[Tom Yost]

I have a hard time understanding why the USGA would pick a course like Chambers that is so very different from the typical US Open venue, then try to change it and mold it into their usual championship setup with the narrowed fairways and super fast greens.   I think they chose a links type setup, they should understand the features that make it unique and allow it to play like a links.

The course with the sand base and fescue turf is already firm/fast.  They don't need to dry it out like they normally have to do at a parkland course.  You would think these geniuses could figure that out.

 


 

[PThomas]

I played there a week after the Am...the course was brown and , um, quite challenging, to say the least!

[Matthew Essig]

I HATE it when people talk about the legend of the Seattle rain.

Here are the averages of precipitation per month in Seattle:

Jan: 4.81 in.
Feb: 3.43 in.
Mar: 3.51 in.
Apr: 2.77 in.
May: 2.16 in.
Jun: 1.63 in.
July: 0.79 in.
Aug: 0.97 in.
Sep: 1.52 in.
Oct: 3.41 in.
Nov: 5.84 in.
Dec: 5.43 in.

Quite a few of you guys believe that the course will be green and and not that firm, but with only 1.63 inches for the entire month, the sandy soil will easily suck up that small amount of rain.

[John Kavanaugh]

I HATE it when people talk about the legend of the Seattle rain.

Here are the averages of precipitation per month in Seattle:

Jan: 4.81 in.
Feb: 3.43 in.
Mar: 3.51 in.
Apr: 2.77 in.
May: 2.16 in.
Jun: 1.63 in.
July: 0.79 in.
Aug: 0.97 in.
Sep: 1.52 in.
Oct: 3.41 in.
Nov: 5.84 in.
Dec: 5.43 in.

Quite a few of you guys believe that the course will be green and and not that firm, but with only 1.63 inches for the entire month, the sandy soil will easily suck up that small amount of rain.

My favorite show is The Killing.  I love how they overplay the rain.

[Joe Stansell]

Matthew, I LOVE IT when people talk about rain in Seattle. It keeps people from moving here.

I still don't think your going to see the same incredible conditions for the US Open as we did for the US Amateur, and the wetter months leading into June will have something to do with that. But hey, I hope you're right and that I'm wrong about this.

[Matthew Petersen]

I HATE it when people talk about the legend of the Seattle rain.

Here are the averages of precipitation per month in Seattle:

Jan: 4.81 in.
Feb: 3.43 in.
Mar: 3.51 in.
Apr: 2.77 in.
May: 2.16 in.
Jun: 1.63 in.
July: 0.79 in.
Aug: 0.97 in.
Sep: 1.52 in.
Oct: 3.41 in.
Nov: 5.84 in.
Dec: 5.43 in.

Quite a few of you guys believe that the course will be green and and not that firm, but with only 1.63 inches for the entire month, the sandy soil will easily suck up that small amount of rain.

Looks like Seattle gets as much rain by early March as Phoenix does all year. June rain average here? 0.09 inches. I've lived in Arizona since 1998, I cannot remember it raining in June.

[Matthew Essig]

Yeah but it is 110 during June in Phoenix, while in Seattle the average high is 70.

[Garland Bayley]

 

Yeah but it is 110 during June in Phoenix, while in Seattle the average high is 70.

 

[Matthew Essig]

Yeah but it is 110 during June in Phoenix, while in Seattle the average high is 70.

 

+1

[Carl Nichols]

Yeah but it is 110 during June in Phoenix, while in Seattle the average high is 70.

Doesn't that mean that it takes longer to dry out the same amount of rain than if, say, the average high were 85?

[Matthew Essig]

The sandy soil should be able to easily soak up any rain that happens to fall in June. If, for whatever reason, it actually rains a fair amount and the sand doesn't soak it up as much as the USGA likes, the USGA could just let the course dry out for 4 weeks instead of the 3 weeks the USGA dried out the course for the Am.

