2014 King's Putter at Chambers Bay

[Pete_Pittock]

Bill,
Welcome to the board, Find the thread 'who are you guys' and chime in
You don't know if you have a son, or you don't know if he'd enjoy this?

You've already done it. The organizer will put you on the list. Eventually deposits will be due. You can play some or all of the rounds. Usually it is a combination of fourball partners and singles matches. I saw D D D this week and will probably eat one night at Crockett's in Puyallup.

Other get togethers - spring training at Streamsong, the 5th Major, Midwest Mashie, Buda and Dixie Cups



Peter in Portland, and current custodian of the King's Putter.

[Garland Bayley]

...

Peter in Portland, and current custodian of the King's Putter.

By that he means he is captain of last year's winning team, and therefore is in possession of the winning team's trophy, a putter donated by his highness Dan King to serve as the trophy.

[Bill Buthorn]

I know for sure of one son, hopefully no more.  If he is available, can he be included?  This sounds like so much fun, I am already excited.  Thanks for the reply.

[Joe Perches]

Just bumping this thread to find out what's going on and who's planning on attending.

I bought my ticket awhile ago and am looking forward to it.

[Garland Bayley]

Just bumping this thread to find out what's going on and who's planning on attending.

I bought my ticket awhile ago and am looking forward to it.

I have to warn you about this guy! Do not watch him play golf! It will add at least 10 strokes to your round!

The only antibody I know of is the have Richard Choi in the same group. If you watch them both, and find a happy medium to their tempos, you will do OK.

[Matt Bielawa]

Joe,

I bought my ticket a while ago as well and will be there.

[Pete_Pittock]

Richard Choi started an official sign-up thread

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,57650.msg1347718.html#msg1347718

It looks like I will miss the event, or maybe just play Gold Mountain-Olympic

[Richard Choi]

Pete, you are in. Matt Essig will play CB for you.

Sorry about the radio silence, I have been trying to hear back from people who are on the fence.

Here people who are in:

Me
Joe Perches
Vic Santodomingo
Brent
Matt Bielawa
Michael Whittaker
Pete Lavallee
Pete's guest
Pete Pittock/Michael Essig
Matthew Essig
Alex Miller
Bob Jenkins

If your name is not on the list, please PM me as soon as possible. I need to have the final headcount and the final payment paid up by end of this month.

[Pete_Pittock]

one month away

[Pete_Pittock]

Less than a week away. If the forecast is any good we should be rain free and in the 70s. The trophy moved from one golf bag to another and is in the trunk, ready for some more travel. It likes west coast links environments having traversed Pacific Dunes, the Preserve, the Himalaya putting green, Wine Valley and Sagebrush.

[Matthew Essig]

Less than a week away. If the forecast is any good we should be rain free and in the 70s. The trophy moved from one golf bag to another and is in the trunk, ready for some more travel. It likes west coast links environments having traversed Pacific Dunes, the Preserve, the Himalaya putting green, Wine Valley and Sagebrush.

I just looked at the forecast:

Mostly sunny w/ temps of 70-75 and winds around 10mph. Sounds like a spectacular weekend. I can't wait!

[Ben Sims]

We live pretty close to Chambers, so depending on you guys' dinner plans, it would be an easy way to end the day to have people over on Saturday night. So please feel free to stop by before or after dinner for drinks, court hockey, a four-legged goalie, golf talk and maybe s'mores.

Rich (or any other participants), please PM me to hammer out details.

[Pete_Pittock]

Made it to the Thursday night dinner and the Friday morning round at Gold Mountain on the Olympic course. Surrendered the trophy and had a nice lunch and then had to return to Portland.  The out-of-towners got in 27 holes at Aldarra and will play Fircrest after the completion of the KP.

The south squad led 2-0 after Friday morning fourballs. One fourball in the afternoon, also a threeball.

