Getting To Know: The Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course

An Insightful Interview With Andy Mackimmie, Head Golf Professional, PGA

By Brian Weis

Whether you have played a course 20+ times a year or looking to play the course for the first time, insights from an insider can help enhance your golf experience. Below is an interview with Andy Mackimmie who shares some valuable tidbits about the course, memorable holes and must eats and treats at the 19th.

Give Our Readers An Overview of the Golf Course/Property
The Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course is home to the world's only floating, movable island golf green, located on the shores of beautiful Lake Coeur d'Alene in North Idaho. Since opening in 1991 to nationally acclaimed recognition as one of "America's most Beautiful Resort Courses" by Golf Magazine and receiving the distinguished Gold Medal award, given to the top 20 resort courses in America, the resort course has welcomed nearly a million destination golf travelers.

Each round of golf includes the use of custom deluxe golf carts, service of a forecaddie, pre-round lakefront practice tee privileges, per-round warm-up sports massage and a personalized engraved bag tag.

Come discover breathtaking lake views from nearly every hole on the course, immaculate course conditions and challenge the floating green. Find out why we believe, it's a golf experience like no other.

If Someone Was Looking To Golf In The Area, Why Should They Play Your Course?
The world's only floating green obviously makes The Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course unique as a "bucket list" course for destination golf travelers. However, this is just the beginning of our story. The course is meticulously maintained with beds of brilliant red geranium flower beds showered across the landscape. There's a unique variety of tree lined holes through hillside featuring three par 3's with spectacular elevated lake views followed by a stretch of holes with undulating fairways and multi-tiered greens. Holes 11 through 13 bring Fernan Creek into play with the 11th hole reminiscent of hole 13 at Agusta National.

The forecaddie's add an element of pampering service to the round, offering course management advice, accurate laser yardages to the pin, raking bunkers, food & beverage delivery at the turn, club cleaning and more.

What Tips or Local Knowledge Would You Provide To Help Them Score Better At Your Course?
The course is straight forward with many holes contouring towards the center of the fairways. Course designer, Scott Miller, intended the course to be playable by all ability levels with five teeing ground offerings and two combo tees for a wide range of course length options. Selecting the proper tees is recommended for an enjoyable round.

Any recent changes to the golf course? Or any upcoming changes?
The floating green recently underwent a full 5-month renovation and upgrade process which included all-new floatation, mechanical systems, soil, turf, landscaping, dock and surrounding seawall panels.

The 2019 season also showcases an all-new fleet of custom deluxe golf carts.

Recent Awards or What You Are Most Proud About The Course?
Golf Digest Reader's Choice Award for Top Resort Courses in America - 2017, 2018, 2019

What Is The Signature, Most Talked About, or Most Photographed Hole?
The 14th Hole, the world's only floating green, accessible by an electric ferry boat dubbed "The Putter" after the tee shot. The world's only floating green has grown to be an icon in the golf world. Destination travelers from around the world come to play the famous island hole. It is one of the most photographed holes in the world.

The floating green yardages range from 90 yards from the women's tee to 220 from the championship tee. Average daily yardage from the standard tee is 155. All yardages change daily and are posted at the tee.

The 5,200 sq. ft. surface of the floating green features two sand bunkers, three pine trees and two large geranium flower beds.

What Is Your Favorite Hole? Any Tips to Play It?
The par 3 6th hole is one of my personal favorites. The tee boxes are tiered down a steep hole to a dramatic, 80 foot drop down to a large green with towering pines surrounding the back and left side of the green. The lake views from the tees are spectacular. After the floating green, it is our second most photographed hole.

Must Have Dish or Drink after the round at the 19th Hole?
The must have dish for lunch is the Smoked Gouda Roast Beef Melt with Truffle Fries. Our signature cocktail is The Floating Green Bloody Mary with our in-house secret mix, garnished with lemon, olive, celery and bacon.

For the traveling golfer, do you have lodging onsite or partner with any area hotels?
The Coeur d'Alene Resort is a 338 room tower on the north shore of Lake Coeur d'Alene in downtown Coeur d'Alene . It features standard rooms and several levels of suites with views of the lake and city. Stay & Play golf packages are popular choices for destination travelers to play The Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course.

The Coeur d'Alene Resort also features over 32,000 sq. ft. of conference and meeting space and seven restaurants.

Who Holds Course Record and What Was Their Score?
Former PGA Tour Professional, John Cook, with a score of 10 under, 61 back in 1992.

Back Tee Stats
Par: 71
Yardage: 6803
Slope: 127
Rating: 71.8

More Information
The Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course
900 S. Floating Green Drive
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, 83814
800-935-6283
www.cdaresort.com

Revised: 06/17/2019 - Article Viewed 19,601 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.