SCARECROW, GAMBLE SANDS' NEWEST COURSE, TO OPEN FOR PUBLIC PLAY ON AUGUST 1st By Brian Weis

SCARECROW, GAMBLE SANDS' NEWEST COURSE, TO OPEN FOR PUBLIC PLAY ON AUGUST 1st

New David McLay Kidd design equally as stunning as original Gamble Sands Course

By Brian Weis

Scarecrow, the highly-anticipated David McLay Kidd design at Gamble Sands Resort in Brewster, Washington, will open for public play on Friday, August 1st. Tee times can now be booked at www.gamblesands.com.

Scarecrow is Gamble Sands Resort's second 18-hole layout and is equally as stunning and fun to play as the original Gamble Sands Course, which opened in 2014 and is also a DMK design. Built on 300 acres of rumpled and rolling terrain where cornfields once stood, Scarecrow overlooks the Columbia River Valley, while watching over the neighboring apple and cherry orchards of the Gebbers' family (owners of Gamble Sands) farm. The corn is gone but the Scarecrow still stands, serving as a defender of the fertile soil's new purpose. In Scarecrow, McLay Kidd and design associate Nick Schaan transformed a twisted saddle of undulating land and river-view ridgeline into what golfers will find to be a worthy yet contrasting counterpart to their award-winning Gamble Sands Course.

Scarecrow plays to a par of 71, stretches to 6,900 yards and is turfed with traditional fine fescue, which provides for firm and fast surfaces. One of the most visually compelling courses anywhere in North America, Scarecrow begins with a rollicking downhill par 4 with a blind tee shot to a massive fairway and ends with a drivable par 4 with a green that is perched on the edge of a cliff. Throughout the round speed slots, boomerangs, angles and slopes spark creativity and add to the fun, while a mix of reachable par 5s, five distinct par 3s and challenging par 4s combine to deliver an unforgettable golf experience.

"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 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'."

"The reviews and feedback we've heard from those who have previewed Scarecrow have been incredibly positive and share the common thread that Scarecrow is a blast to play," said Gamble Sands Resort General Manager Blake Froling. "We're excited to welcome golfers from around the world to Gamble Sands."

In June, Gamble Sands opened 40 new double-king golf-view rooms at The Inn at Gamble Sands, giving the resort a total of 77 luxury rooms. All rooms at The Inn offer spacious accommodations with walk-in showers, large screen televisions, mini fridges, coffee makers, and private patios. Guests staying in the new golf-view rooms will soon be able to enjoy pre- or post-round putting practice on a new putting green located adjacent to the new lodging units. Gamble Sands also recently debuted a new onsite shuttle service to help guests get to and from The Inn, the clubhouse/F&B complex, the golf courses and the Cascades Putting Course.

With 50 holes of golf, including two 18-hole McLay Kidd-designed championship courses and a fun-to-play 14-hole McLay Kidd-designed short course (Quicksands), a 100,000-square-foot Cascades Putting Course, as well as multiple food and beverage options, Gamble Sands is a premier Top 100 golf resort destination. The property's original Gamble Sands Course is currently No. 14 on GOLF Magazine's "Top 100 Courses You Can Play" ranking and is firmly entrenched as a Top 100 golf course in the United States.

For more information on Gamble Sands, visit www.gamblesands.com or call 509-436-8323.

Revised: 07/29/2025 - Article Viewed 98 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.