What It's Like Playing Chambers Bay Golf Course, Where The U.S. Open Will Be Played In 2015 (PHOTOS)
I carved out some time to play golf because, well, priorities.
One of the courses I made time for was Chambers Bay, which is going to be home to the U.S. Open in 2015.
Chambers Bay is a links-style public course that was built in 2007 by Robert Trent Jones Jr. It was built on a former gravel mine.
It's a seriously gorgeous golf course with jaw dropping views of the Puget Sound.
It calls itself a "pure links" course. The dunes and the shape of the course were all man made. I've yet to play any real links courses in Britain, but one of the people that was in my group said the course felt just like being in Ireland. Expect, on the day we were there, there was no wind and it was warm enough for shorts.
It will be interesting to see the course in 2015. It's going to be an unusual U.S. Open, since it will look like the Open Championship with its links layout.
The course is pretty expensive for an out of towner ($219), but it's worth the price to play it once. It's always fun to tee it up on courses that host professional events. It gives you a better idea of how good the pros are and what the course is really like when you're watching it on TV.
Aside from the views, the course's strength is its greens, which are undulating and tough to figure out. (I had 41 puts. Normally, I average 36 putts a round.)
If you're going to play once, and money isn't an issue, you might want a caddy. He'll help with green reading, and more importantly he'll tell you where to hit it into the green. If you're a yard right or left it's the difference between a two putt and a three putt or worse.
I played Gold Mountain after 3 PM and easily got in my round. It only cost $25. It's probably the best value I've ever seen in golf. It's a great layout, with just the right mix of easy and tough holes.
If I lived in the area, I would actually play Olympic course more often than Chambers Bay. I thought it was more fun, slightly more diverse, and a better value.
However, Chambers Bay is going to be home to U.S. Open. If you can only pick one of the two courses, I would opt for Chambers Bay. It has better views, and it feels like a special course.