Published: Thursday, May 10, 2007
'A symphony of 18 holes'
The $20 million Chambers Bay Golf Course that opens next month in Tacoma is both aesthetically pleasing and physically challenging.
UNIVERSITY PLACE - Rarely, if ever, will we recommend paying $150 for a round of golf, particularly here in the state of Washington. Why, given the region's many fine and certainly more affordable courses?
But if you're inclined, on occasion, to dole out that kind of dough for a memorable 18 holes, then plan a visit to the new Chambers Bay Golf Course outside Tacoma.
Chambers Bay, which is scheduled to open for public play on June 23, is grand in every sense of the word. That description includes the fee, of course, but the golf itself is no less exceptional. From the creative layout by famed designer Robert Trent Jones, Jr., to a seaside links experience reminiscent of the British Isles, to the panoramic vistas of nearby Puget Sound, Chambers Bay is rewarding in many ways.
In Washington, there is really nothing quite like it.
"It's been a journey, but a good one," said Pierce County executive John Ladenburg, who led the push to turn 230 acres of county-owned property on the site of a former gravel and mining operation into a world-class golf venue.
From the outset, Ladenburg wanted everyone to have an expansive vision for Chambers Bay. He took a big step in that direction by hiring Jones, who has an international reputation, for the architectural work. Even then, Ladenburg made sure the design team understood his expectations.
"At the original meeting," Ladenburg said, recalling his talks with Jones and his staff, "I told these guys to design this as if opening day was the U.S. Open.
"One of the things I tried to instill from the beginning," he went on, "is that there's no reason we can't be world class. We needed to think of ourselves as world class ... and we wanted to challenge the team to build a best-of-the-best course.
"I had very, very high hopes, and my hopes have been exceeded. This is even better than I thought it could be," Ladenburg said.
If the finished product at Chambers Bay is remarkable, so was the effort to bring it to completion. The project involved removing 1.4 million cubic yards of sand in dump trucks, cleansing the sand off site in a filtering process, returning the sand to the property, and then using bulldozers to sculpt the terrain to match Jones' design.
It was tedious and it was costly. The final price tag at Chambers Bay is upwards of $20 million, which helps explain the high price for a green fee. By contrast, the White Horse Golf Club outside of Kingston, which is also opening this year, came in under $5 million.
Still, the results are stunning. With a smile, Ladenburg recalled how he took a guest around Chambers Bay not long ago. The young man, a golfer, took note of the many sand dunes and marveled at how well they complemented the golf course.
"I told him, 'None of those dunes was here before,'" Ladenburg said. The construction company, he added, "made it look like those sand dunes had been there for a thousand years."
Sand, in fact, is everywhere at Chambers Bay. And if you play the golf course, chances are you will see that sand up close. There is just one tree at Chambers Bay - a lone pine, located beside the 15th green - and no underbrush, so anything off the fairway at Chambers Bay is essentially a bunker shot, though technically they are considered waste areas. Several are vast, and a few unlucky golfers may need multiple shots to get back to grass.
Along with sand, the other distinguishing natural element at Chambers Bay is wind. Again, there are no trees to shelter the golf course, and the wind off Puget Sound can be anything from a gentle cooling breeze to mighty gusts.
The ninth hole is a par-3 from an elevated tee - the highest point on the golf course - to a green more than 100 feet below, and golfers will be hitting straight at the water and usually straight into the wind. Play the course five times and you might use five different clubs on that tee, depending on the wind.
"The biggest thing people will notice out here will be the wind," acknowledged Tony Tipton, the Chambers Bay project manager. "Sometimes you'll be hitting into a very stiff breeze and sometimes you'll be able to play with a very stiff breeze. So the challenge will be immense, deciding which club to hit and where to aim."
Ladenburg remembers chatting with Jones in the project's early days, and the latter wondered if there would be enough wind to give Chambers Bay a genuine links feeling. Ladenburg, with a straight face, gave Jones a quick history lesson. The original Narrows Bridge, located about 2 miles to the north, blew down years before in a powerful wind storm, he pointed out.
"Well, then there ought to be enough wind," Jones conceded.
Other things to know about Chambers Bay. First, this is a walking golf course. That's right, no golf carts, with the exception of up to three per day for golfers with doctor-confirmed medical conditions, and then the carts must be driven by a caddy. Pull-carts are permissible, but Joe Wisocki, the Chambers Bay general manager, also expects to have 200 caddies available by the June opening. They can be hired for $35 per bag, plus gratuity.
