gamble sands

My husband and I drove 2.5 hours up from our home at Suncadia to play this course, and the course itself lived up to its much-ballyhooed (although new) reputation. What I liked: 1) The course conditions were excellent, the ball rolled forever, and the course was fun to play. Even the fairway bunkers were fun (and, I should know...)! I had the first 300-yard drive of my life, thanks to the generous downhill slope of the par-4 fifth hole. And I nearly drove the green on another par-four, and I wasn't even playing from the forward tees. 2) I loved the fact the course had five tee boxes, even if they weren't exactly flat. 3) Most of the holes could be putted from a couple dozen yards out, which increases your approach options.4) The rather unstructured layout gave the course a natural out-in-the-middle of nowhere feel. The deep waste areas along some of the fairways were challenging, but not outrageous (I still wish I'd avoided more of them). The reasons I'm not giving this place the high rating others have are these: 1) No women's ratings on the scorecard or the yardage book, and the holes weren't handicapped for women either. Given the sport's interest in getting more women to play golf, wouldn't you think the rumored front-runner for "best new course of 2014" would do a better job for women? 2) No bathroom from No. 6 until No. 15, and no trees to hide behind. Again, that's not very women-friendly. 3) Pace of play was pretty awful. We played mid-day on a weekday in October - not exactly high season - and we had nearly a five-hour round. We didn't see a marshall all day, even though the course was apparently busy enough for play to back up by the second hole. 4) No GPS on the carts, no crystals on the pins, and the course hasn't been mapped for Garmin. In these cases, course yardage books should be free, especially given the number of blind shots on the course. 5) There are some great views, but with the industrial development along the river, the views aren't as peaceful and bucolic as those at Bandon, Wine Valley or Circling Raven. I understand there is nothing the course can do about this; just saying. My advice to those coming for the first time: 1) It's a bit of an adventure to get there - don't rely on Google maps; ours was misleading and would have sent us 2.5 miles beyond the entrance. 2) There isn't as much break on the (huge!) greens as you'd expect, and I couldn't ever figure out a dominant direction (e.g., toward the river). Overall, it's worth the fairly long trip (from nearly everywhere except Pateros, Brewster and Chelan), and eventually, given some improvements (mapping, bathrooms, women's ratings), it will be a great destination. The promised second course will make the trip even more rewarding.