Chambers Bay 9/30/18

jokerusn · September 7, 2018

I'm heading to Seattle in a few weeks for work and was able to arrange for an early sunday flight so I can get a round in right from the airport. I have a couple of questions though:

Is it worth it?? What I mean is, is it in good condition? I know this time last year the greens were patchy and not up to snuff. How is it now? How has the summer been - hot, wet, dry, cool?

Someone else in my group is getting the rental for the group so I was thinking of ubering down from the airport. Will they be able to store my bag while I play? I may just rent a car for the day since it'll probably be cheaper than an uber down and back.

Anything else I should know?

thanks!!

wkuo3 · September 7, 2018

Well, we did not play the Bay since last year because of the traffic...... so can;t help you on the current condition of the golf course.

However, I could tell you that renting a car for the day is less than Uber it both way. Pick up your rental from other places than the airport if you have time to avoid extra "tourist tax "..

Secondly, it can take more than an hour each way traveling to and from the golf course, depending on the hour of the day. Plan lots of elbow room into your schedule. We quit golf in the South Sound because of the traffic caused by road work and sheer volume these days.

As for storing your luggage while you play.... I believe the golf course could be the best source to answer that.

It is planned to close down temporarily for redoing the green in October, if that's the case then they might not sand and aerify the greens this year, again call or email the golf course.

BB28403 · September 8, 2018

Good Luck! That course kicks my A... on a video game.

jokerusn · September 9, 2018

Well, we did not play the Bay since last year because of the traffic...... so can;t help you on the current condition of the golf course.

However, I could tell you that renting a car for the day is less than Uber it both way. Pick up your rental from other places than the airport if you have time to avoid extra "tourist tax "..
Secondly, it can take more than an hour each way traveling to and from the golf course, depending on the hour of the day. Plan lots of elbow room into your schedule. We quit golf in the South Sound because of the traffic caused by road work and sheer volume these days.
As for storing your luggage while you play.... I believe the golf course could be the best source to answer that.

It is planned to close down temporarily for redoing the green in October, if that's the case then they might not sand and aerify the greens this year, again call or email the golf course.

Thanks. Yeah, the Uber was a bad idea. I have a rental car now so storing bags isn't an issue anymore either. I hope it's playable. I'm going more for the experience than the expectation of phenomenal golf conditions

glk23 · September 9, 2018

If you are going for the experience and don't mind dropping $300, then go for it. Just don't expect the conditions to be worth the 300. The course will be closing shortly to change out all the greens which have been mediocre to say the least.

wkuo3 · September 9, 2018

Well, we did not play the Bay since last year because of the traffic...... so can;t help you on the current condition of the golf course.

However, I could tell you that renting a car for the day is less than Uber it both way. Pick up your rental from other places than the airport if you have time to avoid extra "tourist tax "..
Secondly, it can take more than an hour each way traveling to and from the golf course, depending on the hour of the day. Plan lots of elbow room into your schedule. We quit golf in the South Sound because of the traffic caused by road work and sheer volume these days.
As for storing your luggage while you play.... I believe the golf course could be the best source to answer that.

It is planned to close down temporarily for redoing the green in October, if that's the case then they might not sand and aerify the greens this year, again call or email the golf course.

Thanks. Yeah, the Uber was a bad idea. I have a rental car now so storing bags isn't an issue anymore either. I hope it's playable. I'm going more for the experience than the expectation of phenomenal golf conditions

Check TEEOFF for tee time, depending on the date, they have super rate for Chamber Bay. Only thing is, you will have to keep the tee time you made.

2bGood · September 9, 2018

Greens will likely not be good. Right now three have been changed out to Poa I believe. Over the winter they are changing out the rest.

The course itself is spectacular though.

jokerusn · September 10, 2018

If you are going for the experience and don't mind dropping $300, then go for it. Just don't expect the conditions to be worth the 300. The course will be closing shortly to change out all the greens which have been mediocre to say the least.

