Chambers Bay update 6/3/2009 with pictures

[Norbert P]

I spent some time Monday evening with Jay Blasi, . . .  

We didn't really talk about the new practice area being constructed on the south side of the golf course but the infrastructure work there is pretty impressive from a distance.  

Cos, any mention of them using the old practice range for a new 8th hole and 9 tees?   I always thought that would've worked better.

 I seem to remember that they had to build the first practice area where it is because of future plans of lodgings to the south.  Is that idea being nixed or am I misremembering.

[Sean Leary]

I spent some time Monday evening with Jay Blasi, . . .  

We didn't really talk about the new practice area being constructed on the south side of the golf course but the infrastructure work there is pretty impressive from a distance.  

Cos, any mention of them using the old practice range for a new 8th hole and 9 tees?   I always thought that would've worked better.

 I seem to remember that they had to build the first practice area where it is because of future plans of lodgings to the south.  Is that idea being nixed or am I misremembering.

Couldn't agree more with the 8 and 9 comment...

[John Moore II]

So I haven't really kept up much on whats going on here, but why exactly are they building the 4th green over again? What was so wrong with it that they needed to rebuild the thing after being open only a year or so? Was it really that terrible? And if it really is that terrible, I would assume RTJ Jr. is doing this work free since it would have obviously been a screw up on his part.

[Richard Choi]

John, they are rebuilding the greens because the regular traffic pattern was feeding everybody to the front of the green and fescue was dying because of the heavy traffic.

They are enlarging the green and making the back of the green more accessible to traffic so that people can spread out more.

It was actually a great green, practically diabolical for a par 5, but you can't anticipate everything.

[John Moore II]

John, they are rebuilding the greens because the regular traffic pattern was feeding everybody to the front of the green and fescue was dying because of the heavy traffic.

They are enlarging the green and making the back of the green more accessible to traffic so that people can spread out more.

It was actually a great green, practically diabolical for a par 5, but you can't anticipate everything.

Would it not have been easier and cheaper to find a different type of grass to use in those high traffic areas? I know the new course at NC State has a few different types of grass around the greens and elsewhere depending on shade, traffic, etc. Could they not have used a different type of grass in that given area? Or was it the green itself that was dying and not just the collars and such?

[Richard Choi]

Factoring that "all fescue course" is one of the major reasons why they got the US Open and is a crucial part of their marketing plan, I highly doubt that anyone even considered using different grass.

The green is butted against the hills on the eastside and as such does not get a lot of sun in the morning. If it was located in the middle of the property, it probably would have been okay, but the lack of consistent sun kinda forced the issue. Based on how well the greens are growing on other holes in the same location (#13, #7, #8), I believe the new green will be just fine after the remodel.

[Tom Yost]

A few pics of the work at the 5th hole in a recent thread.

http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,40477.msg851542/#msg851542