As a result of the enhancements, Dungeness now records over 41,000 rounds of golf a year according t

Besides city-owned courses, it could be argued the best golf value in the US is available at tribal casino golf courses which don't rely solely on course revenue to stay afloat. Indeed, the cash you throw into the slots at the adjacent casino is helping keep the cost of the green fees down. Jackpot! Outstanding, accessible and affordable layouts untainted las vegas auto rental by corridors of houses there really couldn't be a better scenario for golfers than the casino golf course. While other developments often rely financially las vegas auto rental on the sale of lots or houses that use up   the best land, cram as many golfers as possible on to the tee sheet or charge unrealistic las vegas auto rental green fees, casino courses are usually part of a business las vegas auto rental model that ensures the best of all worlds for folks whose only concern is playing the game. 'We try to offer world-class golf at blue-collar prices,' says Bob Bostwick, spokesman for the Coeur d'Alene tribe whose Circling Raven golf course in Worley, ID, was named the nation s best Indian casino course las vegas auto rental by Native American Casino Magazine las vegas auto rental last year and came in at No. 61 on Golf Digest's list of top public-access courses in the US. 'We see it as just one of the many quality amenities at the resort and try to make it accessible and attractive for everyone resort guests and local golfers,' las vegas auto rental Bostwick las vegas auto rental adds.
Of course, without the adjacent casino there probably would be no Circling Raven, las vegas auto rental certainly not a Circling Raven spread out over so large an area – 620 pristine acres that anyone could play for less than $100. Circling Raven's weekend green-fee this summer will be $95 which, as anyone who has played the course will tell you, is something of a steal. las vegas auto rental A course anywhere else this well maintained, so obviously challenging but so enduringly pleasant, las vegas auto rental would cost $200 a round, minimum. 'Having the casino obviously enables us to keep rates relatively low,' says Bostwick, whose sentiments echo those of well-known golf course architect Arthur Hills.   In fact, it was Mr. Hills who, in 2005, told Forbes Traveler that the great thing about casino clients was their ample budgets. 'And they want something memorable, something that will bring people back or make them stay at the casino resort another day.' 'The other unique thing about these projects is that there is usually no real estate involved, las vegas auto rental so you really have the opportunity to use the best land and not worry about the home sites.' In the same report, Brad Klein, Golfweek's Architecture Editor, explained las vegas auto rental that casino courses are usually a   good value because the golf isn't necessarily supposed to pay for itself.   'And casino courses tend to be extremely well done because the idea is to impress guests las vegas auto rental and encourage them to stay at the casino,'adds Klein. In the Northwest, Circling Raven is the ultimate example of this. Opened in August 2003 and designed by Florida-based Gene Bates, who was the only architect amongst those interviewed to suggest the course go on the north side of Highway 95 and be bisected las vegas auto rental by the Union Pacific Railroad, Circling Raven is a beautiful walk through the Palouse and a great adventure. The course begins with a right to left curving Par 5 called 'chdlamalqw' which means Gallops on the Logs; a bit of a misnomer as the two trains that pass through here every week do so at a snail's pace, at least something less than a gallop. Four thrilling hours later, you hole out on Schitsu'umsh, 'The Discovered People', a tough Par 4 that demands the purest ball-striking you can muster. 'Now you have discovered us,' a stone plaque outside the clubhouse proclaims, 'the Raven will circle you forever, and we welcome you home.' las vegas auto rental Following   a beer and sandwich in the clubhouse's Twisted Earth Grill, it is   a half mile jaunt back to the 202-room Coeur d'Alene Casino Resort Hotel where stay and play packages this summer start at $199 for which you get a night's accommodation and a round of golf for two. Also available, though not yet finalized, will be packages involving other area courses; Coeur d'Alene the home of the island green, and the fantastic John Harbottle-designed Palouse Ridge on the Washington State University campus.