Yeah, I wouldn't pay 300 if the course is meh. But I'm military so the cost will be the same as local resident fees. Still 150 or so. Not great for a beat up course but worth it for the experience for me.

duffer987 · September 10, 2018

If you are going for the experience and don't mind dropping $300, then go for it. Just don't expect the conditions to be worth the 300. The course will be closing shortly to change out all the greens which have been mediocre to say the least.

Yeah, I wouldn't pay 300 if the course is meh. But I'm military so the cost will be the same as local resident fees. Still 150 or so. Not great for a beat up course but worth it for the experience for me.

The course isn't "beat up" they just need to replace the greens. Check Argonne's thread in this forum for recent enough pics in regards to conditions.

I play it once or twice a year and while $150 isn't exactly cheap, I think it represents good value. Of course I am a big fan of CB, so value is in the eye of the beholder.

If they get the rest of the greens like the ones they have already done, it will be awesome. And I'll need to find a new excuse for putting so poorly.

Have fun!

SilverBullets · September 10, 2018

I'm playing it on Thursday so I can report back what I observed. I'm fully expecting the greens to be no Bueno. I'm setting very low expectations for the greens so I won't be disappointed once I get there lol.

We did a like a 2pm twilight time and it cut the greens fee in half. We should be able to get the entire round in but may not and may be pressed on the final couple of holes.

jokerusn · September 11, 2018

I'm playing it on Thursday so I can report back what I observed. I'm fully expecting the greens to be no Bueno. I'm setting very low expectations for the greens so I won't be disappointed once I get there lol.

We did a like a 2pm twilight time and it cut the greens fee in half. We should be able to get the entire round in but may not and may be pressed on the final couple of holes.

Cool. Thanks!

evanm · September 13, 2018

Can't speak for the current conditions at Chambers but if they're redoing the greens in October it might be a good bet. Other courses are beginning to punch.

As for the weather- it's been typical, very dry. The persistent drizzle doesn't come in until mid-oct although it's been pretty cool for Sepetember so far with a little rain.

jokerusn · September 13, 2018

Can't speak for the current conditions at Chambers but if they're redoing the greens in October it might be a good bet. Other courses are beginning to punch.

As for the weather- it's been typical, very dry. The persistent drizzle doesn't come in until mid-oct although it's been pretty cool for September so far with a little rain.

Good to know. Thanks!

SilverBullets · September 17, 2018

I'm playing it on Thursday so I can report back what I observed. I'm fully expecting the greens to be no Bueno. I'm setting very low expectations for the greens so I won't be disappointed once I get there lol.

We did a like a 2pm twilight time and it cut the greens fee in half. We should be able to get the entire round in but may not and may be pressed on the final couple of holes.

Cool. Thanks!

Ok. I played The Home Course and Chambers on Thursday. Gold Mountain on Saturday. Here are my thoughts:

The greens at Chambers are absolutely terrible. For as ugly as they look, they may putt even worse. They weren't horribly slow, probably were rolling around a 9.5 or 10 (they were by far and away the slowest of the 3 courses however) but they were extremely bumpy. It forced us to putt very aggressively to better navigate the bumps and that in turn led to some 3 putts. Between our 7 guys playing, the longest putt made on the day was around 5 feet.

With that said, beyond the greens being worse than your local unkept Muni, the course is awesome. It's a great layout. It's a lot of fun to play. The views are outstanding. The 3 new greens are in great shape and if all 18 greens were on par with those 3, this place would absolutely be one of the best courses I ever played. For am Amateur golfer, IMO, it's a more playable but similar course to Whistling Straits. There are multiple ways to play each hole, there are backstops and slopes you can leverage which help get balls close but at the same time, if you don't want to use the back stop you can still use an aerial approach to attack the hole. At WS, a lot of holes force you to play it one way. Making it very hard for anyone beyond highly skilled players. In most cases, Chambers offers multiple ways for players to play a hole. Whether you lay up off the tee, bomb a driver, fly an approach in, go low, use slopes, etc. it felt like in most cases there were a bunch of ways to play the holes depending on what angle you are taking in. I appreciate courses which allow options and don't force players into only hitting 1 shot. The fescue and waste areas lining the holes are also much easier to navigate than WS.