[Daryl David]

Look, it will be a crap shoot in Western Washington for mid June.  It isn't a matter of just deciding to dry out the course for 4 weeks vs. 3 weeks.  If it is a rainy week then it will be wet and slow.  Just the way it will be.  Golf in and around Seattle during June is wet except for one year in five.  That said, since the sand will drain better, it won't be the slog that playing a Sahalee in June would be.  It won't be firm and fast like the US Am was though. 

I guess the good news is that play should not be stopped due to rain.  Never rains hard enough to become unplayable. (unlike the fire hoses they use while filming the Killing up in Vancouver)   Just don't expect to see sunny views of the Olympics and long shadows on the greens.  Think grey.  Those of us that live with it have learned to embrace it.  If not, then we just stay away until August.

[Matthew Essig]

Daryl,

You are absolutely right about play will never being stopped due to lots of rain, and that it will probably be cloudy everyday. As many Seattlites know, summer doesn't start until the day AFTER the 4th of July.

[Daryl David]

You are absolutely right about play will never being stopped due to lots of rain, and that it will probably be cloudy everyday. As many Seattlites know, summer doesn't start until the day AFTER the 4th of July.

Day after the 4th would be fine with me!  It seems the last 5 years or so that summer has not started until Sea Fair weekend. (last weekend in August)  And them promptly ends on Labor day. 

[John Kavanaugh]

The producer of The Killing, Veena Sud explains the exaggerated rain in the following article.  When I first tuned in to the series I told my wife that there is no way it could possibly rain that much in such a vibrant town.  Now it is an ongoing joke.

http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/06/19/the-killing-season-finale-two/


Asked what sort of feedback she’s received from people in Seattle, Sud says, “Some say the show definitely captures the essence of the city in its darkest times in November, which is when this season takes place. Others say, ‘My god, it doesn’t rain that much in Seattle!’”
Will there be more or less rain in season 2? “Rain was definitely part of the story, we wrote it right into the script and spent a lot of time talking about it,” she says. “Part of the production is we have these rain machines that are just not into nuance — they don’t mist rain, they just pour it. It’s like a one-dial type of rain. The aspiration is to be true to true to the Pacific Northwest in November, which is rainy, but if we can do some finagling so it would just rain a little bit instead of a big downpour every second, that would be wonderful.”

[Joe Stansell]

Daryl, I guess you have to play Chambers Bay in January to see those shadows:

[Matthew Essig]

Daryl, I guess you have to play Chambers Bay in January to see those shadows:

I always find it funny how, even though it is a little after mid-day in the picture, it looks like it is sunset because the sun is so low. Think about how long the days will be around the longest  day of the year. If it happens to be sunny one day, imagine how beautiful it will be at about 9:30 pm.

[Daryl David]

That was certainly a nice day in Jan.  And no frost delay!! 

After many years of hoping to be blessed with just one of those days every once in a while during "glooming" season, I decided to play my winter golf 1,200 miles south.  There I see my shadow every day and it is wearing shorts!

[Richard Choi]

I am not worried about Chambers playing slow in June. Even with typical weather, the sandy base and fescue means you can get really firm and fast. Sure, the greens won't be 13 or 14, but it was never going to be that speed (or should be) anyway.

Even during US Am, after the stroke play, they dumped many inches of water to soften up the course for the match play because it was too firm. It just won't be as brown in June, but it will be plenty fast.

The only thing I worry about is the density of fescue. During US AM, they rolled and rolled those greens so the putts rolled true even though there was as much sand as grass, but I am not sure that will fly in June with more moisture. Unless they can greatly increase the grass density on greens, there will be much complaining from the pros at US Open.

[Matthew Essig]

Richard,

You are absolutely right. Think about how firm and fast the Open championship is and it is not very warm or dry. I have 100% confidence that the course will be extremely firm and fast.

[Joe Stansell]

Matthew and Richard,

You two are probably right, and maybe I'm back peddling a tad here. All I know is that the course tends to play "firmer and faster" for us mere mortals during the later summer months than it does the rest of the year. I'm sure that's because of how they maintain it, and with a change in the maintenance routine, they will get it up to speed in June. It won't have that lush brown color, though.   

