Public-private partnership urged to upgrade Spokane’s Indian Canyon golf course

Supporters of Indian Canyon made an impassioned request Thursday to the Spokane Park Board to return the golf course to its standing as one of the nation’s finest public facilities.

The Friends of Indian Canyon say the condition of 80-year-old course has been in decline for years and asked the board to form a public-private partnership to renovate the course that was once home to United States Golf Association and PGA Tour events.

“For seven to 10 years or more, Spokane’s golf community has witnessed Indian Canyon’s accelerating deterioration,” Tom Agnew told the board, following a five-minute video narrated by Spokane’s Mark Rypien detailing the course’s luminous history. “Formerly one of the most highly-ranked public courses in the nation, everyone agrees it’s in crisis. The course is in critical condition. The need is urgent.”

The board thanked the group for its presentation but didn’t ask any questions.

The Friends of Indian Canyon came with heavy hearts following the unexpected death Wednesday of former park board member Tom Black, who was scheduled to give the presentation. The board held a moment of silence in Black’s honor at the outset of the meeting.

Indian Canyon averaged nearly 41,000 rounds annually from 1999-2006. That figure has dropped to about 31,000 a year since 2007. Course supporters noted that golf rounds have been declining in general but they also point to “poor management, poor maintenance and an overall void of normal golf course renovations that should occur over 80 years.”

The course still has its original irrigation system, which is inadequate and requires several employees to operate, supporters said.

“The city has taken some steps to improve (maintenance) but we don’t want to stop there,” David Saraceno said. “We don’t want to make it like a NASCAR place where we have a bunch of sponsorships and signs everywhere. We want it to fit in with the Circling Ravens and it can fill in with the Chambers Bays and Coeur d’Alene Resorts and be one of the places you want to play.”

After the meeting, Park Board President Randy Cameron said the park department has taken many steps to improve the course. Staff has been rearranged and is now an “all-star” crew, he said. Cameron added that with the help of the city’s urban forestry department, trees have been thinned.

“The city is determined to get the course back in shape,” Cameron said. “That can happen this year.”

But more will need to be done, and the Park Board is excited about assistance offered by the Friends of Indian Canyon, he said.

“There’s going to have to be hundreds of thousands of dollars in investment in equipment and labor,” said Cameron, who is retiring from the board this month.

Indian Canyon for two decades ranked among Golf Digest’s top 50 public courses, including No. 6 in 1981, but it has dropped off the list. The course hosted the 1941 and 1984 men’s public links championship and the 1989 women’s public links championship.

The venerable course also was host to the Esmeralda Open in the 1940s. The PGA event was won by Byron Nelson in 1945, though Sam Snead shot a course-record 63 that would stand for more than 50 years. Ben Hogan made a hole-in-one on No. 4 in the 1946 tournament.

“We’re going to try to generate interest within the private sector for contributions to make the course not just the way it was but even better,” said Saraceno, contending improvements would benefit area hotels, restaurants and other businesses. “And we hope the city can either match the funds or contribute in whatever manner they can.”

Indian Canyon has been the site of the Rosauers Open Invitational, the richest PGA sectional event in the country, since 1988. The tournament was moved to MeadowWood last year when winter ice damaged a handful of the Canyon’s greens.

Jonathan Brunt contributed to this report.