Gamble Sands Golf Club - The Sands Course

Got a reservation under Golf now which is $45 more than the rate they charge. GolfNow did not charge my card. So I paid cash. Ask them why I could not have the actual rack rate. They said because I booked through GolfNow. So I’m not sure who I’m mad at GolfNow or gamble sands, but I think both companies treated me poorly. I wish there was a way to actually talk to somebody that cared. Other than that, we had a spectacular time at the golf course.

Got a teatime through GolfNow. Went to the clubhouse. They charged me 265 when the rate was 205. Trey Dimas was working behind the counter. He said there was nothing he could do.
My wife is furious right now. So am I. Love this course. But I guess I have to do a little more investigating.

One of the most enjoyable and fun rounds of my life.

My first time playing Gamble Sands. I was told good things.

The drive to the venue is impressive in itself. The grounds are huge and unlike any golf course I've ever visited.

Once on course, the fairways are wide and greens huge, The complete opposite of a tight inner city course.

The course is impeccably maintained, the club house and staff are awesome, and the scenery is second to none.

In short, Gamble Sands is an epic experience for any golf fan.

Gamble Sands is just a fun course, I don't know how you can like/love golf and not have a terrific time playing here. And, if you can master the putting, there's real scoring opportunities at Gamble... I could easily see posting a personal best (narrator: he didn't).

None of this means the course is overly easy or lacking in challenge or defense. There are plenty of bunkers and uneven lies to go around; but there are also fairways that want to filter you to good locations, accessible greens, and those greens role true (albeit a little fast with decent roll out, so be sure of your read).

At first I was having trouble putting Gamble Sands up with a couple of the other courses on this trip (Chambers Bay and Wine Valley specifically), but upon reflection I was holding back because the round was so fun I thought I had to penalize the course for that. This is/was a mistake. really everything I like in a course is here... multiple ways to approach holes, including risk reward options, great greens complexes, variety in the par three tee shots (4 par 3's... 4 different clubs ranging from GW to 3H), good routing with variety all around, etc.

While Gamble is probably a little expensive to make part of my regular rotation, dollar for dollar, I think I'd play it far more often than I'd play Chambers, for example. Gamble Sands is out of the way and requires a commute for just about anyone who wants to play here; however, I'd say without a doubt, it's worth the trip. If you come, be sure to carve out a little time for the Quick Sands short course... just a ton of fun as well with a wide variety of shots/angles/etc (including a puttable par3 hole).

The service I received while visiting was terrific as well. I'll absolutely be back for more (and maybe I'll even get that low score).

This David McLay Kidd design fits perfectly with the surrounding landscape. The course plays differently depending on which tees you choose and the huge undulating greens are super fun to putt. Well placed bunkers blend with a rough natural landscape and the elevated tees provide great views. This course is well worth the drive.

Before I arrived I received great fast replies to my requests for information regarding potential stay and play package pricing. This was last minute, day before and my tee time was locked in easily and efficiently. The men in the pro shop were very helpful and wearing masks. I was advised that pace of play would not be fast that day so I had realistic expectations which was appreciated also. Maybe I am old school, but I prefer hats are worn forward, collared shirts are worn etc. I saw tee shirts and a hat on backwards, and that disappointed me, but, that is just my opinion. The course was in pretty good shape. Certainly wish there was a cooler on each cart with ice and a couple bottles of water. For $175 I would think that isn't too much to expect. Especially since there was no water on the course and temps approached 90 degrees and no drink cart. At least let customers know that so they can plan accordingly. Overall a 3 star, looks like it used to be a higher rating with better conditions. Some didn't take the virus seriously and some employees not wearing masks which violated Phase 1 and created undue risk.

I have now played this course 7 times over 3 trips into the northwest and cannot wait to go back for more. It is a superb links course (yes, no oceanside holes but to me it is still a links course). Choose tees to match the challenge you are after, remembering that you get a good deal of bounce and roll. There is not a week hole in the bunch and the routing is magnificent. There is a great, driveable par 4 along with the best collection of par 4s you will find anywhere. Play a couple of days in a row with different wind directions and it is like playing two different courses. One of my all time Top 5.

It was definitely more fun than any round I have played this year!!

Gamble Sands is one of the current breed of new courses designed to be fun and playable for the average golfer (at least in the eyes of the designer and the adoring members of the press). I found this course to be very similar to Streamsong Black, another course that I didn't care for. Since the fairways are wide and easy to hit, they trick up the pin positions on the greens to make putting the primary challenge. It was difficult to get the ball close to the pin, and 40-50 foot putts were common. I had one putt of 150 feet...challenging... yes... fun...no. Maybe I need to be a better putter, but my index is 9.0 so I'm a fairly decent golfer. We played two rounds, and I just really didn't enjoy it. And yes, there were great views all around, but that's not enough to attract me back to Gamble Sands' remote location. (The views do make it far superior to Streamsong Black where all you can see is Florida. NOTE: As to the cost of my round, I paid about $425 for a one night two round package. The format doesn't allow you to explain that.

