Fact: Chambers Bay is building a new tee box for Hole 1, which will be located adjacent to the Rolex Clock overlooking the practice green.
Fact: Chambers Bay is seriously thinking about converting the 1st hole (now a Par 4) into a Par 5, and changing the 13th hole (now a Par 5) into a Par 4.
Fact: With the preceding changes, Chambers Bay would become a Par 37 on the front (1, 4, and 8 being Par 5's) and a Par 35 on the back (18 being the lone Par 5).
Fact: Chambers Bay is an extraordinarily long walk (over 7 miles) for a walking-only course, and takes a long time to play (rounds routinely exceeding 5 hours).
Fact: The tee to green transitions between holes 3 and 4 (uphill and nearly 300 yards), 9 and 10 (over 250 yards), and 14 and 15 (also nearly 250 yards) help explain both the distance and time problems.
Bearing these facts in mind, what if -- just what if -- the course changed its routing so that the round begins with what is now Hole 10 ("High Dunes") and then goes, in order of current hole number, 11, 6, 7, 8, 9, 1, 2, 3, 12, 13, 14, 4, 5, 15, 16, 17, and 18. It would look something like this:
Note: The redline traces the walk including green to tee transitions; existing hole numbers appear in light blue.
Positives that occur to me:
* Each of the incredibly long green to tee transitions would be shortened considerably. By my estimation, the proposed routing would eliminate as much as 500 yards or so of green to tee walking. The course would be more walkable and ideally a quicker play.
* "High Dunes" (current Hole 10) would serve as a more modest, but more exciting, introduction to the course. Current Hole 1 is a lot to ask as an opener -- and while probably better if played as a Par 5, would become the "dreaded" Par 5 opening hole.
* The re-route would return the two sets of 9's to Par 36 each, with the "front 9" consisting of current holes 8 and 1 as Par 5's and the "back 9" consisting of current holes 4 and 18 as Par 5's. The two sets of 9's would also have approximately equal aggregate yardage.
Negatives that occur to me:
* Current hole 9 would become hole 6, meaning that the two sets of 9's would not start and end at the "snack shack." While this won't have any impact on those playing an 18-hole round, it would limit those who want to get in a "quick nine" in the late afternoon.
* The new routing would involve playing current holes 13, 14, 4, and 5 in sequence. That is a lot of back-and-forth and, as it happens, up and down. But I think this issue could be ameliorated if the tees for current hole 4 were re-located to the north, and thus situated next to the 14th green. This would give the 4th hole more of a "sidewise" feel.
* With this re-routing, Hole 5 would probably lose its alternate green. But I ask you, who on this board has played it? Because in the dozen or more rounds I've played, I haven't seen it used once.
Okay, have at it. What if?