Missoula & Western Montana Golf Courses & Tee Times

Who runs public golf in Missoula & Western Montana

The University of Montana's club golf page counts five public and two private courses in town. Larchmont is the everyday 18: par 72, flat and walkable, open mid-March to mid-November, and $40 for 18 holes in 2026. Canyon River is a links-style 18 on the Clark Fork in a golf community, at $89 for 18. The University of Montana Golf Course is a nine-hole course near campus staffed by University students. The Highlands and Linda Vista are nines. Out of town, King Ranch in Frenchtown has rebuilt eleven holes into a new 18 along the Clark Fork, and Double Arrow at Seeley Lake has an island green on No. 15.

Public courses worth knowing in Missoula & Western Montana

• Canyon River Golf Club: Links-style 18 along the Clark Fork in East Missoula; host of the Pacific Northwest PGA Championship in 2010, 2015 and 2025.
• Larchmont Golf Course: Missoula's par-72 everyday course, five tees from 5,500 to 7,100 yards, and home of the Montana Open each September.
• University of Montana Golf Course: Flat nine-hole triple-tee course near campus on one of the last open spaces in the valley, run by students.
• King Ranch Golf Course: Frenchtown course ten minutes west on I-90 that built or rebuilt eleven holes for a new 18-hole layout on the Clark Fork.
• Double Arrow Lodge Golf Course: 6,500-yard resort course in the pines at Seeley Lake; No. 15 plays from an elevated tee to an island green.

Booking tee times in Missoula & Western Montana: the local rules

Three days is the local window. Larchmont and Canyon River both take tee times three days out, and Canyon River wants a collared shirt. At Double Arrow the public also gets three days, while lodge guests and members can book seven days ahead.

Why tee times in Missoula & Western Montana are hard to get

Golfers in Missoula & Western Montana get maybe six months of good weather, and they all want the same weekend mornings. Demand bunches up from May to September.

Each course releases its tee times on its own schedule, commonly a week or two out, with residents of town and county courses often booking first. Leagues, outings and members claim chunks of the sheet in advance, and whatever prime weekend times are left tend to go on release day.

When tee time cancellations happen

A full tee sheet rarely stays full. Many courses let you cancel without a fee up to 24 or 48 hours before your time, so spots tend to reappear in the last couple of days. A bad forecast shakes more loose, and a foursome that drops to three opens a single. None of it is announced. The time just shows up again on the booking page, and whoever looks first gets it.

How to get a tee time in Missoula & Western Montana

Doing it by hand? Here's what works.

1. Know the booking window. Find out how many days ahead each course releases times, and whether residents get an earlier window. Be ready the morning it opens.
2. Look again 24 to 48 hours out. That's when most cancellation deadlines pass and spots come back.
3. Be flexible on group size. Singles and twosomes fit into gaps a foursome can't.
4. Try twilight and weekday afternoons. They're the last to fill and often cheaper.
5. Widen the map. If your first choice is full, check the next town over. Missoula has 2 courses on Yoink and Seeley Lake has 1.

Read the full guide to getting a tee time when everything's booked