Rant time.
#5 is the hole that has gone through the most extensive change (in my opinion) in preparation for US Open. It used to be one of my very favorite holes at Chambers Bay. Now, it is just ho-hum hole with a nice view from the tee.
#5 Hole Then
What went wrong? Why?
The most obvious answer to why is that #5 was perhaps the quirkiest hole at Chambers Bay. It had two greens, one of which was a driveable green 200 yards away from the other. #5 also had one of the widest fairway at Chambers, a straight landing strip 80 yards wide that went all the way to about 130 yards from the green. It is not surprising that US Open officials wanted something more conventional.
I am not too upset about losing the second green. It was almost never available for everyday play (I only got to play it once). Only extensive use the green saw was during US Amateur match play (it was heaven for match play).
#5 Hole Now
I am extremely sadden by the loss of width. The second green and the area around it has been converted to a deep bunker, which narrowed the left side of the landing zone. The waste area on the right that it shared with the fourth hole was doubled in size to narrow the fairway by more than half. Think Bethpage Black 18th hole, with additional 50 yards of length.
These modifications have changed the hole with numerous options and creativity to just another hole. Before the modification, the pin position dictated your entire play. The tee is perched high up on the slope. You have an incredible view of Puget Sound. The pin position is readily identifiable from the tee box. Due to the large lion’s mouth bunker that guards the green (and the green’s kidney shape around the bunker), it was strategically advantageous to leave your tee shot on the same side as the pin. Even though the fairway was incredibly wide, the desired landing area was relatively narrow. The hole did not aim to punish you for missing the ideal line, it inspired you to play the ideal line.
That is all gone now. There is nothing to really think about from the tee box. Your only aim is to hit the fairway, as far away from you as can to leave the shortest second shot possible.
What used to be one of the most inspirational tee shot is now nothing more than just another tee shot. That is really a crying shame.
Tee Shot
The tee box, especially the back one, is about 70 feet above the fairway. Unless there is a strong headwind, most players will be hitting 300 yard + drives. The landing zone (A) starts to narrow from about 300 yards to about 25 yards wide about 350 yards away.
The left side (where the temp green used to be) is the side you want to avoid. The left side bunker (B) is deeper and there are greater chances that you will end up with a dicey lie. Because you are on the lower side, you will also have a very poor view to the green from here as well.
The bunker on the right side (C) will attract many balls. Any long drive with a fade that lands on the right half of the fairway has a decent chance to end up here. However, it is not the end of the world as you the sand is fairly level and the right side of the green is more accessible.
The ideal shot shape here is a gentle draw (or dead straight) that lands on the right half of the fairway. This shot will have the best chance to stay on the fairway. Some players may decide to hit a 3-wood (on a 500+ yard hole!) here to eliminate the chance of rolling the ball into the bunkers.
Approach ShotFrom the landing zone (A), you will be left with an uphill approach of around 200 yards. The green is shaped like a saddle with slopes running towards the green from both left and right. The main objective on the approach shot is to miss the lion’s mouth bunker guarding the green. Depending on the pin position, you should be able to use the slope of the green to feed the ball back towards the center of the green.
If you are in the left bunker (B), you priority is to leave your ball somewhere on the green (and not bother with the pin). The best route is to use the green slope on the right side to bring it back towards the middle. The left side is to be avoided as the slope there is more abrupt and there is a very good chance that any ball that lands here will kick forward all the way to the sixth tee box.
If you are in the right bunker (C), most of the pin position should still be accessible to you. If the pin is in the right, you should be able to bump and run it up the right slope to feed it back towards the pin. The left side is more difficult, but you should be able to use the slope there to bring the ball back towards the middle as well. If aiming to the right slope, you need to make sure to clear the plateau. If not careful, the ball could end up on the plateau (E) instead of rolling down and you can kiss any right pin position good bye.
Around the Green
You have almost limitless options on how to play around the green. If you leave the ball short of the bunker, you can lob it, chip, or putt it to almost every possible pin position (using the saddle shape of the green). The most difficult places to play from are top of the slope on left and right. If you get stuck on top of these slopes and is short sided, there is almost no chance to get the ball close as everything is running away from you. It is best to cut your losses and play to the middle of the green.
Playing from the back of the green is also quite doable, as long as you are short of the rough. There is a bit of drop off from the back of the green to the gathering area, but with plenty of short grass, you can try to fly it or bump it into the drop off to kill some speed.
Bunker shot from the front is easy as long as the pins are to the side, as it is mostly uphill and close. Back pins will be a little trickier as the green is fairly deep and the sharp drop off in the back is something that will give you second thoughts.
PuttingThe kidney shaped green is almost a bowl with sharp slopes coming from left and right and gentler slope from back to front (going away from the sound). These slopes dominate most putts and putts break a bit more than what you expect.
The front pins (either side) will be tough to putt as the side slopes dominate and will create heavy breaking putts.
A long putt to the back of the green rolls slower than they look and you will often come up short of the pin.
This is not an overly difficult green and getting a par should be fairly routine. Even with over 500 yards in length, chances of birdies here is as good as any other par 4’s in the front nine, other than #2.