Banks Lake Golf & Country Club

Beautiful views of the Coulee walls and banks lake. Fairways and greens are a bit rough but it's a fun course.

This course is operated by only one paid employee and many volunteers. By August, 2016, the greens were in great shape. The view of the Coulee walls and Banks Lake is spectacular.

Don't waste your time. The fairways were not cut. To clarify, the fairways had 2 inch high grass with fully grown dandy lions. The driving range had patchy grass (not enough to have a decent lie). The course has good bones it just needs someone to come in and give it a face lift.

Nice place to host a small party.

We had a camping trip with friends at the nearby RV, tent and cabin resort a stones-throw away and I was interested in playing some golf while we were there. This is right across the bay. In planning the trip, I tried to look up info on this golf course on the web….There is absolutely no website, no posted phone number and only one internet review that was several years old. I couldn’t even tell if this place existed if it wasn’t for the Google satellite map showing what looks like a dried up course on a shrinking lake. So I took my clubs on the trip and hoped for the best…and I wasn’t disappointed. It is a fun course with great views and much more potential. It only cost me $18 to walk…totally a bargain. But here is the story. The golf course was in pretty bad shape after last year when the Bureau of Reclamation lowered nearby Banks Lake some 30 feet to work spillways and water controls. It took most of the summer and during that time, Banks Lake Golf was unable to water much of their course because their pumps were left high and dry. Subsequently, the greens died and I am sure revenue plummeted. The course operator up and left in the Spring 2012 and the Port District took over operations. They have invested almost $200,000 in upgrades that are mostly unseen. Of the 18 holes, about 6 greens were “temporary” because the real ones were getting rehabbed. Temporary greens are always a disappointment in my book, but at this price, I didn’t care too much. Several other regular greens had some bare patches, but they were still playable. The greens are VERY slow and may only get mowed, at most, twice a week. One worker on the course told me that he thought the greens were last mowed three days prior. Fairways are decent, maybe mowed a little high for my tastes, and a little dry in some areas. But not too bad. I asked about the future of the course and the employee at the clubhouse said he is pretty certain that they will be operating next year. The Port District has only committed to operating for the remainder of the 2012 season, and they are hoping for an operator to come forward and take over. But what they really need right now is: 1) a website!!! 2) a phone number in an online directory, and last 3) some marketing. Try to get the tourist guides and surrounding tourist joints to at least mention or provide info about your course. The clubhouse guy said the $18 rate is half of what it used to be because of the temporary greens. The implication is that once they get the course back in shape, the rates will go back up to something like $36. Here are some course stats from the scorecard: White tees: 6359 yards, Par 73, Slope 116, Rating 70.3;; Red tees (womens?): 5498 yards, Par 73, 119 slope, 70.4 rating. There is a driving range and a practice green.