Famous architect kicks off new clifftop golf course in Washington

admin — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 14:34:35 +0000

David McLay Kidd has been blessed by cliffs. The golf architect got his lucky break in the 1990s as a 20-something dreamer building atop prime precipices overlooking the Pacific Ocean at what would become the original course at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon. Since, he has built highly rated clifftop layouts such as Gamble Sands (and its new sister course, Scarecrow) in Washington, the Castle Course at St. Andrews in Scotland, even the recently opened Loraloma in Texas.

“Building on clifftops overlooking water sure has worked out well for me,” the Scotsman said. “Cliffs, sandy ground, really good clients – those are key ingredients, right?”

Kidd said he has all three again for a newly announced project: the in-development River Ranch Golf Resort in Pasco, Washington. Located in the southern stretches of the state, closer to Idaho than the ocean, the public-access River Ranch will sit above the Snake River not far from its confluence with the Columbia River. The cliffs at River Ranch rise some 40 to 60 feet above the river, and there’s plenty of elevation changes within the bounds of the planned course. Nine holes will play predominantly along the cliffs, Kidd said.

Kidd’s team, including design partner Nick Schaan, has worked through the winter to begin shaping on five holes. Kidd said the plan is to start grassing holes in April and to finish that task in October, then to complete all the bunkering in the summer of 2027. Preview play will follow, with the course potentially opening fully in the fall of 2027 or the spring of 2028.

The site was once home to the Gordon Estate Winery, but in working with golf operator KemperSports and a four-person ownership team new to golf, Kidd plans to build 18 holes (at least, more on that later) that take advantage of a dramatic 320 or so acres. The site features abrupt elevation changes, long views and the kind of firm, sandy soils on which Kidd loves to build golf holes that cater to the ground game.

“It’s even better than it looks in the photos,” Kidd said, “and it looks pretty good in the photos.”

After the winery was shuttered in 2020, the land was purchased by a group that includes Keith Tiegs, whose family owns one of the largest farming operations in the Pacific Northwest. The family is known for its potatoes and other crops that appear in pretty much every supermarket and plenty of restaurants in the United States. Tiegs and his new partners in this property had a thought, Kidd said: This land is too good for potatoes and houses, so what would golf look like here?

Kidd, who lives in Oregon, hit a home run in building the two 18-hole courses plus a tremendous short course at Gamble Sands – also on cliffs, also owned by a family of farmers – and the new partnership group was made up of golfing fans of his work. They approached Kidd, and he jumped at the opportunity to build on the cliffs above the Snake River. He advised the ownership group to bring in KemperSports, the owner and operator of golf courses for whom Kidd has just finished building a new course at the popular Streamsong Resort in Florida.

“These are smart guys, very smart guys, and they did everything perfectly,” Kidd said. He intends to deliver on his end by adding yet another must-see destination layout in the great expanses of the Pacific Northwest, a region that Kidd said mimics the weather of his native Scotland but that is still somewhat underserved as far as great golf courses.

“The Pacific Northwest is the only region of the continental U.S. that approximates the same weather as the United Kingdom, right?” Kidd said. “The Northeast doesn’t do it – it’s freezing cold in the winter. So the Pacific Northwest is the closest thing we have here to the United Kingdom. And yet you could count the top-100 courses on one hand, in an area that’s 10 times bigger than the United Kingdom. It’s time for more courses.”

River Ranch will be a resort, with plans for four-bedroom cottages in the beginning and possible expansions to come if the first course proves successful. Asked if there’s a chance to expand the golf offering beyond 18 holes, Kidd laughed and said, “The Tiegs have plenty of great land, so you never know.” Bandon Dunes founder Mike Keiser has famously said that one golf course is a golf course but that two courses is a destination, and that thought could serve as inspiration for River Ranch.

Kidd explained that the countryside around Pasco was once the wintering grounds for tribes of Native Americans. It doesn’t snow too much, and golf will be possible 12 months a year with intermittent days possibly lost to frost. The site, some 150 miles south of Gamble Sands, also is within reasonable driving distance of Seattle, Bend in Oregon, and Spokane and Boise in Idaho. The highly rated Wine Valley Golf Club, designed by Dan Hixson, is less than an hour away in Walla Walla, Washington.

It’s very possible that the addition of River Ranch will boost the tide that lifts all boats, as far as developing this patch of the Pacific Northwest as a national and even international golf destination. At River Ranch, it all starts with the cliffs, just as it did for Kidd. All the converging and sweeping lines on the site’s topographic map don’t hurt, either.

The course will begin on high ground, the front nine looping roughly clockwise to the north, dropping from above cliffs to a lower bench closer to the river. The back nine will loop counter-clockwise to the south, finishing with a long stretch atop the cliffs that includes the par-4 18^th that parallels the river below. Kidd was particularly excited to describe the par-3 15^th, which will play across the cliffs to a green located on a point above the water.

Kidd plans to spend extra time on the micro-contours within the site, editing the rollicking ground until it allows a golf ball to roll and roll. He said the ownership group is open to experimentation on the granular level, allowing for creativity, especially with the green sites. He hinted that the greens at River Ranch might not be quite as welcoming to middling or poor approach shots as at some of his recent course designs, but as long as the ball can be found, Kidd said he is onboard. Don’t count on an overly penal layout, either – playability is baked into the DNA of all his recent courses. It’s all about making the most of what the ground offers.

“This has some really good terrain,” Kidd said. “There are parts that are pretty aggressive. … This is the kind of site that golf architects dream of. I mean, at least I do. There’s just aren’t that many sites like this, and I’ve been lucky to have a few. It’s just really cool.”

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Famous architect kicks off new clifftop golf course in Washington