Indian Canyon GC, Spokane, WA (with pics)

[Kalen Braley]

I recently took a trip to Spokane, WA and played Indian Canyon.  A quick intro from their website:

Indian Canyon, was designed in 1930 by H. Chandler Egan and opened for play in 1935. The course sits atop the west entrance to Spokane, overlooking the city. As the host to many major tournaments, Indian Canyon has hosted the USGA three times; the United States Amateur Public Links Championship in 1941 and 1984; and the United States Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship in 1989. Built on a canyon wall with a vertical drop of 240 feet amid many towering pines, it offers a diverse and unique playing environment. The course is well bunkered and has undulated greens which require a deft touch if par of 72 is to be achieved over the hilly 6,255 yards.

The course is very much a treat to play and with a $27 peak fee, this is one of the best deals I've seen anywhere. Generally the course is a right to left player's dream and a slicers nightmare.  As shown in the photos, several of the fairways require a right to left tee shot by the use of tree lines and fairway slopes.  Interestingly enough though, the par 3s are generally played best with a fade.  While the greens are well protected, there is not a fairway bunker to be found on the entire course.  The undulation of the fairways is the course's biggest defense because there is hardly a flat lie to be found. In addition Egan made great use of the existing swales for both drainage and shot values. While the course is very treed it fits in naturally with the area's forested surroundings.

As stated in the intro, the greens are indeed undulating making it very easy to get out of position where you are praying just to 2 putt. However IMO its not the internal countours that make putting difficult. While many of them are not multi-tiered monsters they are difficult to read correctly because the entire course, and its greens, literally sit on the side of the hill.  As a result you have many 10-20 foot putts that look fairly flat but will break several feet... and this is its brilliance.

I wish the pictures would have come out better because they don't do justice to the undulation found on the course fairways and greens, but alas I'm just a amateur photo taker.     Enjoy!


Hole 1 - Par 4

A tough start to the round with a long downhill hole.  The tee shot picture didn't turn out but here is the green complex from the left side:




Hole 2 - Par 3

A short hole that can really bite if you miss long..




Hole 3 - Par 5

The tee shot to a blind crest.  The ideal tee ball is right to left....



...where if you hit it good you can catch this swale and gain some extra yardage.



The approach into the green:




Hole 4 - Par 3

A gorgeous mid length par 3 with railroad tracks on the left that add a neat ambiance..



A closer look at the green from the right to a nasty tucked pin.  You can see the ridge that runs from back to front and is much more pronounced than it appears here.





Hole 5 - Par 4

As JohnK puts it, this is the half pipe hole which also happens to be the toughest on the course.  The other pics didn't come out, but here is a look from the fairway.




Hole 7 - Par 4

The downhill tee shot:


A look back up the hole from the green with the sun finally making an appearance.




Hole 8 - Par 4

This is a very short driveable par 4 that doglegs left....



..but if you get on the top tier with a front pin, there is pretty much no way to keep it from going off the front of the green.





Hole 9 - Par 5

A short but tough, straight up the hill, you gotta hit a draw to keep it in the fairway, hole.



The green, while not pictured, is one of those discussed earlier where it looks flattish yet breaks a ton..


Back 9 to follow...

[Kalen Braley]

Back 9:


Hole 10 - Par 5

Another short par 5 that really plays like a par 4.  Pars are not tough, with birds and eagles very doable.  The tee shot:



The green surrounds from the right hand side:




Hole 11 - Par 5

Yet another short and reachable par 5.  While the tee shot is tight....



....a good ball leaves only this to get home in 2.



The approach if laying up:




Hole 12 - Par 4

A short par 4 where a draw is a must to find the fairway.  The tee shot is totally blind, but here is the approach.



A look back at the severe canter of the fairway.




Hole 13 - Par 3

This medium length par 3 is more uphill than it looks.  An extra club is the way to go:



Short and right of the green:




Hole 14 - Par 4

A wide open tee shot....



...to a severely uphill green site that is perhaps the most wicked green I've ever played.  Pics don't do justice to it..so here is the approach in instead:  




Hole 15 - Par 4

Back down the hill with a shortish par 4 and the widest fairway on the course:



The approach is obscured by a 5 foot high hill just in front of the green, which runs at a 45 degree angle to the fairway...very cool:




Hole 16 - Par 4

A split fairway hole where as with most other split fairways, one option is usually much better than the other.  In this case, going right towards the green is the play :



A closer look at the green complex where missing long means a guaranteed bogey.




