Prediction here: The grip-it-and-rip-it crowd is going to be a little slow in warming up to the expanded edition of the Priest Lake Golf Course.
hich to my way of thinking is a very good thing. Maybe it's because I've still got a persimmon driver stashed in an old golf bag in my garage. Maybe it's because I didn't scrap my forged Wilson Staffs and invest in a set of "forgiving" oversized irons until a few years ago. Maybe it's because I'm old school. Or maybe it's because I'm just old.
For whatever reason, I've developed a deep, new-found fondness for shorter courses that take those 600 cc, deep-faced, triple titanium trampoline-effect drivers with the 56-inch hyper-baron shaft out of the hands of every golfing gorilla with at least a thimbleful of common sense.
No, I'm not bitter.
I'm just fed up with those who think a golf course has to be 9,000 yards long to be interesting or challenging.
And now, thanks to the expansion efforts of the owners of Priest Lake Golf Course, I have another example I can point to in support of my argument.
The new nine on this privately owned public course, which is located just off Highway 57, about 90 minutes northeast of Spokane and just 30 miles due north of Priest River, Idaho, opened earlier this spring to impressive reviews. I had a chance to tour the entire 6,008-yard, 18-hole layout earlier this week and came away with few complaints.
The front nine, which opened in 1968, unfolds in relatively benign fashion and meanders serenely across a large meadow and along a wooded hillside. Aside from a couple of holes, the fairways are flat, wide and inviting.
But the back nine, which was designed by Coeur d' Alene-based architect Del Hatch and constructed for the modest cost of $1 million, is a completely different beast.
This 2,961-yard stretch of holes plays over, around and through vast expanses of wetlands and other environmentally sensitive areas. The fairways are tight, the greens are small and the premium on accuracy can best be measured in lost golf balls.
But the test is fair and fun - provided you're not a stickler for precise yardage measurements.
Before playing the course for the first time, I asked an attendent behind the counter what I needed to know about the new nine. "Just keep your driver in the bag," he suggested.
I didn't. And I paid dearly - especially on the 503-yard par-5 14th, which doglegs precariously to the left between large rock outcroppings on both sides of the fairway.
According to club pro Denny Sandifer, the fairway was literally blasted out of the rocky terrain. And the result is stunning.
In an effort to avoid the water down the right side of the fairway, I pulled two tee shots left into the trees and lost both golf balls. I then put the driver away - for good, I thought.
But two holes later, at the tee of the 333-yard, par-4 16th , I was faced with a 200-yard carryover a large reed-filled pond off the tee. It seemed silly to hit driver on such a short hole, but I don’t have many other clubs in my bag that will work in such a situation.
This hole, like several others on the back nine, are as visually intimidating as any in the region. Because of the close proximity of the environmentally sensitive areas to the narrow fairways, there is little hope of finding - letting alone playing - an errant tee shot.
That fact can prove to be both annoying and humbling. But the overall beauty of the course helps soothe minor bruises to one's ego.
And to the credit of Sandifer, who helped lobby against the owners' wishes to open the new nine holes last fall, Priest Lake Golf Course is mature and ready to play. The new greens are smooth and the fairways are plush.
Green fees, at $30 for 18 holes, are a bit pricey compared to those of most public courses in the immediate area. But Sandifer is confident owners will be able to get enough play to properly maintain the course.
Seventy-two new home sites ring the course and sales, according to Sandifer, are going well. Also in the works are plans for a major clubhouse renovation that will include a restaurant and lounge.
When all of the work is finished, this once-overlooked layout should take its place alongside some of the best tracks in the area. And it should stand as a testimonial to the continued relevance of short, shotmakers' courses that defy the tests of time and technology.
