A floating green? Only at Coeur d'Alene golf club

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho -- What do you get when you take an abandoned lakeside sawmill site and combine it with a knack inventiveness?

The Coeur d'Alene golf club in northern Idaho.

On the shores of Lake Coeur d'Alene lies one of the most unique properties in golf. The arrival by boat from the hotel is just the beginning.

The Coeur d'Alene resort was the vision of owner Duane Hagadone. The course opened in 1991.

But it wasn't to be just any old golf resort.

Due to the relatively small 135 acre parcel of land, the designers decided to make use of the lakefront property like no one had ever done before.

The driving range takes up very little land, as you send the floating range balls out into the lake.

"It helped out having, needing maybe the extra space," said Brendan Lenihan with the resort, "but he also had a vision of that really being a good draw for the area, because that's unique."

The signature hole is on the back nine: the par three 14th. It's the world's only moveable, floating green.

It's a feeling unlike anything in golf: a leap of faith as golfers try and try and try to land safely on the island.

Once you are on, a boat aptly named "Putter" takes you to the green.

"I hope I get it on," said Bill Parker, a golfer from Peoria, Ill. "Just don't get wet and I'll be happy. And I didn't, so I'm happy with it."

The floating green is just one of a collection of some of the most beautiful par threes in the world. And nearly every hole has a view of the tranquility that is Lake Coeur d'Alene.