[Brent Carlson]

What a fun King's Putter!  Thanks to Richard Choi for the time and effort he put into organizing this great event.  You could not ask for better venues, food or weather.  Thanks Richard.  It was also fun to spend time with a great group of GCAers.  

The South Team really brought their A game as they dominated the first day at Gold Mountain.  They then carried the momentum to Chambers Bay and the Home Course to finish off the North.  Matt Bielawa is MVP with an undefeated record for the event.  Congrats to the South!  See you all next year!  SoCal?

Chambers Bay is really rounding into shape as the US Open is but one year away.  It's so good - can't wait to see how the pros do.

A special shout out to Michael Essig for starting off eagle, birdie, birdie, eagle today at Chambers Bay.  6 under through 4.  I've never seen anything like it.  

A few photos of the event:

Mt. Rainier looming over The Home Course
P1030769 copy by Carlsson10, on Flickr

Michael Essig slashes out of the hay
P1030770 copy by Carlsson10, on Flickr

Joe Perches and Richard Choi do battle in their "Dollar Match"

P1030785 copy by Carlsson10, on Flickr

P1030786 copy by Carlsson10, on Flickr

Captain Choi presents Captain Lavallee with the King's Putter
P1030796 copy by Carlsson10, on Flickr

The crew
P1030798 copy by Carlsson10, on Flickr

Essig's amazing start
P1030803 copy by Carlsson10, on Flickr

Until next year...

Brent

[Pete_Pittock]

Congratulations to the South, and the King's Putter will be back on its normal mantlepiece looking out at the San Diego scene. I hope the King's Putter gets back to its winter time slot as a draw for snowbirds. Someone needs to step forward, either in NoCal, SoCal or Arizona.

[Matt Bielawa]

What an awesome weekend.  Thanks to Rich and Michael for organizing everything.  Those of you who haven't made it to the PNW need to check it out.  Chambers is really special and I can't wait to see it for the 2015 US Open.

[Steve_Lovett]

How were the greens at Chambers Bay - and what do you who played think of the prospects of having them US Open-ready for next year..?

I played a rotation of Broadmoor (Seattle), Chambers Bay, Tumble Creek, and Prospector (Suncadia) on consecutive days in mid-May. Chambers' greens were considerably worse than Broadmoor or Tumble Creek (and Broadmoor was still recovering from verification).

[Howard Riefs]

Congratulations to the South, and the King's Putter will be back on its normal mantlepiece looking out at the San Diego scene. I hope the King's Putter gets back to its winter time slot as a draw for snowbirds. Someone needs to step forward, either in NoCal, SoCal or Arizona.

A return to Bandon seems inviting.

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,47684.msg1068566/topicseen.html#msg1068566

[Richard Choi]

The greens at Chambers will be fine for US Open. The greens for US Am were significantly worse than it is now, and I don't think there were too much complaints about the green conditions during US Am (most of the complaints were about playing too firm). The rebuilt/seeded greens at #1, #4, #7, #10, and #13 are coming along very nicely (#10 was especially looking great after they reopened them this weekend).

I suspect they will liberally use temp greens (on every hole) from now till US Open to limit traffic damage. I believe they are all manageable issues. The putts were rolling fine during the weekend.

What is becoming a bigger issue is the poa infestation. They are now covering more than 10% of the course and growing fast. They will have to reduce the watering to keep them in check, but with their effort to fortify the rough, I am not sure if that will be possible.

It is also alarming how many balls were lost this weekend. The rough is almost getting to be unplayable for most weekend hackers.

[Steve_Lovett]

The greens at Chambers will be fine for US Open. The greens for US Am were significantly worse than it is now, and I don't think there were too much complaints about the green conditions during US Am (most of the complaints were about playing too firm). The rebuilt/seeded greens at #1, #4, #7, #10, and #13 are coming along very nicely (#10 was especially looking great after they reopened them this weekend).

I suspect they will liberally use temp greens (on every hole) from now till US Open to limit traffic damage. I believe they are all manageable issues. The putts were rolling fine during the weekend.

