GRUDGE MATCH, The Sequel--High Handicappers Play a Great Course--Chambers Bay

[Garland Bayley]

Hole 1 465 par 4

Knowing this hole has a severe slope running down to the left as shown below



And with the trouble off the tee mostly on the right as seen below



I felt comfortable on the tee knowing that if I sliced, it would take me to an area on the left where I could hit back into the slope and leave a short pitch into the green as I don't anticipate being able to reach the green in two. I also felt the tee shot would make my righty opponent nervous on the tee.

[PCCraig]

The first at Chambers is a good hole that sets the mood for the rest of the course. After a decent drive, I had a long iron into the green which ran for 20 yards after hitting short right of the green. I was actually surprised by how undulated the green was considering the length of the hole. There are a few tough pin positions on that green.

[Kalen Braley]

No one in our group was on this green in regulation.  It is indeed a very stern opener....that I also happened to very much like.

Keeping the approach shot to the right is crucial if you don't want to have a long blind chip shot for your 3rd.

Garland went left and I went right on the tee shot.  After laying up to about the same distance in, I hit my 3rd on the green, but Garland went over.  I two putted for a 5 and Garland took a 6.

I was 1 up thru 1.

[Garland Bayley]

As Kalen shows, after following my strategy well except a short pitch and long putt from fringe miscue of sorts, I was down after thinking on the tee I was going to have one in hand after the first. This might not be as easy as I had imagined.

[PCCraig]

No one in our group was on this green in regulation.  It is indeed a very stern opener....that I also happened to very much like.

Keeping the approach shot to the right is crucial if you don't want to have a long blind chip shot for your 3rd.

Garland went left and I went right on the tee shot.  After laying up to about the same distance in, I hit my 3rd on the green, but Garland went over.  I two putted for a 5 and Garland took a 6.

I was 1 up thru 1.

Yep, left of the 1st green is not the place to be. The right side of the fairway looks like a bad place to miss, but from what I saw most of the shots hit up there were bouncing and rolling down back left towards the fairway. That would depend on how high the rough was, however.

[Garland Bayley]

#2 365 yds. par 4

The wide fairways at Chambers Bay allows the high handicapper to play from the short grass much of the time. Here I can aim a little right, and hope/expect the width to contain my slice. The hazard seen in the distance is unreachable from the tee.



The downside of slicing left means you have to be able to carry the hazard, but with a fairly short iron in hand, one should be able to get the ball up and carry to the green.

[Alex Miller]

Slicing Left?

You should've done what us smart lefties do, play righty. Supposedly it's good to have a strong lead hand, and at the very least you don't sound like an asshat when giving photo tours. 

[Kalen Braley]

I'm a right hander and hit my worst shot of the day here from the tee...a big slice to the right and was lucky to find my ball.  (Actually a woman on the walking path spotted it for me!)

From there I chopped back to the fairway, and continued to make a mess of the hole.  I ran my lengthy bogey putt about 5 feet past the hole and missed the come backer which would have resulted in a halved hole with Garland who also shot a sloppy 6...but my 7 was one worse.

Garland wins the hole - the match is AS thru 2 holes.

As for the hole itself, (and this really speaks volumes about how good the par 4s are out there), I thought this was the least interesting par 4 on the course, and it was still pretty darn good.

[Garland Bayley]

We forgot to tell the course to put up the beware signs on the walking path, as Kalen and I were about to take the course.

Having a walking path through the course for the public to exercise on is pretty neat, and also an indication of what a grand scale the course is built on.

The weather in the Pacific Northwest has be perfect this year for getting courses fast and firm. Since there have been no excessively hot days, the superintendents have not had to soak the poa ana to keep it alive. My home course is playing as fast and firm as I have ever seen it due to this weather. Why do I discuss this? Because I found the greens at Chambers Bay to be excessively slow. I have a very slow tempo putting stroke, which makes it hard for me to hit putts hard very consistently. So after two holes, I had already made six strokes with my putter. The course allows me to get around handily, but the greens hurt me considerably in this match.

[Garland Bayley]

3 145 yds. par 3

This is the first time I have played the front pin here. In the past, I had been quite successful with my coming over the top, high pull hook (yet another bad swing in my repretoire) landing right of the pin and release downhill some towards the pin. With the front pin, I chose to try to hit at the hill/kick plate on the right to bounce it towards the hole. This hole may be the righty slicers heaven.

There is a hollow in front of the green filled with sand. I'm thankful the people who built this course were smart enough not to fill it with water and make yet another boring water hazard par 3. If I hit it in the hollow, I still have a chance to get it on the green and tie a fellow high handicapper for the hole. If there is water there, I'm not very good at hitting shots while submerged in water.