Quiet, beautiful setting above the Columbia River. Fairways and greens were in great shape; bunkers and sand areas had lots of footprints and very few rakes for the size of the bunkers. Ball rolls like crazy, everywhere; sometimes into good places and sometimes bad! Being our first time, we had no idea at times where the target landing area was or where the green actually was. It would've been nice to, at least, have a scorecard with a course map on it. We were playing with 2 gentlemen who had played the course several times, had a map on their phones, and still we got lost a few times. When one pays $120 apiece, you would think a map might come with that fee. And no ball washers on any holes; minor gripe but c'mon. One of the big reasons my wife and I played this course was because we thought walking was promoted heavily; most golfers were in carts that day. All in all, fun course with lots of unpredictable rolls along with the beautiful shape of the greens and fairways. Overpriced in our opinion.

Massive rolling fairways, enormous greens, & vistas of the Three Rivers confluence framed by the N Cascade Mountain Range all combine for an unparrelled Golf Experience!

Overall I enjoyed the course. The surrounding scenery is very pleasing, and conditions were good from tee to green, although the greens were too slow for my liking, but rolled true. Fairways tend to be generous, but bunkers abound on the course, so one still needs to be careful on shot placement. Routing from hole to hole can be confusing at times. As the course matures, I think it will get better. My biggest gripe was the green fees. On this trip, I had previously played Wilderness and Idaho Clubs, and payed much less money for better overall courses, so was disappointed in the fees here. If I were in the area again, and could find a discounted fee, would play again.

Don't let the travel time discourage you. The course is well worth it. The fairways are perfectly groomed and the greens are even better. The entire layout of the course is genius. The risk/reward is 10/10. Definitely a course worth playing at any level of experience. I played the course last fall and wish I had more time to play it again. I'll make this an annual golf outing, and I'm sure you will want to do the same.

I had played the course before, but this was my wife's first time there so I got a different perspective from a pretty good golfer. We have played links style courses before (Wine Valley, Chambers Bay, etc). If you are used to chipping and hitting fairway woods from lies where the ball is sitting up on the fairway grass, you may have a tough time with the fescue at Gamble Sands. The greens are huge with very little definition and you can literally putt from 40 yards (or more) due to the thin fescue grass. I LIKE that, but it was a little too foreign for Margaret.

Gamble Sands offers a tantalizing combination no other course can match: true links style, authentic fescue turf, beautiful weather, and above all a chance to play the best golf you ever have. From wide open fairways to honest sloped greens to yardage that plays hundreds less than measured, Gamble Sands is a joy to play for every skill level of golfer.

I was invited to a special golf outing and had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet the very world-renowned architect who designed this course, David McLay Kidd. After talking with him and playing the course several times I came away from my first exposure to true Scottish links style blown away with the thought and execution that makes it so accessible and enjoyable for all golfers.

Duff your tee shot on a par 4 on a normal course and you’ll be cursing and slamming your way to a 7 on the scorecard. Do the same thing here and you’ll barely hurt your chances of making par or at least saving bogey. The incredibly tight fescue turf allows the ball to roll and roll. The wispy rough and sparsely populated wastelands beyond the rough make finding and hitting your ball easier than most parkland courses (or links, for that matter). Many of the greens have helpful side and back slopes that will funnel wayward approach shots back in. Fronts of greens are firm and open, often meaning you need to land short (as we hackers so often do anyways) to get the ball to stop near the flag. The sandy areas are made less intimidating by the fact you can ground your club and take all the practice swings you need and the sand isn’t too fluffy.

Contours of the greens are gradual but readily apparent. There’s no trickery to make you look silly with the flat stick. That said, you may often find yourself instigating your own silliness on or around the putting surface as there are often several angles to get your ball closer to the hole. The aforementioned side and back slopes surrounding many of the greens allow your creativity to run wild with how far away from the flag you can aim and still have your ball come to rest within a makeable distance.

This indirect approach and creativity carries over to your shots from the fairway and some of the most fun you can have on a golf course is seeing how far from the flag you can aim your approach and watch as your ball bounces and rolls its way toward its final destination. The downhill par-6th that plays over a gorge can at first be an intimidating 180+ yard shot until you realize that you can use up to 60 yards of the righthand slope to careem your ball down onto the putting surface and can in fact be the closest to a hole-in-one that many higher handicap golfers will ever get.

The greens aren’t the only place on the course to have fun though. Many of the tees are elevated and many fairways have substantial downhill slopes that encourage some Dustin Johnson-esque drives. Though I average just under 240 yards with my driver at home I had multiple drives over 280 yards each round here, including my 4th longest ever at 307 on the long par-4 5th. That hole is the one most likely with which to find yourself in one of the many bunkers/sandy waste areas but a few practice swings in the dirt (don’t forget, they are allowed here!) and you can escape these without much drama.