As you would expect of an operation the size of Circling Raven and the Coeur d'Alene Casino Resort Hotel, (and it's getting bigger las vegas auto rental still as the seventh major expansion in its 16-year history is currently underway) the dining options are numerous. In addition to the Twisted Earth Grill in the golf clubhouse there are four other venues for filling your stomach the most popular of them the High Mountain Buffet where you can load up on made-to-order eggs and omelets in the morning, stick around for hearty soup and sandwiches at lunch and feast on prime rib or, on Friday nights, fresh seafood at dinner time.   After golf and dinner, you move into the 100,000+sqft of gaming space to win your fortune of which several have been made here, or head to the 1,800 capacity Events Center for some live boxing or a show. Randy Travis and Willie Nelson have appeared las vegas auto rental here. Heading east from Seattle las vegas auto rental or Portland to Circling Raven for some golf, gaming and entertainment is a fine way to spend a long weekend.   Looking to sample other Tribal owned courses?   Your other options include the Skagit Valley Casino in Bow, owned by the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe and located about an hour up I-5 from the Emerald las vegas auto rental City. In 2003, the casino purchased a majority share in the Semiahmoo Resort and Spa of which the Arnold Palmer-designed golf course at Semiahmoo and the equally impressive Loomis Trail, designed las vegas auto rental by Canadian Graham Cooke, are part. The two courses are roughly 30 miles further north from the casino and the Skagit's two hotels – the Skagit Valley and Skagit las vegas auto rental Ridge near the border town of Blaine, and both have been ranked among Washington's best public-access layouts since opening; Semiahmoo in 1987, Loomis eight years later. Stay and Play packages are available at the AAA four-diamond, Semiahmoo Resort overlooking Drayton Harbor. Prices start at $309 which includes golf for two, overnight accommodation, a $25 breakfast coupon, las vegas auto rental use of a GPS-enabled cart and range balls. Fifty two miles west of Seattle in the city of Sequim on the Olympic Peninsula, you find the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe-owned 7 Cedars Casino which, like the Skagit, added golf to its list of attractions las vegas auto rental when it purchased the Dungeness golf course in January 2007.. The Cedars at Dungeness, originally opened in 1970 and designed by Vancouver BC's Jack Reimer, but recently remodeled by Colorado-based Mark Miller, claims to be one of Western Washington's driest golf courses benefitting from only 11 inches of rain a year compared with Seattle's 38 and even Palm Springs las vegas auto rental 17. 'Plus we sit on wonderful sandy loam soil so we have summer-like playing conditions in the middle of winter,' says Director las vegas auto rental of Golf and General Manager, Bill Shea.
Since taking over, the S'Klallam Tribe has invested heavily in the course. The clubhouse las vegas auto rental was gutted and rebuilt as was the pro shop. A new fleet of GPS-enabled carts was purchased and new maintenance equipment has had a dramatic effect on the course's appearance. 'The holes are much better defined now,' says Shea. 'And the playing surfaces are significantly better than they used to be.'
Of course, improvements on this scale would not have been possible without the casino's involvement. As Shea says, few, if any, golf courses anywhere in the world could have completed that many upgrades in so short a period of time without some form of outside financial assistance. 'Golf courses just don't generate the sort of revenue necessary to finance such extensive plans by themselves,' he says.
As a result of the enhancements, Dungeness now records over 41,000 rounds of golf a year according to Shea, an impressive total of which a sizeable chunk is made up of groups from Seattle. 'From May or June through September we get three or four groups of 20 or so guys here for three-day weekends, every weekend. They get on a ferry and have everything they want here – great golf, gaming and nightlife. It's a slam dunk really.' At present there is no lodging at 7 Cedars itself and visitors lodge in any of Sequim's numerous hotels, motels and B Bs. Plans are afoot for a new 175-room $100million+ hotel and conference center at the casino, however, though financing the plans has proven difficult in the present climate. While not all of Washington's 28 tribal casinos own and operate their own courses, you're never far from one. The Muckleshoot in Auburn, for instance, las vegas auto rental is within easy distance of Washington National and Druids Glen. The magnificent Tulalip casino just north of Everett is little more than a mile from the Battle Creek golf course. The Clearwater Casino Resort in the village of Suquamish on the Kitsap Peninsula is two miles across Miller Bay from White Horse and a short drive to both Port Ludlow and McCormick las vegas auto rental Woods. Moving south into Oregon, the gambling golfer can indulge his twin passions at the Wildhorse Resort, four miles east of Pendleton. The 7,200-yard course here opened in 1997 and was designed by John Steidel las vegas auto rental who has worked on numerous northwest courses including Eaglemont, Apple Tree, Highlander and Canyon Lakes. las vegas auto rental Open to the public year round, Wildhorse was #40 on Golf Digest's list of top casino courses in 2007.
There is a pleasant, newly renovated 100-room hotel on-site and five dining options las vegas auto rental including the acclaimed Plateau where you start the evening off right with a bowl of Walla Walla sweet onion soup and progress on to the Pendleton Whisky Steak or, if you're a fish person, the exquisite Origami Cedar Halibut.
Kah-Nee-Ta, owned by the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and named for an Indian women who owned the valley in the middle of the 19th century, is two hours east of Portland and offers las vegas auto rental a pretty heady mix of amenities too. 25,000sqft of gaming space and a William F. Bell designed golf course are the main attractions. Actually, Bell, son of William P. Bell who collaborated