[PCCraig]

The 2nd is the first of a great set of short par-4's. It was only about a hybrid - PW for me, but there are many opportunities to make a big number there...heck, hit it on the walking path for starters

[Kalen Braley]

So on the 1st par 3...which from the tan tees plays as short hole, both Garland and I ended up right on that big knob. 

I couldn't keep my chip on the upper tier, so Garland tried to get fancy by playing a shot that would land on top of the knob and just trickle down to the green...well it didn't trickle and he left it on top of the knob.  His next shot he putted it down the knob and at this point I was liking that I was on the green in 2 and in position to win the hole.

However, I 3 jacked it to go with his two putt so the hole was halved.

Still AS after 3!

[Sean Leary]

I will take the over on whether you guys broke 100...

[Garland Bayley]

I will take the over on whether you guys broke 100...

How much is that bet for?

[Garland Bayley]

...so Garland tried to get fancy by playing a shot that would land on top of the knob and just trickle down to the green...well it didn't trickle and he left it on top of the knob.  His next shot he putted it down the knob ...

I don't call it getting fancy. It was a position like I was in that makes a course like this so much fun. If I had gone directly at the pin (I was at the highest point on the hill directly above the pin), I would have gone off the opposite side of the green. You have to think, recognize that and find another way. I played a chip perpendicular to the direct line to the pin. Had I chipped it a few inches farther, I would have had a very good result. For my third I nudged it with my putter to get it going (less hill to go down here) and it finished within makeable distance from the hole. Unfortunately I missed the bogey put.

[PCCraig]

I will take the over on whether you guys broke 100...

Way over!

[Kalen Braley]

I will take the over on whether you guys broke 100...

Way over!

I'll take the under...I did have one birdie on the round!!   

[Garland Bayley]

4 480 yds par 5 (uphill)

As the picture shows this hole constantly turns right around the acres in size hazard on the right. That means my slice keeps me safe and away from the hazard. For better players that can control the movement of the ball, a righty fade/slice is often what is desired for a hole turning right. Kalen will let you know how it works out for him.



After slicing to the left half of the fairway, I continued safely up the left side with my 3 hybrid.

[Anthony Gray]

  Did you play the ball down?

  Anthony

[Kalen Braley]

#4 - The 1st par 5 and more uphill than it looks!!   

After hitting a decent tee shot, by my standards, I was on the far right side of the fairway next to the massive waste bunker.  I hit what I thought was a decent 3w layup to leave myself a short wedge approach, but it just barely caught the far left finger of the waste bunker.  Ball ended up in a massive footprint and it was downhill from there.  After two mighty blows I couldn't get the ball out and every time its just ended up in another big footprint making extraction almost impossible for a player of my skill.  At this point the hole was basically over and so we played the local rule of "take two mighty blows and then use the hand wedge". 

From there I hit it up on the green and proceeded to finish the hole.  Its on the card as an 8, but in reality its an X. With ESC, a 8 is as high as I go anyways for reporting purposes.

Garland took a stress free bogey to go 1 Up thru 4.

Overall I really like this hole and am guessing that massive bunker along with the other ones will be raked come US Open time.  Its just such a severe penalty to go in there and have basically unplayable lies.

The new green appears to be growing in well, even though it was a bit slower than the other ones.

[Garland Bayley]

5 441 yds. par 4

Originally a much wider fairway, it still gives the high handicapper something he can usually hit, although there is less room on the right than shown in this picture.



Hitting it left as I do, I was able to play a second shot up the left side also to close to the green. The center bunker makes you decide if you are a leftist or a rightist. I guess I am a leftist.

[Garland Bayley]

  Did you play the ball down?

  Anthony

Yes,

I have trouble hitting it while it is in the air.

[Carl Nichols]

So Garland was 8-over after four holes, but one up?  I'll take the over too!   

[Garland Bayley]

... I hit what I thought was a decent 3w layup to leave myself a short wedge approach, but it just barely caught the far left finger of the waste bunker.  ...

CBM just loved guys like this.

[Mark Saltzman]

5 441 yds. par 4

Originally a much wider fairway, it still gives the high handicapper something he can usually hit, although there is less room on the right than shown in this picture.



Hitting it left as I do, I was able to play a second shot up the left side also to close to the green. The center bunker makes you decide if you are a leftist or a rightist. I guess I am a leftist.

It should be noted that this picture was taken beforethe fifth hole was changed. Now the right quarter of the fairway is rough. I think the original was much better, allowing a player to drive well right when faced with a right pin.