There are a few holes that bear a close resemblance to each other but generally Gamble Sands offers a dynamic range of holes from drivable par-4s to a par-3 best played with a putter (seriously, just give your putter a good firm wack and watch your ball roll 140 yards to the center of the green). The creativity allows you to use every club in your bag, though I’d imagine your score wouldn’t go up much if you went out with just 4-5 clubs. The traditional links style ground game is highly effective and encouraged here.

The course conditions are exactly what you’d expect at any other premium golf destination like Bandon Dunes (another David McLay Kidd design) or Streamsong. The fescue turf isn’t the easiest to get a tee peg through but offers a unique feel to your shots from the fairways and rough and offer some of the firmest greens you’ll ever putt on. Just how firm are the greens here? Well, I played 90 holes over 3 days and found evidence of just 3 ball marks on any of the greens, how great is that? The grass is mowed and maintained as good as any course out there with the only blemish being some small bare spots on many of the fringes where maintenance have removed invasive grasses.

When it comes to premiere golf destinations, the course itself is a significant factor but not the only factor. Lodging, food, service, and location can all add or subtract from the overall experience and value of a golf trip. In these areas, Gamble Sands excels in some and leaves room for improvement in others. The lodging is first-class, with stylish and roomy accommodations in the the inn. Each rooms has large windows and individual patios facing out to the best view on the property: the Columbia River and valley and the majestic Cascade Mountains deep in the background. Waking up to that view is worth $150/night all by itself. There’s also a giant, 18-hole putting course/green with mounds so extreme, they would make a mini-golf course designer blush.

The food here is very good, though the portions are XL even by American standards. I found appetizer dishes to be more than filling and a popular option for our group was to go in halves on a chicken fingers/tater tots appetizer combo as each one covers an entire plate.

The service was spotty at times. Though the pro shop and cart attendants are very responsive, helpful and friendly, I’d give the wait staff in the restaurant only ‘good’ marks and the time it took food was often excessive. Gamble Sands originally offered a buffet for breakfast but since switched to a made-to-order menu and I think this was a mistake as often you’re pressed for time in the morning to get a quick bite in before your first time off. The starter was great and added a personal touch.

Gamble Sands is located in north central Washington, 2.5 hours from the nearest major airport (Spokane). As such, it’s an all-day travel affair for most people and that may deter many from committing to it for an expensive trip. But think of it this way: the course is never as crowded as other premium courses and none of my rounds exceeded 4.5 hours. Additionally, the remote location offers a fantastic view and the weather here is far better and more reliable than other traditional links destinations like Bandon or Scotland.

Yeah, you can go to Bandon, or Streamsong, or Sand Valley, or even Kohler and have an amazing experience and brag to all your friends back home who probably have heard of their courses. But if you want to truly have the best time you can playing golf, go to Gamble Sands. It may not have the prestige of the others, but it will someday soon and you can say you’ve been there and it was the best golf trip you ever went on. It’s a slam dunk for destination golf.

one of the greatest courses I have ever played! I love links golf, and this course is a gem. the views are incredible, the setup is fun & interesting, and the beers are super cold. I highly recommend playing this course on any golf trip to WA.

Love this course. Wish it wasn't so far away. We stayed over night, great accommodations. Can't wait to go back. Course was amazing. Food at restaurant was fantastic.

David McLay Kidd's gem in Central Washington's scablands is hard to get too, but well worth the drive. Gamble Sands builds confidence with the better players' every shot, while softening the average players' marginal shots - allowing for maximum playability. The fairways are 100+ yards wide and the greens are docile and funnel balls to the hole, seemingly from multiple approaches. Kidd did not trick the greens up here as he did at Tetherow. Players can pick a line (one of many), commit and swing with confidence. You have to really hit it sideways here to not find the fairways and greens. The fescue fairways were marvelous - firm, fast and with ample cushion. The greens weren't fast, but weren't slow - allowing for aggressive putts without fear of rolling them six feet past. The par 3s offered a nice mixture between short and mid to long irons and differed directionally, making wind patterns unique. I loved the short par 4s, with No. 2 being among my most favorite I've ever played. You should shoot a good score here - Kidd wanted that in his design. Combine this great layout with a top-notch Lodge and modest-but-better than-it-looks Danny Boy restaurant and you have the makings of a first-class golf resort in the making. The pro shop is one of the finest-stocked I've ever stepped foot in and staff was above average. And finally, if you are even in reasonably good shape, take a free rikshah and walk. Carts are hindered by the routing. Bottom line: Kidd has more bantered about designs (Bandon, Tetherow) but if you want a links experience without the fear of getting beaten up, Gamble Sands will provide a fun test that will yield a good score.