Overall, we had a lot of fun. It's a great layout and is very pretty. We paid the twilight rate which was like $130 but we were pressed for time at the end. We got the round in but with it being dark by 7:30 we were forced to really pick up the pace the last 3-4 holes to get it all in. The course is absolutely worth playing at the twilight rate. At the full $275 greens fee, I would have been questioning why I was paying so much to play a course with such poor greens. If you go in knowing the greens will be a bit of a disaster, it can help temper your expectations. They really are as bad as advertised.

And yes, they are closing the course Oct 1 to redo all of the greens. It's needed and once it's done it should take CB to the next level. I highly doubt they do anything to the greens other than mowing and rolling prior to that date.

jokerusn · September 17, 2018

I'm playing it on Thursday so I can report back what I observed. I'm fully expecting the greens to be no Bueno. I'm setting very low expectations for the greens so I won't be disappointed once I get there lol.

We did a like a 2pm twilight time and it cut the greens fee in half. We should be able to get the entire round in but may not and may be pressed on the final couple of holes.

Cool. Thanks!

Ok. I played The Home Course and Chambers on Thursday. Gold Mountain on Saturday. Here are my thoughts:

The greens at Chambers are absolutely terrible. For as ugly as they look, they may putt even worse. They weren't horribly slow, probably were rolling around a 9.5 or 10 (they were by far and away the slowest of the 3 courses however) but they were extremely bumpy. It forced us to putt very aggressively to better navigate the bumps and that in turn led to some 3 putts. Between our 7 guys playing, the longest putt made on the day was around 5 feet.

With that said, beyond the greens being worse than your local unkept Muni, the course is awesome. It's a great layout. It's a lot of fun to play. The views are outstanding. The 3 new greens are in great shape and if all 18 greens were on par with those 3, this place would absolutely be one of the best courses I ever played. For am Amateur golfer, IMO, it's a more playable but similar course to Whistling Straits. There are multiple ways to play each hole, there are backstops and slopes you can leverage which help get balls close but at the same time, if you don't want to use the back stop you can still use an aerial approach to attack the hole.

Overall, we had a lot of fun. It's a great layout and is very pretty. We paid the twilight rate which was like $130 but we were pressed for time at the end. We got the round in but with it being dark by 7:30 we were forced to really pick up the pace the last 3-4 holes to get it all in. The course is absolutely worth playing at the twilight rate. At the full $275 greens fee, I would have been questioning why I was paying so much to play a course with such poor greens. If you go in knowing the greens will be a bit of a disaster, it can help temper your expectations. They really are as bad as advertised.

Thanks for that! Yeah, I'm paying military rates so it's not full $275. I will be playing at 1:30 so I'm hoping it should be plenty of time. I guess I'll be taking 2 putts per green then...

SilverBullets · September 17, 2018

I'm playing it on Thursday so I can report back what I observed. I'm fully expecting the greens to be no Bueno. I'm setting very low expectations for the greens so I won't be disappointed once I get there lol.

We did a like a 2pm twilight time and it cut the greens fee in half. We should be able to get the entire round in but may not and may be pressed on the final couple of holes.

Cool. Thanks!

Ok. I played The Home Course and Chambers on Thursday. Gold Mountain on Saturday. Here are my thoughts:

The greens at Chambers are absolutely terrible. For as ugly as they look, they may putt even worse. They weren't horribly slow, probably were rolling around a 9.5 or 10 (they were by far and away the slowest of the 3 courses however) but they were extremely bumpy. It forced us to putt very aggressively to better navigate the bumps and that in turn led to some 3 putts. Between our 7 guys playing, the longest putt made on the day was around 5 feet.

With that said, beyond the greens being worse than your local unkept Muni, the course is awesome. It's a great layout. It's a lot of fun to play. The views are outstanding. The 3 new greens are in great shape and if all 18 greens were on par with those 3, this place would absolutely be one of the best courses I ever played. For am Amateur golfer, IMO, it's a more playable but similar course to Whistling Straits. There are multiple ways to play each hole, there are backstops and slopes you can leverage which help get balls close but at the same time, if you don't want to use the back stop you can still use an aerial approach to attack the hole.

