Northwest Notes Dec. 14, 2011

Circling Raven Golf Club

honored by Golfweek magazine

Circling Raven Golf Club was ranked No. 14 on Golfweek magazine's list of the "50 Best Casino Courses."

The Golfweek ranking - published in the Dec. 9 edition - is the latest of many "Best-of" honors garnered by Circling Raven since opening in 2003, including earning a spot on Golfweek's List of the Top-100 Resort Courses, GOLF Magazine's "Top 100 Courses You Can Play" and Golf Digest's "America's 100 Greatest Public Courses." Circling Raven and Director of Golf Tom Davidson were also named PGA National Merchandiser of the Year in the Resorts category earlier this year.

This marks the sixth year Golfweek has conducted its casino course rankings. To produce Golfweek's Best Courses lists, a nationwide team of more than 730 course raters surveyed more than 3,000 courses on the basis of 10 criteria, including routing, conditioning, variety and memorability of holes.

Circling Raven is a par-72 measuring 7,189 yards from the back tees.

Shock make more moves

SPOKANE - Wide receiver Branden Ledbetter and defensive back Jose Perez have been added to the 2012 Spokane Shock roster.

In other roster moves by the Arena Football League team, linebacker Beau Bell and defensive back Bryant Nnabuife have been placed on Other League Exempt after they signed with the B.C. Lions of the CFL.

Ledbetter (6-foot-5, 240 pounds) most recently played in the UFL as a member of the California Redwoods. Drafted by the Dennis Green-led team, Ledbetter was the only tight end selected by the Redwoods that season. After a career at Western Michigan, Ledbetter attended training camp with the Green Bay Packers as an undrafted free agent.

Perez (6-0, 180), was in camp with the Miami Dolphins earlier this season, but was released in late August. A multi-sport athlete in high school, Perez was drafted by the New York Yankees in the seventh round of the 2003 Major League Baseball draft.

After three years of professional baseball, Perez walked on at San Diego State, where he originally committed before he was drafted by the Yankees. As an Aztec, Perez recorded 72 tackles and two interceptions. His senior season, Perez was selected as an All-Conference Honorable Mention.

The Shock opens its season March 12 at home vs. Iowa.