I am spending the weekend in Dupont, WA with a dear friend of my wife. On a little excursion from there, I took the Dupont-Steilacoom road to Steilacoom on Puget Sound. The main thouroughfare turns right and becomes Chamber's Creek Rd. which I followed to an nicely named street called Grandview Dr. I turned left towards the sound and after a short distance, there it was, Chamber's Bay Golf Course under construction. Walking the hiking trail above the course I spotted another walker that was taking an such an interest in the construction, I rightly judged him to be a golfer. Better yet, he is friends with a county official that had given him a tour of the course on Friday. What I relate to you here is my rememberance and understanding of what he told me was his rememberance of the course. He was not sure he remembered everything correctly, and I am not sure I understood him totally. So you get what you pay for.
I didn't get any idea of what most of the front 9 was like until the finishing 3 holes.
This is #7 playing away from the sound to the green just below me. It parallels to #15? which plays in the opposite direction.
This is a portion of the 8th fairway which plays along the hill below the property line where I took my pictures from. So the fairway has a steep hill rising to the left and a steep hill falling away from the right. My source thought this was a great par 5.
This is #9, a par 3, playing from the elevated tee on the upper left to the green on the lower right. The 8th green is in the foreground below the 9th tee.
This is #9 from behind the tee. I believe the permanent clubhouse will sit between the 9 green and what I believe is the 18 green further below it. I understand the 18th plays from the sound back up to the clubhouse site.
I believe this is #10, playing away from the clubhouse into the canyon. I don't know what the greensite looks like. My source called this a fabulous golf hole.
I believe this might be #13. It appears that it is probably a par 5 with a blind drive from the teeing area out of sight on the left in an area below the hill where the fairway doglegs.
I believe this will be #14, a dogleg around the waste area with the green set back in the bowl at the left.
Edit:
I missed one picture yesterday when posting these. This is probably #14 (which means the the previous two would be #12 and #13). The drive will be away from the sound across a large waste area to the landing area that the green is approached from.
Edit: I found the routing on the web. This is #4. The numbering of the previous two was correct.
I believe this is the 15, which plays down to the sound where 16, and 17 play along the sound before 18 returns to the clubhouse.
Edit: I found the routing on the web. This is number 5. Number 6 is a par 3 connecting this to #7 pictured previously.
I believe this to be the 18th, with the green in the lower left. It seems quite wide, so I don't know if there is a parallel hole or if it simply plays as a diagonal across the area with the sand peaks being in the middle forcing one to find his own personal line of charm.
Edit: I found the routing on the web. #1 shares the fairway with 18 and is on the right.
This is an overview of the property looking southwest into the setting sun from behind the 14 tee.
Wide view of the site looking somewhat north from behind the 9th tee.
It looks to me like something great is being created here. I have to wonder what the holes that are out of view or unidentifiable in my pictures are like. If they approach in greatness what I could see and identify, then something truly great is being created. Heck, even John Kirk, might like it.
I also think the scenery is quite dramatic. IMHO it far surpasses ocean side courses such as Pebble Beach which simply offer a sea of blue. Trees, gotta love them, and here they are all around to be seen, but not on the golf "links".