Hole 17 - Par 3

A long par 3 with OB down the entire right side and trouble left.  A very intimidating tee shot:



A closer look at the green complex:




Hole 18 - Par 4

A shortish hole that plays up the hill to a semi-blind landing area:



A view of the green from the left hand side bunker:

[Jason Blasberg]

I love the RR tracks behind 4 green.

Kalen, great photos that show the undulating terrain very well.  


 

[John Kirk]

Kalen,

Beautiful photo essay.  Thanks for all the hard work.

JK

[Jason Blasberg]

I must say a couple holes look more likely to foster good pin ball than good golf.  

[Ryan Farrow]

Looks like a really fun golf course, why am I not surprised with the the era it was built.

[David Stamm]

Kalen, thanks for this. What a neat looking course! To follow on Ryan's comments, another reason why the GA was golden. Really neat looking features!

[Kalen Braley]

JK,

I really love that 4th hole.  While the green on 15 is more deadly, the green on 4 is such a little tart with a massive spine running down the middle.  Get on the wrong side of it like I did, and its an almost guaranteed 3 putt.  

As for the ping pong effect, yes it can get a little nasty if you get into those trees.  But it just puts that much more premium on the recovery shot and making sure you don't get too greedy.  The trees are native to the area and they were simply removed to make the corridors for the holes.

Ryan and David,

It really is a blast of a course to play.  Even though it barely plays to 6000 yards I have a hard time breaking 90.  And it doesn't help that my natural ball flight is left to right.  I really really wish more courses being built today had fairways and greens like this one.  It really is a hidden gem and a must play if you are in the area.  And to boot its less than 5 miles from the airport so it could be worked in on a long layover.

[Wyatt Halliday]

Kalen,

Thanks for posting. Looks like a ton of fun, with some really interesting greens.

[Pat Howard]

Indian Canyon is a great course that brings back a lot of fond memories. My grandfather, Bill Welch, came from Texas to Spokane in 1941 to play in the Public Links at Indian Canyon. He ended up winning the event and fell in love with the course and the city and never left, moving in to the apartment above the clubhouse (seen in the photo of #9) and becoming the head pro from 1965-1984. Needless to say, I've had many fun days of golf at the Canyon and many memorable nights running around in the clubhouse as a youngster. I'm curious to know when they switched the nines? #1 used to be the short downhill par 5 and #18 was the uphill par 5 to the clubhouse that is now #9. Interesting...
Thank you Kalen for sparking some great memories!

On a side note, Indian Canyon is the perennial host to the Rosauers Open, a PNW PGA major championship.

[Kalen Braley]

Hi Pat,

Great story about your grandfather.  The clubhouse and pro shop are very cool and I wish I had taken a few photos of them.  I doubt anyone lives upstairs in them now, but that would be an awesome place to live with the amazing view of most of Spokane from the back deck.

The 9s have been switched fairly recently.  Before this last weekend I hadn't played it in 1.5 years, but they still had the original routing back then.  The story is they reversed the nines because having the 1st and 2nd holes both being short par 5s it really backed up as both of them are very reachable.  

With the new routing the course has 3 par 5s in a row which has got to be in some pretty rare territory.

[Pat Howard]

Thanks for the info Kalen, I never thought of the three par 5's in a row! As I had always played it, you finished the uphill par 5 (now the 9th) and were done! And they used to have a cable elevator or lift from 18 green up to the clubhouse, probably long overgrown with bushes and shrubs now. One of my cousins was responsible for it's demise but that's another story!
 

[Daryl David]

Fond memories for me as I played a ton of golf there during college.  Nothing like the first tee shot from right below the clubhouse with  lots of folks watching to get your heart pumping. I guess from what you said that is now the 10th tee.

When I think of Indian Canyon I always remember my dad's comment when we were pretty much at the bottom of the course.  "They better bring in a helicopter to get me out of here.  I sure am not walking out!"

