I would add a few.

I recently took a flight where I was able to get some quality pictures that showcased the undulating nature of the land due to the right time of day lighting, the fact that it was actually sunny and clear, and some leftover snow that helped to accentuate the landforms.  These particular pics are about 25-50 miles south of Spokane.

The landforms, in the spokane area specifically, were created via a series of ancient glacial floods as we came out of the last ice age.  Some really interesting land forms were created based on the fact it was gouged out by "biblical-type" floods, not your basic slow-scale erosion.  Some of these ridges and valleys would probably be too large for good golf as the elevation differentials are too large, but others could work just fine as they are in the 20-40 foot range.

Hopefully these pictures will give a good idea of how vast the land area is, and how much potential is there. Every time I drive thru at ground level, I see what appears to be excellent spots for golf holes nearly everywhere.

[Jay Cox]

Kalen, I'm having a hard time figuring out the scale.  Do you have any ground-level pictures (or, better yet, a topo map, although I assume that's asking too much)?

[Anthony Gray]

Looks cool to me.

[Matthew Essig]

It absolutely is!!!!!!!!! They are the same sort of land forms as wine valley except even bigger and steeper.

[Sean Leary]

Kalen,

Is that down just north of Colfax?

[Anthony Gray]

I would think those ridges are more than forty feet high.


Anthony

[Garland Bayley]

Spokane in culture less. Witness Kalen lives there. You have great land throughout the Palouse of eastern Washington. Golf there should center around the Walla Walla area and its wine region thereby passing Spokane while going Sideways.

[Kalen Braley]

Wow,

I leave the DG for a nite and all bedlum has broken loose! 

Jay,

No ground level picks, but I may be going to Walla Walla this weekend and if I do, I'll take some. In those 1st pic, you're looking at probably 300 square miles or so and probably closer to 500-600 square miles in the 2nd pic.

Sean,

Yes this is all land north of Colfax, but also 20 miles south of Spokane as well.

Anthony,

Its true that a fair bit of that land is unfit for golf as the landforms are just plain too big.  But there are also large areas where the slopes are more gentle and in the 10-20 foot size for the ridge lines which would seem to be perfect.

If you look at Google Maps, you can see how it appears from the aerial view.

http://maps.google.com/?ll=47.299256,-117.181549&spn=0.346453,0.603561&t=h&z=11

P.S. As soon as the weather starts to dry up a bit, there is some cool landforms north of town that I'll take some pictures of at ground level.  I've always thought it would be a fanstastic place to do something really unique not only to the Spokane area, but quite possibly in the entire Western states.

[Rick Phelps]

Kalen,
I totally agree with your view on the land around Spokane!  Having flown in there a few dozen times while working on Liberty Lake and Hangman Valley, I saw all of the land-types that surround the Spokane valley.  On a grand scale, many square miles at a time, you are right on by saying that lots of the Palouse (sp?) region - the area covering most of southeastern Washington - has contours that are too strong for good golf.  However, there are many small areas (200 to 1000 acres at a time) within a 40 mile radius of Spokane that would make for some spectacular, "lay of the land" golf.  The soil is pretty good, too!  Not sandy, but silty loam and relatively free of large quantities of rock.

Spokane is just not quite big enough to support this type of facility.  Circling Raven has hung in there due to the hotel/casino.  Without that type of draw, there just isn't the population density to have enough avid golfers to support a "destination" golf course.  Too bad, though, I'd love to give it a go!

Rick

[Anthony Gray]

Spokane in culture less. Witness Kalen lives there. You have great land throughout the Palouse of eastern Washington. Golf there should center around the Walla Walla area and its wine region thereby passing Spokane while going Sideways.

  Ouch

[Kalen Braley]

Rick,

I think the area is coming up to speed thou...lets review.

- Back in the day it was all about Indian Canyon for the longest time.
- Then in the 90s they added the resort, which was intriuging being right on the lake and having a true floating green.
- Since 2000, the area now has Black Rock, Gozzer Ranch, Idaho Club, and Circling Raven.
- Then just in the last few years the extended eastern Spokane area has added Palouse Ridge and Wine Valley.

A premium 36 hole complex like a Dismal that is less than an hour drive from Spokane airport, instead of the 3+ hours away that Wine Valley is, could be enough to put it over the top....but no doubt it would be pretty risky.  And with global warming aka climate change, you get 7-8 months of good golf weather and only have a 2-3 month closure season.

If I had the wherewithall, I would totally give it a try, but that's not reality unless I win the Lotto! 

[Rick Phelps]

I'll be waiting for a phone call when you win the lottery! I love the area, I just don't see it happening in the next decade.

At the same time, I like some of the ground in the open grasslands of the Palouse more than the heavily treed, rocky land around Coeur d' Alene.  Not that I would turn down a commission to work in either location, at this point!

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