Heavenly Sands
He traveled nearly 400 miles in one day and played 36 holes to answer the question everyone’s asking — is Gamble Sands worth the hype?
by Brian Beaky
The debate started on Highway 97 south in Orondo, just below Desert Canyon, and continued much of the way to Wenatchee.
“What’s the best hole at Gamble Sands?” I asked, referencing the David McLay Kidd-designed course opening Aug. 1 just outside Brewster, on a bluff overlooking the Columbia River and the North Cascades.
My partners that day — CG’s Kirk Tourtillotte, Simon Dubiel and Johnny Carey — fell silent for a minute, reflecting on the thrilling day we had just spent playing 36 holes at Gamble Sands — replaying each majestic drive from elevated tees, each approach intentionally fired long or wide to catch slopes that would guide the ball to the pin, each moment when we drove up to the next tee box and let our eyes soak in the beauty Kidd had coaxed from the brown, dry hills.
Was it the short, par-4 second, with its elevated tee and infinity green that seemed to drop off the edge of the cliff to the river below? Was it the 592-yard, par-5 third, where you tee off uphill over an imposing wall of sand? Was it the long, par-4 fifth, which bends right around a sandy waste area, daring you to cut the corner for a shorter approach? Maybe it was the par-3 sixth, where the best play is to miss the green entirely? Or perhaps the risk-reward 7th, 11th and 12th holes, the split-fairway par-4 14th, the two-tiered par-3 16th or the eagle-friendly finishing hole?
“Honestly, Brian, I’m too overhwhelmed to even think about that right now,” Johnny finally said.
It was an entirely understandable sentiment.