Course Review
Sun Valley Resort-White Cloud Golf Course
Sun Valley, Idaho
Where mountain light shapes every swing
AMW Faves List
Favorite Par 3 – #2 – Tempting fate early in the round, this hole arrives with a wink and a warning. It’s brilliant and bold in its first impression, inviting confidence before gently reminding you that fun and challenge often travel together.
Favorite Par 4 – #8 – Standing on the tee, the drop unfolds below you in a way that feels dramatic and playful at the same time, daring you to swing freely and enjoy the moment. The view amplifies the experience, turning the shot into something you remember long after the score is forgotten.
Favorite Par 5 – #5 It really isn’t about the golf here. It’s about the walk along a beautiful mountainside, where each step invites you to imagine the history of the old and feel the quiet magic of the new.
Favorite Hole Design – #6 – Risk and reward if there ever was one. A very gutsy move to go for the green, demanding both conviction and nerve.
Easiest Hole – #9 – Much wider than the other fairways, yet still a very good hole—proof that width doesn’t dilute interest. The extra room invites confidence off the tee, but the strategy and setting ensure it remains engaging, thoughtful, and memorable from start to finish.
Hardest Hole – #3 – A well-designed, tough, and demanding hole set along the ridgeline, where exposure and strategy go hand in hand. Accuracy is everything here—miss your line and the land quickly reminds you who’s in charge.
Favorite Extra Sighting – Old Baldy and the plaque on the 5th hole.
Favorite Après Golf – hike Old Baldy, walk around Ketchum.
Where to Stay – Sun Valley Resort, Limelight Ketchum, Sun Resort Lodge, Knob Hill Inn Sun Valley.
Where to Eat – The Covey, Rickshaw, Enoteca, Roundhouse (gondola ride up Old Baldy), The Ram, Konditorei (Breakfast)
PLAN AHEAD
Course Details
Address: 1 Sun Valley Rd, Sun Valley, ID 83353
Telephone: +1 (208) 622-2251
Website: www.sunvalley.com
Director of Golf: Tate Mills
Architect: Donald Knott
Year Open: 2008
Greens Fees: ⛳️⛳️⛳️
Yardage: Professional – 3600; Championship – 3342; Middle – 2974; Resort – 2768; Forward – 2678
What You Need to Know
It's AMW Story Time!
Ernest Hemingway came to Sun Valley in 1939, not just for a visit, but eventually home. Apparently, it was a place that matched his pace, his restlessness, his need for both solitude and rough-edged companionship. He arrived with Martha Gellhorn and checked into Room 206 at the Sun Valley Lodge, a brand-new resort rising improbably from the Idaho wilderness. What began as a temporary stay became something far more permanent.
Hemingway moved easily into the rhythms of the Wood River Valley. He fished the cold, clear waters of Silver Creek, hunted birds in the high country, rode horses across open land that seemed to stretch without end. He drank with locals, listened more than he spoke, and found comfort in a place that didn’t ask him to explain himself. The mountains did not judge. They simply stood.
It was here, surrounded by snow-dusted peaks and long silences, that Hemingway finished For Whom the Bell Tolls. The novel’s themes duty, courage, love under pressure felt at home in Sun Valley’s rugged terrain. The landscape sharpened him. The isolation focused him. Writing came not from escape, but from immersion.
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