[Garland Bayley]

Washington guys,

If any of you have played both this and Spanaway Lake that Cos has mentioned on here a few times, how do they compare?

[Craig Van Egmond]

Thanks for the pics... I always play Indian Canyon when I am in Spokane, one of my personal favorites.

[Pat Howard]

Garland,
Lake Spanaway is built on MUCH flatter terrain and it's quite a bit longer, so it's a tough comparison. Indian Canyon plays very short because of the hill that it's built on and the dry weather of eastern WA. Also, most of its long holes play downhill, making them play much shorter. Lake Spanaway has great drainage but it's still in western WA so no roll is the norm.

However, both benefit from having great architects in Egan and Macan, and are full of character.

[Brad Swanson]

Thanks for the pics, Kalen.  I always thought the Spokane area would be a great place to live, and it looks like there's some good golf to be had there too.

Cheers,
Brad

[Garland Bayley]

KALEN!

I can't ask you about the difficulty of the walk on the hills, because you took a cart again!

 

[Lynn_Shackelford]

After playing it, I had new respect for golfers in the 30's who played golf without the benefit of carts.  A very fun place to play golf.

[Kalen Braley]

KALEN!

I can't ask you about the difficulty of the walk on the hills, because you took a cart again!

 

Lol....

I have walked it in the past, but yes you are right, not on this occasion.  I can verify its a very tough walk as you essentially descend to the canyon bottom and walk back up again 4 times over the course of the round.

Lynn,

You are correct, its a beast to walk, but thankfully the green to tee box walks are pretty short.  And to boot because the course was not built with cart paths in mind, since they've now installed them, they do a get bit obtrusive visually..

[W.H. Cosgrove]

Lake Spanaway and Indian Canyon?  Garland, I'll answer your question but I wonder where you might be going.

Spanaway: Opened 1967, original design by Vernon Macan.  He died prior to it being very far along and according to Jack Reimer's family, Mr. Reimer finished it.  Spanaway is very flat, but is simliar in that the greens are of a pretty typical shape and undulation for the Pacific Northwest.  Not spectacular but good poa greens. Reimer also designed Fairwood, Twin Lakes, Cascade at Gold mountain, Madrona Links and Oakbrook.  I believe he passed away in the last few years.

Indian Canyon:  Severely sloped, designed in 1930 by Chandler Egan.  With many of the the same comments above concering the greens, short par 5's etc.  Indian Canyon, last time I played there, was in need of a pretty serious makeover.  Bunkers were very rough, turf was weak, probably due to irrigation age.  

[Troy Alderson]

Kalen,

I grew up in Spokane and lived there for about a 1/3 century before heading to Oregon.  Spokane has always been known as cheap golf.  4 muni courses including Indian Canyon, Esmerelda, Downriver, and Qualchan Creek.  3 county courses including Hangman Valley (where I worked for 6 years), Liberty Lake, and Meadow Wood.  You can see why there were only 2 country clubs for years with Manito G&CC (where I worked for 5 years) and Spokane CC.

I have liked comparing other Egan designs to Indian Canyon.  Indian Canyon used to be considered one of the top golf courses in the US back in the early 1900s.

Troy

[Kalen Braley]

Troy,

I would agree, Spokane has indeed always been a great value location in terms of what you get for what you pay as I've played them all several times.  IC is at the top of the heap in terms of public courses, but Qualchan, Hangman, and Meadowwood aren't that far behind.

Lately the shift has gone over to the Idaho side with the Resort course, Circling Raven, Black Rock, and Goozer Ranch.  And that doesn't include the 2nd course at Black Rock which is supposedly on its way.  The whole area really has turned into a very attractive and economic golf destination, especially with its mild summers.

[Troy Alderson]

Kalen,

I still have my whole family up in the Spokane/CDA area and have many friends in the golf industry up there.  CDA is booming, but the county and city are trying to reel it in a little before it is too late and gets over run.  Spend thriftly in Spokane and fork over the wad of cash for the CDA courses.

Troy

[BVince]

Kalen, the course looks like it is well guarded by the narrow tree-lined fairways.  Did it play more open than some of the pictures looked?  How were the landing areas?  The greens look interesting and fun to play.  Thanks for the post, I will have to check it out sometime.