“One course is a curiosity. Two courses are a destination.”
That quote, first attributed to Bandon Dunes founder Mike Keiser, has grown into an industry axiom. And it now applies to Gamble Sands.
For more than a decade, the central Washington resort has been on the golf world’s radar for its single, eponymous 18-hole course, a David McLay Kidd design that opened in 2014. In 2021, the property added another McLay Kidd project, a par-3 layout called Quicksand. But by the Keiser metric, the resort remained a curiosity. That’s about to change.
Next Friday — Aug. 1 — marks the ribbon cutting of a second 18-holer at Gambles Sands. Its name is Scarecrow, and it, too, bears the imprint of McLay Kidd. Like its sibling, it’s a bouncy, broad-shouldered design with generous fairways and abundant ground-game options. But it sits on more wildly tussled terrain, and its greens are more richly contoured than those of its counterpart. The site it occupies is where McLay Kidd hoped to build the original course. At the time, though, power lines stretched across the landscape, making a golf course a non-starter. Only years later, after those power lines were buried, did McLay Kidd get a crack at what he considered the better terrain.
The routing he dreamed up, in collaboration with his design partner Nick Schaan, seizes on the natural drama of the setting, running along bluffs and ridges overlooking the Columbia River valley. The opening hole is a fun, friendly handshake that provides a faithful taste of what awaits: a short par-4, it plays over a brow, with a bunker in the middle, to a speed slot that tumbles left toward the putting surface. Depending on the wind, big knockers might drive the green. But there’s trouble left, and a wide miss right risks running through the fairway into tangled native grasses. From almost anywhere in the fairway, it’s a lofted approach or pitch to the green but the rumples of the ground make it tough to knock one tight. Call it an easy par, challenging birdie.
The course gains in momentum as it goes, surging up hill and giving way to sweeping vistas. The par-3 9th has vineyards and the river valley as its backdrop. The par-3 11th plays to a point atop a bluff that is ready-made for Instagram.
Gamble Sands belongs to a longtime farming family who own large swaths of land around the resort. There is room for more golf at what now counts in Keiser lingo as a full-blown “destination.” After Scarecrow has some time to settle in, I’ll be curious to see what happens next.
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3 things I’m thinking
USGA’s 2025 host rota is stacked: Every year, elite amateur championships stop at A-list courses, but rarely does a lineup get as good as this. Even as I type, the 2025 U.S. Junior Amateur is unfolding at Trinity Forest Golf Club, home a Coore-Crenshaw design in Dallas that briefly hosted the AT&T Bryson Nelson (the fact that some pros groused about its quirkiness only underscores how interesting it is). On Aug. 4, the U.S. Women’s Amateur kicks off at Bandon Dunes in Oregon, followed the next week by the U.S. Amateur at the Olympic Club in San Francisco. And to cap off the season: the Walker Cup in September at Cypress Point. With venues like these, I’m tempted to abandon my Tour ambitions and simply stick with my amateur status.
A different Pebble Beach pro-am: Here’s another way for amateurs to access top-notch courses: sign up for a pro-am. And here’s an option for you: the Troon Invitational at Pebble Beach, a four-day tournament that plays out on Spyglass Hill, Spanish Bay and — drum roll, please — Pebble Beach, with tons of hospitality goodies along the way. Starting this year, the annual event has a new title sponsor in TaylorMade. There’s still room to register for 2026. You can find more info here.
Sleeper coastal links readies for return: Seven months after ownership shut it down, Sea Ranch Golf Links, a sleeper of a layout on the rugged, remote Sonoma coast of California, is on the verge of being reborn. Though I’ve yet to get word on the final details, I’ve been told by reliable sources that a deal is in the works that would have Sea Ranch homeowners lease the course, with a management company to help them run it. Before its closure, Sea Ranch had long been one of California’s great values — a rare layout with Pacific views that anyone could play for under $100. Getting there isn’t easy. It’s a winding, three-plus hour drive from San Francisco. But it’s a scenic journey, and the course is worth the trip.
