BirdieQueen
Club Champion
- Messages
- 292
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Hilton Head, SC
Finally crossed Chambers Bay off the list last week and I've been arguing with myself about it ever since.
Quick facts for anyone planning a trip: $279 for non-residents, walking only (no carts, period), and my caddie ran $100 plus tip and was worth every penny. It's a legit 7 mile walk with real elevation. My calves are still filing complaints.
The property itself is nuts. It's an old sand and gravel mine, so you're basically playing across a moonscape of fescue and waste areas with Puget Sound on one side and a working train line slicing through it. Hole 15 is that par 3 along the water and a freight train rolled past mid-backswing. I chunked it into the bunker. Didn't even care, honestly.
Here's my hangup though. The greens. They were fescue for the 2015 US Open and guys were literally putting balls off the green (remember Spieth winning on that circus?). They re-grassed to poa a few years back and it plays SO much better now. But some purists swear it killed the linksy soul of the place. I kind of loved it? Ball still rolls forever on those fairways.
Shot 88 from the sand tees and felt like I'd been in a bar fight. If you want a US Open venue you can actually get on without knowing a member, this is your spot. Same energy as the Bethpage Black thing, just with better views and way worse weather.
https://usagolfers.com/threads/bethpage-black-first-time-public-beast-real.1535
Anyone played it since the greens swap? Better or worse? And if you've got a rating for it, drop it in Rate a Course so I can see where people actually land on this one.