Best Public Golf in Washington Outside of Seattle

The Evergreen State is divided into several different geological, topographical, and climactic areas—the Washington State Department of Ecology says there are seven very distinct physiographic regions—but, ignoring the smaller details for a moment, it’s probably safe to say it is split into two not-quite-equal halves by the Cascade Mountains of which mighty Mount Rainier, at 14,410 feet, is probably the most recognizable landmark.

West of the Cascades, you’ll find the Olympic Mountains, Pacific coastline, San Juan Islands, Puget Sound, and about two-thirds of the state’s 7.62 million residents. You’ll also see most of Washington’s rain. Seattle receives about 38 inches a year, while Wenatchee in the center of the state gets about 11, and Spokane in the east roughly 17. To the east of the mountains, summers are hotter, winters are colder, and signs of human activity fewer and much farther between. Indeed, anytime you’re in the high desert, Columbia Plateau, and Palouse it can feel remote at times.

This is not an area of high-density golf, you understand. You might drive for a couple of hours between courses, and a few more between those you’d travel significant distances to play. There are, however, a few highlights worthy of any travel budget, the brightest of which is surely Gamble Sands.

Located 10 miles east of Brewster, it sits at the end of a long and winding approach road that takes you past apple, cherry, and pear orchards owned by the Gebbers Family. Six generations have farmed this land and, a dozen years ago, family patriarch Cass Gebbers had David McLay Kidd check out a parcel on bluffs overlooking the Columbia River that seemed better-suited to golf than fruit.

“I didn’t really know what to expect before coming because I’d heard about the arable farming,” says Kidd, “But the site was amazing. It was towards the southern extent of the Gebbers property, and I walked it with Cass Gebbers, Tory Wulf (Gebbers’s brother-in-law and the project manager), and Orrin Vincent from OB Sports Golf Management (since acquired by Troon). I sold them on me being the local boy—well, Pacific Northwest local.”

Thank goodness the owners went for it. They hired Kidd who designed a superb, option-laden, ground-game-friendly course that opened in 2014 and which has built a huge army of loyal fans from Washington and beyond. QuickSands, a 14-hole short course, and the 100,000-square-foot Cascade putting course where night-putters can hole a few before retiring to their room at the adjoining Inn are now also part of the growing resort where, in August, the second 18-hole course will open.

Although Kidd’s name will hang over the door, Scarecrow was largely the work of his partner, Nick Schaan, who took advantage of the terrain’s undulations, scale, features, and views in devising another enthralling layout whose devotees could well outnumber champions of the Sands course. Whatever your final decision, though, “researching” the merits of both and choosing which of them you prefer will be another of the traveling golfer’s most enjoyable conversations.

Take I-90 from Seattle to Gamble Sands and you’ll drive by the small city of Cle Elum not long after cresting Snoqualmie Pass at 3,015 feet and where you might sense a change in the color of the sky from leaden grey to bright blue. Cle Elum is unofficially regarded as the beginning of Eastern Washington and it’s worth stopping here to visit the Suncadia Resort where you can play Arnold Palmer’s very enjoyable Prospector course and Jim Hardy/Peter Jacobsen’s excellent Rope Rider, named in honor of the local coal miners who rode wagons balanced on steel cables (ropes) in getting to the coalface.

Moving into the far east and southeast of the state, you’ll eventually find the almost hidden Wine Valley, a Dan Hixson design that opened in 2009. I say “almost” because it has now begun appearing on national “Best of” lists as golfers become aware of how good it is. Amazingly firm surfaces and intricate contours mean another course where vivid imagination and a deft touch are every bit as important as good ball striking. The quaint town of Walla Walla and a dozen or more highly rated wineries are close by, so go to whatever lengths are necessary to get here.

Wine Valley is a trek, certainly, but combine it with a little vino and a round at Palouse Ridge at Washington State University in Pullman, a beautiful and unpopulated two-hour drive northeast, and you have a perfect weekend road trip from Seattle. Here you’ll discover the beauty of southeast Washington’s Palouse region and what golfers have potentially missed out on following the untimely death, in 2012, of its designer, John Harbottle.

If you’re this far inland, it makes sense to head into Spokane for its delightful collection of municipal courses which includes the excellent Indian Canyon, a Chandler Egan design that opened in 1935 on high ground a few miles west of the city. The Creek at Qualchan, six miles to the south, likewise has way more good holes and better conditioning than municipal golfers are used to.

There are more good rounds to be had in wildest Washington at Desert Canyon, 50 miles south of Gamble Sands, and Bear Mountain Ranch overlooking Lake Chelan. You might also check out Bellingham, 90 minutes north of Seattle, which dubs itself the “City of Subdued Excitement.” There’s not only an unholy amount of brew pubs here but also a group of golf courses that once marketed themselves as “Monterey North.” The words “stretch” and “loose” come to mind (there’s nothing here that resembles Pebble Beach or Cypress Point even closely), but there are half a dozen very good courses around town—including Graham Cooke’s Loomis Trail—that make for another great long weekend.

What is your favorite public golf course in Washington?