Gamble Sands in Washington breaking ground on second course, also by David McLay Kidd

Gamble Sands in Brewster, Washington, jumped onto golf’s map over the past decade with its David McLay Kidd-designed Sands course, a wide-open 18 that ranks as the No. 1 public-access layout in the state and No. 46 among all modern courses in the U.S. Built aside a working apple and cherry farm, Gamble Sands plays firm and fast over fescue and sand to wide fairways and giant greens.

For years Kidd and the Gebbers family, who own the remote resort and adjacent orchards, have been in discussions about adding a second course. That time has arrived.

Still unnamed, a new 18-hole course is part of a full resort expansion that includes nearly doubling the first-rate Inn at Gamble Sands that is frequently reached after a short flight from Seattle to Wenatchee followed by an hour’s drive up Highway 17.

Kidd told Golfweek the project is well underway, with permits in place and the starting points of construction decided. He and his crew will break ground this fall, then it’s off to the races next year, he said, with a planned grand opening in the summer of 2025.

The new course will be built just north of the existing 18 and the resort’s par-3 course, QuickSands, another Kidd creation that opened last year. Like the original 18, the new layout will overlook the Columbia River with scenic mountain views stretching for miles.

“It’s a sort of dramatic piece of land,” Kidd said of his plans for the second course. “There’s a little more to do than with the first course because they farmed it, so we’ve got to kind of rehab it back to the wild scrub of the high desert. But once we get all that done, I expect it to be a really good complement to the first one.”

The first course was a prime example of the Scottish designer’s new ethos, he has said, one that has evolved over the past decade.

After bursting onto the golf scene with his Bandon Dunes layout in Oregon in 1999, Kidd began building other courses with a greater emphasis on difficulty. That approach didn’t always work out, and he shifted gears to open Gamble Sands in 2014 with a focus on fun for any level of golfer on layouts across which it’s difficult to lose a ball. Sometimes-immense fairways over thrilling terrain, big greens, bouncy shots, feeder slopes, extreme playability – those became his talking points, and golfers flocked to Gamble Sands as well as his Mammoth Dunes course at Sand Valley in Wisconsin.

Kidd also recently signed on to build GrayBull in the Nebraska Sandhills, and he said that course might feature a touch more challenge than at several of his most wide-open layouts of recent years. Golfers can expect a bit of the same at the new course at Gamble Sands, he said, but he was adamant he isn’t returning his focus to resistance to scoring.

“The first course (at Gamble Sands), I think a good golfer goes out on the first one and thinks they can take on par, even though most of the time they don’t,” Kidd said. “I think on this one, we’re planning on having it put up a little more resistance just so we have a little different offering. It’s on the drawing board right now, and we’ve been talking about slightly smaller greens, maybe some more contours around putting surfaces, fairway widths are probably very similar. We’ll see how it all shakes out.”

The view from the lodge at Gamble sands, across the giant putting course to snow-capped mountains in the distance (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)

Saying the new greens might be “slightly smaller” than the original 18 at Gamble Sands means they probably will still be quite large – it’s not uncommon to face 100-foot putts on the first course. It’s all part of the fun, similar to Tom Doak and Jim Urbina’s Old Macdonald at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort – you might hit a green in regulation, but now what?

Even with initial plans in place, Kidd knows things are likely to change as the build progresses. Nothing is set in stone.

“You know, all of this stuff happens in the ground,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what I say or what we draw, all of the creativity actually happens when you’re there, in the ground with your crew. Your ideas spark from one person to another, and things start to form in front of your eyes and take on a life of their own.”

And there’s more on the drawing board: The lodge at Gamble Sands, which features large and luxurious rooms overlooking the Columbia River Valley and a giant putting course, will be expanded from a current 37 rooms to 73. The resort also plans to add a new restaurant.

“All of us here at Gamble Sands are truly excited for the next step in the evolution of the golf resort,” Tory Wulf, project manager at Gamble Sands, said a release announcing the news. “Our team has worked hard to enhance the experience on and off the golf course since opening in 2014. The second full-length rendition by David McLay Kidd and his team will be fun to watch take shape and I’m sure even ‘funner’ to play.”