"Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship."- Buddha

#857 Gamble Sands 7/15/21

Gamble Sands is the 4th David McLay Kidd course I have played. The St Andrews Castle Course I had NO fun at all and Bandon Dunes was pretty good but my least favorite of the 5 courses there. I played Mammouth Dunes a couple years ago and really enjoyed it. Gamble Sands is a similar design with firm/fast conditions, generous FW's and large undulating greens. It appears he has changed his philosophy to a more playable, fun experience which I am all for at my age.

As mentioned before, the weather was sizzling hot and the fires produced alot of smoke when I arrived the morning of my round. Luckly the winds shifted and I had a great day of golf. I had planned to play the Quicksands Short course in the PM but the heat would have killed me having to walk it. I also had Wine Valley on my list for this trip, but it would have been a PM tee time and having already suffered the heat at Circling Raven I bowed out. I love short par 4's and Kidd gives you three here. #2 overlooking the Columbia River is one of the best I have played with all kinds of options. I took the direct line and watched my 3 wood drive slowly funnel into the front bunker, I was able to get up and down for a birdie. 5-7 is a wonderful stretch of holes as are holes 14 and 16. I have played several exeptional courses in Washington, Gamble Sands is a close second for me to Chambers Bay. Black rated

https://photos.app.goo.gl/6nBhdQ4KCgeW4Pc68 Copy Link or go to my Twitter account to view these photos.

#856 Alta Lake Golf Resort 7/14/21

Heading 2 1/2 hours West of Spokane is this beautiful region near Brewster where the mountains and Columbia River meet. The prolonged drought and record heat had dried all the vegatation out and several fires had broken out on the way over. Alta Lake is located a few miles north of the town with a beautiful 18 hole setting on the edge of the mountain. There is a nice hotel on site with pool and the F9 is surrounded by several really nice cabins. The B9 I enjoyed much more as it is a lot more wide open with a better variety of holes. The course was designed in 1976 by Dan Barth who created many tiered greens. I liked 1, 3, 6, 8, and 9 on the front, the uphill Par3 6th with the beautiful mountain backdrop was my favorite. The B9 starts out with a Par5 that feels a bit squeezed due to real estate development but after that it is wide open with many nice holes (11-15) culminating in two great uphill fininshing holes. If you came here because of golf at Gamble Sands, have some extra time, and need resonable lodging be sure and check it out. GOLD rated

https://photos.app.goo.gl/nf8GHoBHaiRFaFG18

Can also be viewed at my Twitter account or copied and paste the link..

#855-Circling Raven GC 7/13/21

In 2021 the NW has had a long, hot, dryspell which I had hoped would have abated by the time I arrived. I had an afternoon tee time and it was cooking, today I couldn't drink enough liquids. But as they say out here it was a "dry heat". Circling Raven is #6 ranked in Idaho and the #19 Casino course in the US. You will see no homes on this 600 accre parcel nor come close to ever slicing one into another FW. In 2003, Gene Bates designed a nice array of interesting holes here in Worley, Idaho. The #4 split FW par 4 was my favorite. Visually of the tee it didn't appear there was much room right off the waste area for your drive, but as always I took the riskiest option. I don't come to play a course once and lay up. Risk equals fun. The short par 4 #10 was another hole that gives you a good dose of risk/reward. The most photogenic hole was the par 4 #15. with the mountains in the back drop. Blue

https://photos.app.goo.gl/5x6cEKbfHAreekQo7

You can copy and paste the link or go to my Twitter account to view the slideshow.

"Very little is needed to make a happy life."- Marcus Aurelius