Overall, we had a lot of fun. It's a great layout and is very pretty. We paid the twilight rate which was like $130 but we were pressed for time at the end. We got the round in but with it being dark by 7:30 we were forced to really pick up the pace the last 3-4 holes to get it all in. The course is absolutely worth playing at the twilight rate. At the full $275 greens fee, I would have been questioning why I was paying so much to play a course with such poor greens. If you go in knowing the greens will be a bit of a disaster, it can help temper your expectations. They really are as bad as advertised.

Thanks for that! Yeah, I'm paying military rates so it's not full $275. I will be playing at 1:30 so I'm hoping it should be plenty of time. I guess I'll be taking 2 putts per green then...

You should make it around easily. We teed off at 2:30 and 2:40. It takes close to 5 hours to play, so just plan for that, and we made it around. We let the guys behind us hit on 18 as we were waiting for the green so they could get in. We walked off the course at about 7:20 and daylight was fading fast. There was a group behind our 2:40 tee time and they were a half hole behind pace. We saw them finish out as well. With a tee time at 1:30, you shouldn't be overly pressed for daylight.

We didn't take 2 putts just allowed some longer than normal gimmies. I would say they putt a bit like greens which are 1 week post being aerated. So basically think of greens which are no longer sandy but are a bit shaggy and really bumpy.

jokerusn · September 17, 2018

I'm playing it on Thursday so I can report back what I observed. I'm fully expecting the greens to be no Bueno. I'm setting very low expectations for the greens so I won't be disappointed once I get there lol.

We did a like a 2pm twilight time and it cut the greens fee in half. We should be able to get the entire round in but may not and may be pressed on the final couple of holes.

Cool. Thanks!

Ok. I played The Home Course and Chambers on Thursday. Gold Mountain on Saturday. Here are my thoughts:

The greens at Chambers are absolutely terrible. For as ugly as they look, they may putt even worse. They weren't horribly slow, probably were rolling around a 9.5 or 10 (they were by far and away the slowest of the 3 courses however) but they were extremely bumpy. It forced us to putt very aggressively to better navigate the bumps and that in turn led to some 3 putts. Between our 7 guys playing, the longest putt made on the day was around 5 feet.

With that said, beyond the greens being worse than your local unkept Muni, the course is awesome. It's a great layout. It's a lot of fun to play. The views are outstanding. The 3 new greens are in great shape and if all 18 greens were on par with those 3, this place would absolutely be one of the best courses I ever played. For am Amateur golfer, IMO, it's a more playable but similar course to Whistling Straits. There are multiple ways to play each hole, there are backstops and slopes you can leverage which help get balls close but at the same time, if you don't want to use the back stop you can still use an aerial approach to attack the hole.

Overall, we had a lot of fun. It's a great layout and is very pretty. We paid the twilight rate which was like $130 but we were pressed for time at the end. We got the round in but with it being dark by 7:30 we were forced to really pick up the pace the last 3-4 holes to get it all in. The course is absolutely worth playing at the twilight rate. At the full $275 greens fee, I would have been questioning why I was paying so much to play a course with such poor greens. If you go in knowing the greens will be a bit of a disaster, it can help temper your expectations. They really are as bad as advertised.

Thanks for that! Yeah, I'm paying military rates so it's not full $275. I will be playing at 1:30 so I'm hoping it should be plenty of time. I guess I'll be taking 2 putts per green then...

You should make it around easily. We teed off at 2:30 and 2:40. It takes close to 5 hours to play, so just plan for that, and we made it around. We let the guys behind us hit on 18 as we were waiting for the green so they could get in. We walked off the course at about 7:20 and daylight was fading fast. There was a group behind our 2:40 tee time and they were a half hole behind pace. We saw them finish out as well. With a tee time at 1:30, you shouldn't be overly pressed for daylight.

We didn't take 2 putts just allowed some longer than normal gimmies. I would say they putt a bit like greens which are 1 week post being aerated. So basically think of greens which are no longer sandy but are a bit shaggy and really bumpy.