What is becoming a bigger issue is the poa infestation. They are now covering more than 10% of the course and growing fast. They will have to reduce the watering to keep them in check, but with their effort to fortify the rough, I am not sure if that will be possible.

It is also alarming how many balls were lost this weekend. The rough is almost getting to be unplayable for most weekend hackers.

That's good news... When I played #'s 1, 7, 10, and 13 were on temps. Are all 18 open now?

[Sean Leary]

The greens at Chambers will be fine for US Open. The greens for US Am were significantly worse than it is now, and I don't think there were too much complaints about the green conditions during US Am (most of the complaints were about playing too firm). The rebuilt/seeded greens at #1, #4, #7, #10, and #13 are coming along very nicely (#10 was especially looking great after they reopened them this weekend).

I suspect they will liberally use temp greens (on every hole) from now till US Open to limit traffic damage. I believe they are all manageable issues. The putts were rolling fine during the weekend.

What is becoming a bigger issue is the poa infestation. They are now covering more than 10% of the course and growing fast. They will have to reduce the watering to keep them in check, but with their effort to fortify the rough, I am not sure if that will be possible.

It is also alarming how many balls were lost this weekend. The rough is almost getting to be unplayable for most weekend hackers.

That's good news... When I played #'s 1, 7, 10, and 13 were on temps. Are all 18 open now?

On Friday, 1, 4, 10 and 13 were temps...

[Matt Bielawa]

1, 4, and 13 were temps yesterday.

The greens roll a lot better than they look...they'll be fine as long as the USGA doesn't want them rolling at 13+. 

They're clearly trying to protect some of the expected landing areas for the pros with nets over them currently.  Really doesn't impact day-to-day play.  Will be interesting to see how early they close in advance of the Open.  A case could be made for shutting down sometime this summer.  It's clearly not possible to whip that place into shape for what the pros and the TV cameras will want to see on 3 weeks notice.

[Garland Bayley]

Who cares what the pros and tv cameras want to see? No way they should shut the place down more than a week before open week.

[David Kelly]

It is also alarming how many balls were lost this weekend. The rough is almost getting to be unplayable for most weekend hackers.

Boy, it sounds delightful.

[Pete Lavallee]

First off many thanks to Rich for organizing the Event and for Michael for doing the pairings. I doubt we have ever had a more varied and interesting venues in one Event! Of course we had the future US Open site, although difficult it is a fantastic match play venue; I suspect even David. Kelly could have overcome an unlikely lost ball to get back in the match. Fescue roughs are always seasonal, even in the UK and with spring conditions the roughs were a little thick in places, places you shouldn't  have been in in the first place. Overall I doubt anyone can say they have played an easy US Open venue; but Chambers Bay  embrasses the spirit of the game as imported from the UK, playing the ball along the ground and giving many options to get your ball in the hole before your opponent.

The Seattle area should be proud to have as many fine public  course as it does. The Olympic course at Gold Mountain was far better than I imagined and as a 36 hole facility offers a great day out for a mere $75. The Home course is a fine example of turning lemons into lemonade, remediating a former gunpowder site into an interesting and enjoyable course that can plat tough as nails from the tips and be entertaining for the retail golfer from a little further up.

Many thanks also to the generous GCA'ers who hosted us at their home clubs. The Members Course at Aldarra  in the bucolic setting of the Boeing family farm was proof positive that Fazio can produce a fun and challenging course; no trace so "anti strategy" here, just one solid golf hole after another. The highlight of the trip from me was having the chance to play Fircrest CC. A V Macan's work is stunning and I believe he is truly underrated in the eyes of architecture aficionados. The numerous slopes of the course have a fantastically natural feel, possibly the result of mules with drag pans, that seem totally harmonious with nature.

It was sad in one respect that we didn't have a better turn out from the GCA crowd. Perhaps a shift to earlier in the year would bring more people out of the winter dole drums? I welcome any suggestions for a format that would encourage greater participation and possible venues for next years Event.