[Greg Tallman]

I HATE it when people talk about the legend of the Seattle rain.

Here are the averages of precipitation per month in Seattle:

Jan: 4.81 in.
Feb: 3.43 in.
Mar: 3.51 in.
Apr: 2.77 in.
May: 2.16 in.
Jun: 1.63 in.
July: 0.79 in.
Aug: 0.97 in.
Sep: 1.52 in.
Oct: 3.41 in.
Nov: 5.84 in.
Dec: 5.43 in.

Quite a few of you guys believe that the course will be green and and not that firm, but with only 1.63 inches for the entire month, the sandy soil will easily suck up that small amount of rain.

So they average more rain in November than we have received in about 3 years.

[Matthew Essig]

I HATE it when people talk about the legend of the Seattle rain.

Here are the averages of precipitation per month in Seattle:

Jan: 4.81 in.
Feb: 3.43 in.
Mar: 3.51 in.
Apr: 2.77 in.
May: 2.16 in.
Jun: 1.63 in.
July: 0.79 in.
Aug: 0.97 in.
Sep: 1.52 in.
Oct: 3.41 in.
Nov: 5.84 in.
Dec: 5.43 in.

Quite a few of you guys believe that the course will be green and and not that firm, but with only 1.63 inches for the entire month, the sandy soil will easily suck up that small amount of rain.

So they average more rain in November than we have received in about 3 years.

Texas??

[Stewart Naugler]

I do think you really need to work a US Open to truly understand how hard the USGA pushes the playing surfaces. The week before the Open at Pebble the course looked like Augusta. Not only was it in the best condition I've ever seen a golf course, it also played amazingly fast and firm. I set up the course with the USGA the following week and I've never seen turfgrass pushed so hard in my life. I have several pictures but I'm not sure how the poa survived that week. Pebble is lucky to have one of the best superintendents in the business. After those 2 weeks I worked my normal hours at Cypress, where I would drive past Pebble on the way to work. They needled tined basically everything and watered deeply the weeks that followed the tournament. It took several weeks before the course looked right again and that's under perfect growing conditions.

SNaugler.
You were there, so I'll defer to your experience and expertise.
The greens appeared very bumpy and virtually plinkolike on the weekend.(making anything outside 3 feet appeared to be a random event)
With all the preparation that went in, is that needed for a worthy outcome/champion?
and if the greens had been a foot slower, a hair less rock hard, and puttable, would the champion have been less worthy?

Do we need to go back and discredit US Champions of previous decades because some of them finished on greens that were stimping(or would that be "bimping" )
at a lower rate?

Seems like someone's justifying their existence , rather than(but under the cover of) determining more worthy champions

Jeff- I couldn't agree with you more! The greens were extremely bumpy but that's mainly because of the countless different bio types of poa surviving at different rates (if that makes sense). What's crazy is the USGA loved it, they couldn't have been happier! I guess they believe that rock hard greens like #14 determine who the best player is that week? I was on that green every morning and evening... Impossible is the only word I can think of. We were rolling the hill side around the green to make it even harder! I remember taking stimp meter readings where I couldn't get the ball to stop. Now I love difficult golf courses but that was a little extreme.

We did have a great finish! So why change? JK! I'm very interested to see how they set up and maintain Shinnecock after what happened in 2004.

Joel- That foot traffic is exactly what I was talking about it my earlier post. I'm sure Josh will get things turned around.

[John Kirk]

I am unconvinced Mr. Wienecke was given the resources he needed to succeed.  In addition, it seems they had a difficult time establishing the long, wavy fescues in out-of-play areas, that would make Chambers Bay look more like a golf course, and less like the Steilacoom gravel quarry.

My guess is Josh Lewis will be given more resources to work with, giving the course a better chance of being ready for the big tournament.  Regardless, I think having the U.S. Open in University Place is a logistical nightmare, especially getting spectators in and out every day.

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