in Blog, Shows, US Open by Jeff Waters

Was Chambers Bay the Right Choice for the US Open

 

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In 2008, just six months after it opened to the public, Chambers Bay, a former sand and gravel pit, was awarded the 2015 United States Open Championship. Designed by noted architect Robert Trent Jones and situated on the Puget Sound outside Tacoma, Washington, the golf course was not only new but has hosted only one tournament of significance, the 2010 US Amateur won by Peter Uihlein. For the conservative and staid United States Golf Association, this was uncharted territory.

There is little doubt that the Pacific Northwest deserved our National championship. Of the 114 previous Opens, all but 17 have been contested east of the Rocky Mountains, and of those, three were in Denver, two in Dallas and the rest in California, primarily at Pebble Beach and San Francisco’s Olympic Club. The USGA is nothing if not tradition. The Northwest deserved a shot and it finally got it. But was it the right choice.

Golf purists have always identified our national championship with narrow fairways, fast greens, and high rough with under par scores non-existent. As Sandy Tatum, former Executive Director of the USGA famously proclaimed: “We are not trying to embarrass the best players in the world; we are trying to identify them.” It has been said a player does not win the Open, the Open wins them.

Keep that in mind as you watch the 2015 US Open Championship unfold. There is no rough, no trees and no water hazards. The entire 930 acres that comprise the property are sand dunes where little else grows including grass. There’s just one tree on the entire golf course. Because of these conditions, the architects planted the golf course with a drought resistant grass that can withstand long periods of no moisture and little maintenance. Tees, fairways and greens are all fine fescue, which is tan at its best and brown when it’s not. The rest of the course is sand and there is a lot of it. In the history of USGA Championships they have never conducted a tournament on this type of grass until now. It’s an experiment that is wrought with danger. 

This will not be your Augusta green grass, tree lined and perfectly manicured golf tournament.

Players are already calling this year’s US Open at Chambers Bay, America’s British Open because it resembles the links style courses the Open Championship is played on. But there is a difference. I like links style golf courses and have been privileged to play some of the best in the British Isles. To play those types of golf courses you must play the golf ball low to the ground and bounce the ball into the greens whereas with parkland courses you can aim at the fairways and greens and have the ball stop. That’s not the case here. Playing links style golf under tournament conditions you will always get the odd, quirky little bounces and funny caroms off of mounds and bunkers, but you know pretty much where the ball is going to go if you hit it less than perfect. That’s not the case at Chambers Bay for this simple notion. The golf course is not flat like a typical links course. Chambers Bay has some of the most severe elevation changes in US Open history.  Playing uphill, golfers must hit the ball above the hole or it will roll back to their feet. Downhill the ball will run forever. Playing this course will become a guessing game for the contestants and if they guess wrong the penalties could be severe. Chambers Bay will play at 7700 yards and will have four of the longest par-four’s in Championship history but those numbers are meaningless if the golf hole plays downwind and downhill. Coming off the Puget Sound the wind will blow and it could blow hard, especially in the afternoon. When that happens the scores will mount, players will grumble and spectators will witness some big numbers. Forget creativity and imaginative shot making, think survival for the best players in the world.

The player that wins the 2015th US Open will have survived four brutal days of changing conditions, unfathomable pressure, good breaks and the will to win. I have no doubt the USGA will crown a worthy champion at the conclusion of this year’s tournament but I have a feeling it won’t be the golf course.

The Pacific Northwest deserved an Open Championship on one of its many great courses, unfortunately they didn’t get it. I hope I’m wrong but only history will tell.

At the Open, I’m Jeff Waters

 

With over a half-century of engagement in the sport of Golf, Jeff Waters has become one of the most accomplished, experienced, and qualified Golf Professionals in the history of the PGA of America. He is a fully certified and trained Master Professional joining an exceedingly small and elite group of Professionals in the World to have achieved this prestigious title. Jeff holds University Degrees in Political Science, Teaching Minors in Economics and Finance, attended graduate school in Commercial Recreation, taught undergraduate classes at the University of Utah, and earned a master’s in business administration. With more than fifty years of experience and success in the business of Golf, Jeff spent ten years playing and competing in the game at all levels ten years laboring as an Assistant Golf Professional, acquiring the job-related skills, responsibilities, and training required for a career in golf, ten years fulfillment as a PGA Head Professional overseeing all aspects of the total golf course operation, three years’ service as Director of Player Development for Salt Lake County Parks and Recreation, administering and managing multiple golf course programs and activities, thirty-three years as a Golf Coach and Instructor at The Rocky Mountain Golf Academy, The University of Utah’s College of Health and the Granite Peaks Community College, teaching and tutoring the game. Additionally, Jeff has spent the last twenty-seven years as the Owner, President, and CEO of Rocky Mountain Golf Enterprises (RMG), a Utah-registered and licensed business offering golf-related services throughout the Western United States utilizing golf as the marketing tool. Finally, Jeff has performed on the national media stage for the past thirty-eight years as an Announcer, Author, Producer, and Talk Radio Host, communicating and sharing the joy, art, and skill that is the Game, Sport, and Challenge of Golf. Jeff, a well-known golf journalist, has been active in print media from an early age. His articles, commentary, and features regularly appear nationwide. He has authored two golf instruction books: “The Ten Commandments of Golf, Proven Principles That Make Your Golf Game Better,” and “The Short Game, the Transition from the Golf Course to the Putting Green.” Both are available as e-book downloads and on Amazon. Jeff penned his first short story while still in his teens and has since published 100’s of commentaries, essays, and instruction pieces in magazines, blogs, internet forums, and other platforms, including Golf Today, Utah Golf Magazine, Utah Golf News, Rocky Mountain Golfer, Fairways Magazine, Jackson Hole Golf News, Talking Golf with the Golf Guy, Voices in the Community.com, and Jeffgolfguy.com. He is the author of multiple books, stories, articles, posts, and evaluations of other writers’ publications. Jeff began his public communications career in High School and has had a constant presence in sports commentary throughout the years, providing play-by-play and color analysis at many diverse levels, including announcing football, baseball, and basketball games, along with local and national golf tournaments, while performing on other media platforms as well. Jeff was an early pioneer in Sports Radio, hosting a weekly talk show, “Talking Golf with the Golf Guy,” broadcasted and aired on various radio stations throughout the regional market, syndicated nationally on The Rocky Mountain Golf Network, and offered on most of the recognized podcast directories and streaming services. Over his extensive announcing career, Jeff has provided the vocal narration for hundreds of voice-overs, commercials, radio programming, sports interviews, tournament updates, blogs, podcasts, audiobooks, and videos, including the original voice work on the best-selling X-Box Links golf game. Jeff also contributed voice and commentary on the Centennial production, “One Hundred Years of the Utah State Amateur,” which is available on iTunes and Apple Music. As a member of the Golf Writers Association of America, Jeff has attended and reported on-site more than a hundred golf tournaments, including an assortment of Major Golf Championships, including The United States Open Championship, The Masters, the PGA Championship, and The Ryder Cup, along with other competitions on the PGA Tours annual tournament schedule. Jeff has produced, directed, and distributed numerous film and video projects as stand-alone presentations while incorporating them within his blog, website, syndicated podcasts, and national radio programming. All are available for review on YouTube. Known as “The Voice of Golf” and “The Golf Guy” throughout the Western United States, Jeff is regularly sought for advice and counsel and often speaks to groups on golf-related subjects. You may contact Jeff by email at jeffgolfguy@att.net and on his website at www.jeffgolfguy.com.