Gamble Sands – Northwest will welcome its first new course in years when Gamble Sands in Brewster opens up in August

The Pacific Northwest has not welcomed a new golf course for years. But now, the wait is over.

Introducing Gamble Sands, a new course designed by David McLay Kidd, the same designer who did Bandon Dunes and Tetherow in the Pacific Northwest. Gamble Sands will open up for public play August 1st and it is a course that you will not want to miss out on.

The course is located in Brewster in Northcentral Washington, perhaps a little out of the way, but well worth the extra miles you will put on your car. This is a big course, big as in expansive with lots of acreage. Most of the time during the round you won’t see other golfers or other holes.

The views are terrific, with the course sitting on a bluff above the Columbia River. The fairways are wide and the greens are huge, measuring from 6,200 square feet to 16,200 square feet. It is visually stunning but not overly intimidating all at the same time.

The course will tip out at 7,169 yards but don’t be scared by the yardage. Kidd has created a course where spraying the ball is not a bad thing and running shots up to the green works too.

Gamble Sands was the idea of the Gebbers family, who runs one of the world’s biggest orchards of apples and cherries. The Gebbers family tried a golf course a few years ago and built three holes of a Perry Dye-designed course before the recession hit and the project was shut down. Next came the Gamble Sands idea. Kidd was brought in to do the design and he liked what he saw right away. The sand, the views the rolling hills. Everything about this project got him excited to see what he could come up with. The course was built for $2 million, not bad in the world of golf and it wasn’t necessary to bring in heavy equipment to move acres of earth.

There is an array of holes: there are drivable par-4 holes for the big hitters, some blind shots, some dramatic par-3 holes and a 600-yard par-5. This is a course that truly has it all.

OB Sports, led by Pacific Northwest native, Orrin Vincent is the management team behind the course. Dave Christensen is the General Manager. • Course facts: Course plays 7,169 yards from the tips and 4,797 from the forward tees. Par is 72. Sixteen acres of bunkers and greens from 6,200 square feet to 16,200 square feet.
• Rates: $130 walking; $150 riding.
• Information: 509.436.8323.