Chambers Bay GC report

[Scott Weersing]

Jeff Doerr of Troutdale, OR and myself played 36 holes at Chambers Bay on March 20.

We were fortunate to play with a two club wind all day as well as a rainstorm in the afternoon. It was a great day on a great course.

My initial thoughts: The course is bigger than in looks. The dunes are enormous by no. 1 and no. 10.

The course has a great variety of holes though I wish it had one more drivable par 4. The short green on No. 5 would be fun to play to.

The course played like a links course as expected. Yes, the greens are slow as they are growing them in. But they looked very good and were very smooth to putt on.

Here are some photos:



The 18th green with three tiers.



The amazing 10th hole from the tee.



The seventh green with a ridge running through the middle of it.



Jeff teeing off on No. 16

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The 17th green.



Train going by the 17th green. Notice the flag that is shaped like a sail instead of a rectangle.


I will post more photos and more thoughts about the course later.

[PCCraig]

VERY cool photos.

How neat is it that it has an active railroad running through the course?

[George Freeman]

Scott,

Awesome pictures, thank you very much for sharing!

Look how much better Scott's picture makes the 10th look compared to the hole diagram I've posted from the website.  Scanning through the hole sketches on the website, the 10th's created very little interest for me, but man does that picture look fantastic!

I know it's just a hole diagram, but still...

The amazing 10th hole from the tee.

[Rob Rigg]

Great pics Scott - I am itching to get up to Chambers in the next couple of months - what an awesome setting.

[Scott Weersing]

I thought the tenth hole was great and it seemed as if it had always been there. There are bunkers down both sides but you can't see all of them from the tee. The hole becomes harder if you hit your drive into a bunker or miss the fairway left. The closer you get to the green the smaller the fairway. I tried to reach the green after a poor drive and hit into a bunker 75 yards from the green. I then hit a sand shot over the green but managed to chip back and make the bogey putt.

Here is a view of the green:

[George Freeman]

Thanks Scott,

Can you post some more of your pics from CB?

Thanks!

[Jeff Doerr]

Wow, I have very nice balance on my practice swing...

I too like the way things are progressing out at Chambers Bay.

* Some new tee boxes will stretch things out and add variety. 1 or 10 can be very long. 11 tee will bring the center dune in play for long hitters. 15 carries across the back of 12 tee. 17 can play pretty long from the lower tee and provides a flat hole for a par 3.

* 4 is a very playable and fun par 4 as a temp.

* In most rough/waste areas the vegetation is coming in well. Some of the big dunes by 12 and the outer edges still need growth.

* The directional changes provide a lot of fun in the type of wind we enjoyed.

More later...

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

10 is a great hole by any definition. I am concerned too with the green speeds over the course of the year. Coz or Jesse or any of the other area guys should toss in their ideas. This is a great course but the greens are generally too slow for the style of golf. This is not to say they need to be fast like over a 10 but in the 8 to 9 range. They seem 6ish when I have been there.

[Scott Weersing]

10 is a great hole by any definition. I am concerned too with the green speeds over the course of the year. Coz or Jesse or any of the other area guys should toss in their ideas. This is a great course but the greens are generally too slow for the style of golf. This is not to say they need to be fast like over a 10 but in the 8 to 9 range. They seem 6ish when I have been there.

I am unsure what you mean by "the style of golf". Yes the greens were slow when we played. But there were consistent so I quickly learned what type of shots would work and not work.  I thought that "fast and firm" was for all the course and not just the greens.

Should greens be the same speed year round? No, they should not. It depends on the weather and the time of the year. So in the Spring, the greens are recovering from snow and they need to grow in. They will be slow. But later on, they can be faster. The undulations are amazing at Chambers Bay and the course was designed for slower green speeds.
 
I think American golfers expect greens to be the same speed year round. This is a high standard to meet for golf course superintendents.

[Garland Bayley]

Thanks for the great pictures Scott.

[W.H. Cosgrove]

I knew I should have taken Friday off, it looked beautiful.....The spring here has been unusually cool, which can't be helping Chambers with the struggles on the 'high' putting surfaces.  To give you an idea we are some 12 degrees below normal today, and soil temperatures at my home course ( a mile from Chambers) are about 40 degrees.  I just had a long conversation with our superintendent who is very concerned about aeration schedules and events long scheduled around manitenance practices.  We would normally be punching about now and fuly healed by May 1st.  The Tacoma Amateur wil be held at the course in early June. 

The question I have is, was it a detraction playing #4 as a 3 1/2 and what were the greens like at #12, #13, # 7 and #8? 

I appreciate that Tiger asked Jesse and I to respond.  In my experience at Chambers, I think the golf course actually plays better in winter.  The growth slows to almost nothing and the ball takes to the motion of the ground very well.  Conversely, sometimes in the summer, the ball won't roll along the contours as well and then has a tendency to hang in spots where you really don't want it to. 

