Advice for Chambers Bay US Am participants

[Matt_Cohn]

I'm not one of them, unfortunately. But a number of my friends have qualified over the past week or so. Their knowledge of Chambers Bay varies. I'm wondering, particularly from locals, what they should know over the next few weeks before they travel to Washington.

For example:

Are the greens going to be slow or closer to normal championship speed?
How windy and linkslike will the course be? Or is it still an aerial game?
Are there any particular shots they should work on, given the tournament setup?
And while we're at it, the Home Course seems more "normal" but is there anything crazy going on there?

I'm looking for "inside info" as opposed to something they could easily find on the course's website or anything like that. Thanks.

[Richard Choi]

How many of us in the treehouse will be here for US Am? I would be happy to arrange a dinner if there is interest.

I am hoping to play there this week so I will have more intel after this week, but here are some pointers.

I believe the biggest factor is going to be the difference in greens between The Home Course and Chambers Bay and people who handle that better will make it to the matchplay. The Home Course has perfect bent greens with modest movements that will most likely be running 12 or 13 for the tourney. CB will have very firm fescue greens running at 10 or so. Many players will have difficult time handling such difference from one day to the next.

Very similar winds blow at THC and CB and they will be a major defense for both courses. Some of the longest holes (#13) run straight into the wind at THC, so low balls will definitely help. Aerial game won't help you much if USGA gets the greens at CB as firm as I think they will.

If I am correct about the firmness of the green at CB, I would be practicing 20 to 50 yard putts and low running chips (not sure where you can, though). I would also be hitting balls into every sideboard on the greens to see how the ball flows into the green. There will be pin positions that are only accessible via sideboards.

I would also practice some bad lies out of sand. I am not sure how religious the crew will be about raking the vast sand waste areas and you may get some really nasty lies in footprints and such. Also, practice out of the softest sand you can find. Although USGA will probably firm up the traps, they will play softer than a typical USGA tourney course.

You will also need your driver working (at least length wise) as the courses will be stretched over 7400 yards. If you are going to miss, you want to miss AWAY from the dunes. The rough between the holes are pretty wispy and I doubt that they will get much thicker and they will be playable out of it. If you hit into the dunes, it will be a wild card on what kind of lie you will have; some will be sitting pretty, some will be covered in thick heavy rough, some will sit in a deep rut created by caterpillar tracks, etc.

Not much craziness at The Home Course. I expect the score to be very low there. You better go low on the day you play THC. The only tricky part about THC is that the course is built on top of a Superfund site and as such it has about a foot or two of gravel that line the entire course just underneath the turf. It won't matter much on fairways as the topsoil there is thick enough, but if you hit into the rough, you ball maybe laying on top of pebbles. You better know how to hit out of those.

One last thing. Just make sure you take 2 extra clubs on #7 approach!

PM me if you want hole by hole blow.

[Jason Mandel]

Richard,

I am going to be out there caddying for my brother Marc.  I would love to get together for dinner one night.  I am also going to be PM you as I have some general questions regarding the area and the best places to stay, things to do in the area for non-golfers, etc, etc.

Jason

[Tom Yost]

My guess is that while the greens may be fast by Chambers' standards, they will be slower than what may be perceived as typical for a USGA championship event.

I am so jazzed to watch this year's AM on TV.  Will be engaging all of my golfing friends in a bit of arm twisting to make sure they tune in to see what I've been yakking about for the last two years.

[Garland Bayley]

See if they can get advice on using the back and side boards at Chambers.

[Chuck Brown]

Richard;
I know one person who will be there in Seattle is Lion Kim, our fabulous Senior co-captain here at Michigan and the reigning USAPL champion.  He thereby was exempted into the Am.  I spoke with Lion this week as he was getting ready to play in the Western Am.  I see that he just made the Sweet 16 match play segment.
I cannot even begin to describe what a terrific young man this is.
Chuck

[Jerry Kluger]

I was fortunate to play CB last week and my advice to those playing in the USAM is to use a local caddie to help with the greens and don't be ashamed to use a putter from well off the green.  I have had some exposure to RTJ courses and my experience was that the greens could be tough to read as they often had multiple breaks which could be very deceptive.  RTJ II appears to have picked up on that at CB as my local caddie was very helpful in showing where the putt should be played which was not always obvious to someone unfamiliar with the greens.  I should point out that I have played the courses at Bandon, Sand Hills, etc., and really did not have a problem reading the greens with significant contours but the greens at CB were far more subtle.  The fairways were tight and many greens had false fronts so using a putter from the fairway can often be the best choice.  Strategy in playing the holes can be learned simply by playing the course but the thing to be learned is to stay out of the waste areas.  The sand in the waste areas is very soft and the fescue grasses are really thick making recovery extremely difficult so being aggressive can be very costly.  The wind can make the course really challenging but even on a calm day the players need to be cautious in the stroke play round. 

[Dale Jackson]

One word about green speeds at the The Home Course, the USGA has asked that they be ket close to those at CB, there will not be a huge difference between the two courses.

And for those who are interested, Lion Kim was T2 after the first round of the Canadian Amateur yesterday.

[Jed Peters]

Can anyone get me on Chambers Bay?

[Richard Choi]

Jed, only if you ask nicely

I had a fantastic time with Jerry out on CB and agree wholeheartedly that the greens are showing a lot of subtlety as they are sped up closer to tournament speed. The greens were probably running about 9+ (and very true) when we played and there were a lot of double breaks for putts of 20 to 40 feet. Already, the greens did not show any pitch marks and were bouncing about 5 to 10 feet even with wedge shots. I suspect from the back tees on 17th, I think even the longest hitters will have a hard time holding the green if the flag is set on the right plateau. I believe with this firmness and green speed, the sideboards will become a menace (instead of the helping hand for high handicappers when greens are slower).

While we had unseasonably cool and wet weather over the past couple of weeks, next couple of weeks looks to be very hot and dry. I suspect they will use this opportunity to really firm up the course.

If THC greens are only running at around 10 to 11, the US Am guys were tear that course apart. If you have a bad day that day, you will have a hard time making up the difference at CB.

[Garland Bayley]

Can anyone get me on Chambers Bay?

Buy a ticket and attend the Am.

[Jud_T]

Dale,

Thanx for the Lion Kim update...Kid seems to really be coming into his own...Saw him throwing his bag in the trunk last week at the Western Am after losing in the round of 16.  Was going to say hello, but he didn't seem to be in the mood, which says something about how much the kid wants to win....