Gamble Sands: Everything You’d Hope For
By David R. Holland
BREWSTER, WA. – So, another pilgrimage to a brown-turf golf experience has been completed.
Gamble Sands, now with Scarecrow, was everything I had hoped for. The resort is 36 holes of award-winning, pure fun. Quicksands, with 14 more holes, is a par-three executive course, with even more memories.
My fast and firm golf journey first took me to the Old Course at St. Andrews in 2001, a mere month after 9-11, then to being the first golf writer on-site at Ballyneal (now transitioned to bentgrass), then Sand Hills Golf Club, Chambers Bay, Tetherow, Prairie Club and a month ago at Pacific Dunes.
But wait one minute.
This turf is not brown. It is green. Why? I asked. The answer was very understandable. With temperatures reaching 100 some days this summer and the West entrenched in drought, more water was needed to keep this awesome fine fescue turf alive.
When Gamble Sands opened in 2014 it won Best New Course awards from all major U.S. golf publications. The encore, Scarecrow, was a ditto. Opened in August, 2025, it too nailed the awards season – another Best New Course winner.
Designer David McLay Kidd had a lot of fun in mind for the first Gamble Sands layout, the 7,151-yard, par-72.
“Gamble Sands sits on a sandy plateau above the Columbia River, near the town of Brewster in Central Washington. The course is easy to walk and there are no homes and no cart paths. There is nothing but a great golf course and a small, functional clubhouse. This is unadulterated golf from beginning to end,” McLay Kidd said.
“The mission we gave ourselves was to build a golf course that was just as playable as Bandon Dunes (he designed the original course). We wanted good golfers to stand on the tee with confidence and see opportunity, all the while ensuring the average player never lost a ball. The fairways are huge, and the views are even bigger.”
Oh yeah, mission accomplished.
Just as the original 18 takes No. 14 on Golf Magazine’s “Top 100 Courses You Can Play” ranking, Scarecrow is poised to get its own ranking in the near future.
Those who like to ponder comparisons are posing the typical question: Which course is better? Gamble Sands or Scarecrow? Debate on the subject hurts my head.
The name Scarecrow comes from the corn that once grew here and where apple and cherry orchards still dominate the distant views of the Columbia River Valley.
The land, owned by the Gebbers family, gambled in 2014 that golfers would make the “out in the middle of nowhere” journey for a masterpiece of a golf trip, now part of the Troon Golf portfolio.
In Scarecrow, the design also included Nick Schaan, who transformed a “twisted saddle of undulating land and river-view ridgeline” into what golfers have found is a worthy and contrasting counterpart to the original course.
What I really loved about Scarecrow were the holes that seemed suspended in air, hugging canyon edges, that are ripe for fearless approach shots. And the views these holes presented were photo keepers. It also has 70 feet in elevation changes.
Adventure happens on the very first hole, a downhill par-4, 395 yards, with a tucked invisible green to those who land on the left side of the massive fairway. The right side has the speed slot enabling a short approach.
The 18th of the 6,921-yard, par-71 Scarecrow is a drivable par-4, 368-yarder. Birdie time, for sure.
“It’s been said that a compelling landscape almost can’t help but yield a compelling golf course. When we created Scarecrow, we knew we had just such a landscape,” said McLay Kidd.
“We wanted to offer the golfer a different experience than the first Gamble Sands course but not so different as to be alien. We respected the players’ love of fescue, the wide fairways and most especially the fun factor, but we added a little spice. The two courses are siblings for sure, but Scarecrow might be described as the ‘twisted sister’.”
Several golfers I talked to would mention opportunities to putt, on downhill approaches, from 100 yards away. Well, just so happened, after watching my cart mate bump one that didn’t thrill him, I tried, from the same spot and my putt traversed a circuitous line to make the green’s edge. Now that was fun. Of course, my cart mate gave me the line.
A buddy golf journey paradise
After golf I retired to my outstanding room at The Inn at Gamble Sands River View units, and an hour before sunset a horde of enthusiastic buddy trip golfers packed the 100,000-square foot Cascades Putting Course, moguls and all.
(It pays homage to the Himalayas Putting Course that has captured the imagination of generations of golfers at The Old Course, St. Andrews, Scotland.)
While I’m enjoying the incredible, sunset view of the Columbia River, and talking to the parade of young putters, it dawns on me.
It may be in the middle of nowhere, but these guys are having the time of their lives.
That means Angela Reinhart, Resort Sales Manager, is one busy lady.
“I’ll never forget the day, while on vacation, I found out Bucket List Golf (social media influencers), told its viewers to comment if they wanted a link to book a Gamble Sands trip,” Reinhart told me. “Well, they got 10,000 comments.
“I’ve had more than 1,000 group contracts this year alone and I’ve been booking 2027 since last December,” she said. “There are a lot of really good influencers out there who really love Gamble Sands, and so they post on social media all the time. That increases my workload substantially.”
It’s not just buddies on vacation — corporate/client retreats drive numbers – like Titleist, Molson Coors, Barstool Sports. Angela books everything for these – tee times, lodging, and even catered meals if requested.
More insights came from Angela and her husband Ryan, who have had recent golf trips to Canada, Arizona, California, Mexico, Hawaii and Florida.
“I am now a golf snob,” she said. “I go to other courses, and I am immediately comparing them to Gamble Sands. We have this awesome, tight turf. We have incredible views and customer service. I wonder why other places don’t do the things we do?”
The Reinhart family, Ryan said, became Gamble Sands’ 30th and last members.
“I really like the quiet,” Ryan said. “You tee off and there’s no one right on top of you. There’s zero highway noise. If you really listen you might hear coyotes or cows in the distance. Even if a foursome is listening to music you might never hear them.
“And the good thing about being this remote is most people become laid back when they are there. These golfers are not trying to get somewhere right after playing 18.”
Amenities galore
Golfers can find food in The Barn, a casual hangout serving breakfast, burgers, pizza and salads, or Danny Boy, open in the evening, with a menu of steaks, seafood, pasta, burgers and more.
Gamble Sands also recently debuted a new onsite shuttle service to help guests get to and from The Inn, the clubhouse/food and beverage complex, the golf courses and the Cascades Putting Course.
The River View lodging units have the celebrated putting course but the newest units, Golf View, overlooks Scarecrow and another putting course is planned there for next year. There are a total of 77 double-king units now available.
Gamble Sands closes the middle of October, but the facilities remain open for weddings, Christmas parties or various events throughout the winter.
Sassy. Brash.
Gamble Sands and Scarecrow.
Make the effort to get here. You won’t regret it.