The fescue greens aren't my favorite, they really aren't my favorite anywhere including Bandon.  That aside, Matt Allen had a very complete explanation of some of the challenges Chambers is experiencing in a recent thread.  It is nice to read about someone who had a great day and wasn't fixated on the putting surfaces! 

The best thing for all concerned would be for us to have some seasonal temperatures and get the grass growing again. 

[Jeff Doerr]

Gotta run, but...

4 was the best "temp" I've played. 4 was very slow, but puttable.

12 has a few small rough patches, but played well.
13 and 7 were slow as they are using the growth tarps there. They are growing in thick and fast. Speed was a little better than 4.
8 was is pretty good shape.

[Richard Boult]

posted: http://delicious.com/golfclubatlas/Washington

[Michiel Teeling]

Chambers...2 more

[Garland Bayley]

...


Jeff teeing off on No. 16

...

Don't you mean Jeff whiffing his drive on No. 16?

[Scott Weersing]

Here are some more photos from our day:



The train blocks the view of the water on No. 17.



Jeff hits out of the edge of a bunker on No. 7.



You don't have to worry about the greens when you hit them close. This is my birdie putt on No. 18 to finish the day.



The view of No. 5 from the tee

[Forrest Richardson]

I have said this before, so if I repeat, please excuse me.

I believe Chambers Bay to be one of the greatest achievements in Golf Design in the last 50 years. To think that a public, new and West Coast course will host the US Open is a amazing feat against the odds. Years later we will look back and than the decision-making for this wonderful risk-taking event.

[Scott Weersing]

I have said this before, so if I repeat, please excuse me.

I believe Chambers Bay to be one of the greatest achievements in Golf Design in the last 50 years. To think that a public, new and West Coast course will host the US Open is a amazing feat against the odds. Years later we will look back and than the decision-making for this wonderful risk-taking event.

Yes we are fortunate that someone decided a links course was a good idea. The course would not be the same if if had lakes, cart paths, and trees. We have enough of those type of courses already.

[Rob Rigg]

Forrest,

You are spot on. People can say what they want about the greens, the course changing for the Amateur, Open, etc. but at the end of the day the team that funded, designed, developed and built Chambers have done some amazing - create a links style course near a large population that is easily accessible from a major airport.

Bandon Dunes is probably the best golf resort in the world, but it is isolated and will probably never host a Major tournament. Chambers Bay showcases so many things that are "right" about a golf course - links style, no water or unneccesary BS, no cart paths, walking only - it is a monumental development that has occurred at the right time.

[Anthony_Nysse]

Do you think that the pros are really going to like playing here in 2015? After playing courses like The Black, Pebble, Congressional, Merion, Winged Foot and Oakmont? Photos have just done nothing for me to think that this is a great track. Seems to me, many people are getting their rocks off because it's fescue, walking only, links style, walking only, no paths...maybe not all the architecture.

Tony Nysse
Asst. Supt.
Colonial CC
Ft. Worth, TX

[Jeff Doerr]

Tony,

I'll have to disagree. The bones and meat of this course really are that good. It does need to mature, it will have some tweaks, etc., but RTJ II, Charleton, and Blasi have built something very special.

You are comparing to courses with 80+ years of maturity and history.

Next year you should join us for our Bandon trip and jaunt up to Tacoma!

Cheers, Jeff

[Forrest Richardson]

I have yet to play Chambers, so I cannot speak (yet) to the course and how it plays. Even when I do play, I will imagine the US Open there and will only be able to connect the dots to try and predict how it will unfold for a national championship.

My comment is about the very idea — which often times trumps execution. Torrey, for example, is a terrific venue for a US Open, but I hardly agree with all the work done there over the years. (Decision=9.....Course=4....) But, I still applaud the west coast location, public facility and the decision by the USGA.

Chambers may be the same. I cannot comment on the course except to say that it looks really neat and fun, and perhaps treacherous in many places. I am looking forward to experiencing it and have heard from no one that the 6+ year timeframe is not enough to overcome any condition issues.

[Richard Choi]

Forrest and Anthony,

Rest assured, even with today's conditioning problem, Chambers Bay is a FAR superior course than Torrey Pines South. To me, it is more fun and interesting course than Bethpage Black.

I cannot say for certain whether or not the pros will like it since, from what I can gleam, most PGA Tour pros like things to be pretty much the same from week in and week out and they are not big fans of true links courses.

But if you are a fan of GCA, having US Am and US Open here is a godsend.

[Jim Tang]

Wow.  Those are some great photos.  I've got to get out that way and play CB.  I know this course gets a lot of ink.  For those who have played it, what are people's impressions of the course?

[Charlie Goerges]

I love the train tracks. You can't buy that kind of provenance.