In the early 60’s, a group of local golf enthusiasts in the Treasure Valley area got together to form a golf club. Land was made available by Richard B. Smith (a local developer) in the foothills above the North End in Boise, Idaho. This area is known today as the “Highlands”. Fresno, California golf course architect, Bob Baldock, was hired to design the course that was to originally be called the Highlands Country Club. The original plans and irrigation blue prints are on display in the “19th Hole” of Crane Creek’s clubhouse today. The Highlands name was changed to the present Crane Creek Country Club upon it’s grand opening in 1963. “Crane Creek” came from the name of the “creek” that ran through the property, although the area did have another name at the time. The other name (fortunately not selected) was Slaughter House Gulch (after a local slaughter house located somewhere above the intersection of Hill Road and Harrison Blvd).
The club was founded as a private country club with the first 350 “Charter Members” paying an initiation fee of $ 600.00 and a very modest $ 20.00 per month dues. The original by-laws allowed a limit of 450 members. Some of those charter members were associated with The Morrison Knudsen Construction Company, and those MK members generously volunteered their time and their company’s heavy equipment in the construction of the golf course. The concept was to build an eighteen-hole championship golf course, clubhouse, swimming pool and tennis courts. The golf course and club (with the aforementioned amenities) officially opened in 1963. The golf course was an immediate hit with the golfing population in the Boise area and over the years has been frequently rated as one of the top golf courses in the state of Idaho.
The club has had only four Head Golf Professionals over the years. The first professional was Chuck Chronister, who held that post for five seasons. The next seven years saw Bud Sower as the head professional and in January, 1976, Warren “Stoney” Brown began his tenure as head professional at Crane Creek Country Club. Current Golf Pro, Ron Rawls, has been here since July 2004.
In the beginning stages of the club, a trailer, and then the “bomb shelter” (product of the cold war era and used by a local school) were utilized as a temporary clubhouse for a period of time. Numerous stories of the good times had in the “bomb shelter” are still being passed around today by some of the club’s charter members. Eventually the clubhouse, as it now stands, was completed in 1969 with a remodel in 1984 and 2006. The golf course has been tweaked from time to time during its history. But over the winter of 2003 and 2004, the golf course underwent a major renovation. No holes were left untouched. Newly sodded and reshaped greens surrounds, a new forward set of tees, new championship tees and twice the surface area of sand (including several new fairway bunkers) are the happy results of that renovation. With stunning views of the valley, challenging terrain and some of the most difficult and frustrating greens in the world, Crane Creek Country Club has risen to the top of private facilities in the region.
Our philosophy at Crane Creek Country Club is based on our desire to develop policies and procedures that respond to your needs and those of our business.
We believe that each employee contributes directly to CCCC's status and success, and we hope you will take pride in being a member of our team.
Crane Creek Country Club is an outstanding place to work. We hope that your experience here will be challenging, enjoyable, and rewarding.
