Before playing Chambers Bay over Memorial Day weekend, I was informed upon check-in that they had recently changed #1 from a par 4 to a par 5. From the Sand tees, the yardage changed from 465 to 501. To keep par at 72, they changed #13 to a par 4. (They had changed the scorecards, but had yet to update the yardage books.) The locals who I was playing with mentioned that this was a pace of play issue. The reasoning being that the average Joe would be encouraged to layup on a 3-shot hole and thus keep things moving at the start of a round, clearing the landing zone for the next group teeing off.
My question is-- for those that have played it-- do you like the fact that #1 is now a scoreable par 5 as opposed to a long par 4 to start the round? What do you think of #13 being changed to a par 4?
Having said that, I'm sure that #1 will play as a long par 4 for the 2015 US Open.