Chambers Bay: Five little secrets

A special feature by Anand Datla

June 18, 2015: The first time Robert Trent Jones and his team of architects set foot on this undulating stretch of coastal soil, they were greeted by a ravaged patch of land. It was bearing the signs of being brutalised, having existed for years as a gravel mine. Any hopes of turning it into a golf course must have seemed to many on that team as a far fetched dream. As the course hosts the US Open this week, it is about time we unravel some secrets about the journey of this land and its tales.

1. “It was desolate — kind of a moonscape,” told Bruce Charlton to the Olympian. He was the chief design officer on the Trent Jones team. “There was still mining equipment sitting around,” he added. “There was a conveyor belt, a couple of trestles and bunches of stockpiles. It had just been kind of left.” Amidst the ruins though, the team did find the landscape interesting, even as the vision for a course began to take shape in their creative chambers.

2. There was sand and water all around. But as the team spread their sights across the future course – they could visualise a beautiful landscape along the Puget Sound shores, decorated by the presence of distant islands – Anderson, Fox and McNeil – and the Olympic Mountains. Only a dozen years later, since that time in 2003, we have Chambers Bay hosting the US Open on a course bestowed with a remarkably beautiful natural setting.

3. The golfers though might disagree with the prosaic views of this course. The last big event at this course, the US Amateur, produced a scoring average of nearly 80 when they played here in 2010. Among those that presented themselves to the game were a certain Jordan Spieth and Brooks Koepka, with the former making 72 and 83 in the two rounds he played.

4. Chambers Bay is a rare links like course on American shores. And as you might expect, there are not many trees around it. In fact, there is just a lone tree on the beautiful course. It lies quietly by the 15th green, mostly bearing witness to battered golfers trying to salvage pride towards the end of another weary battle at the wildly undulating course. Incredibly, the tree the withstood weather, vandalism and several thoughts of displacement over the years.

5. The course is owned by Pierce County and is endowed with five different sets of tees. Based on the tee box used, the course measures anywhere between 5,250 to 7,585 yards.

No matter how you look at it, the only thing you can be sure about is that the course will test the best this week and present us a weary, yet deserving major champion on Sunday.

Follow Us: Twitter.com/GolfingIndian

Join Us: Facebook.com/GolfingIndian

Download Our APP Here