Kalispel Golf and Country Club

Kalispel Golf and Country Club, formerly known as Spokane Country Club, is the fourth-oldest golf club in Washington State, founded on June 10, 1898 as the Spokane Golf Club. After several early relocations (14th and Perry Street, then Liberty Park, then Hart Field), the club settled at its current location on a 140-acre tract along the Little Spokane River north of downtown in 1910. That year, an 18-hole course was laid out by Robert Johnstone, an emigrant Scotsman from North Berwick who was the head professional at Seattle Golf Club, assisted by Cornish-born four-time major champion 'Long' Jim Barnes (1921 U.S. Open winner with ties to Spokane CC). The course has been refined over the decades, most notably by Robert Muir Graves, whose 1988 architecture work added character and challenge. The signature hole is the par-5 16th, a 558-yarder that plays over the club's entrance road and doglegs right to a green protected by a trio of bunkers. The Kalispel Tribe of Indians took ownership of the course in December 2015 and operates it today as a semi-private club with public-guest-play access; the renaming to 'Kalispel' followed the tribal ownership transition. For the Spokane trip visitor, this is the city's most historically significant course.