Indian Canyon Golf Course

Indian Canyon is Spokane's flagship municipal course, designed in 1930 by H. Chandler Egan (the 1904 and 1905 U.S. Amateur champion who later shaped dozens of Pacific Northwest courses) and opened for play in 1935. The routing drops and climbs through a heavily forested canyon with a 240-foot vertical drop, towering ponderosa pines, and basalt outcroppings that frame several holes. The 1st and 10th tee shots are both downhill chargers, the kind of openers that set the tone for the round. Egan laid the course over the existing canyon topography rather than forcing the land into a template. Fairway contours are naturally bold, greens are relatively small by modern standards, and the par-70 routing rewards position over raw length. Views from the high points show the Spokane River valley, downtown Spokane, and the city's northern neighborhoods. Golf Digest has repeatedly chosen Indian Canyon as one of the top 25 public courses in the United States. The course has hosted the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship in 1941 and 1984 and the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links in 1989, rare USGA hosting for a municipal facility. Spokane is probably America's greatest municipal golf city, and Indian Canyon is the flagship round, affordable, walkable, and genuinely first-class architecture.