The decision to make Chambers Bay a walking course came early in the project, and was instrumental in certain design decisions as well as the choice of links-like fescue grasses, which are not compatible with considerable cart traffic.
"The golf course you see today would not exist as it is if it were a cart golf course," said Jay Blasi, a project architect with the Jones company. There are, he went on, topographical design features - for instance, a few narrow, canyon-like holes between dunes "that we were only able to create because of the walking-only nature. Those situations could not exist with golf carts and golf cart paths."
Be prepared, then, for a workout at Chambers Bay. Golfers will walk a good distance and endure significant elevation changes in places, not to mention pretty good treks between some holes.
And for those players brash enough - or foolish enough - to play from the championship tees, this golf course can be outright punishing. The par-4 seventh hole, for example, is a dog-leg right, all uphill to the green. At 449 yards, it is menacing enough from the white tees (or sand tees, using the Chambers Bay color scheme), but from the tips it is downright wicked at 508 yards.
Guests should easily remember No. 7, but other holes will stand out as well. Each one is distinct in its own way, and that was an important part of the architectural process, said Bruce Charlton, president and chief design officer of the Jones company.
"We think a golf course is kind of a symphony of 18 holes," he said. "There's ebb and flow, there's rhythm up and rhythm down. So we do not have a signature hole. We have a signature golf course that we're extremely proud of."
Someday, Pierce County officials hope Chambers Bay might be chosen to host a major golf championship. Among other criteria, organizations like the United States Golf Association are looking for "a challenging golf course that can challenge the best in the world," Tipton said. "And we believe we've got that."
But if you're inclined, on occasion, to dole out that kind of dough for a memorable 18 holes, then plan a visit to the new Chambers Bay Golf Course outside Tacoma.
Chambers Bay, which is scheduled to open for public play on June 23, is grand in every sense of the word. That description includes the fee, of course, but the golf itself is no less exceptional. From the creative layout by famed designer Robert Trent Jones, Jr., to a seaside links experience reminiscent of the British Isles, to the panoramic vistas of nearby Puget Sound, Chambers Bay is rewarding in many ways.
In Washington, there is really nothing quite like it.
"It's been a journey, but a good one," said Pierce County executive John Ladenburg, who led the push to turn 230 acres of county-owned property on the site of a former gravel and mining operation into a world-class golf venue.
From the outset, Ladenburg wanted everyone to have an expansive vision for Chambers Bay. He took a big step in that direction by hiring Jones, who has an international reputation, for the architectural work. Even then, Ladenburg made sure the design team understood his expectations.
"At the original meeting," Ladenburg said, recalling his talks with Jones and his staff, "I told these guys to design this as if opening day was the U.S. Open.
"One of the things I tried to instill from the beginning," he went on, "is that there's no reason we can't be world class. We needed to think of ourselves as world class ... and we wanted to challenge the team to build a best-of-the-best course.
"I had very, very high hopes, and my hopes have been exceeded. This is even better than I thought it could be," Ladenburg said.
If the finished product at Chambers Bay is remarkable, so was the effort to bring it to completion. The project involved removing 1.4 million cubic yards of sand in dump trucks, cleansing the sand off site in a filtering process, returning the sand to the property, and then using bulldozers to sculpt the terrain to match Jones' design.
It was tedious and it was costly. The final price tag at Chambers Bay is upwards of $20 million, which helps explain the high price for a green fee. By contrast, the White Horse Golf Club outside of Kingston, which is also opening this year, came in under $5 million.
Still, the results are stunning. With a smile, Ladenburg recalled how he took a guest around Chambers Bay not long ago. The young man, a golfer, took note of the many sand dunes and marveled at how well they complemented the golf course.
"I told him, 'None of those dunes was here before,'" Ladenburg said. The construction company, he added, "made it look like those sand dunes had been there for a thousand years."
Sand, in fact, is everywhere at Chambers Bay. And if you play the golf course, chances are you will see that sand up close. There is just one tree at Chambers Bay - a lone pine, located beside the 15th green - and no underbrush, so anything off the fairway at Chambers Bay is essentially a bunker shot, though technically they are considered waste areas. Several are vast, and a few unlucky golfers may need multiple shots to get back to grass.
Along with sand, the other distinguishing natural element at Chambers Bay is wind. Again, there are no trees to shelter the golf course, and the wind off Puget Sound can be anything from a gentle cooling breeze to mighty gusts.
The ninth hole is a par-3 from an elevated tee - the highest point on the golf course - to a green more than 100 feet below, and golfers will be hitting straight at the water and usually straight into the wind. Play the course five times and you might use five different clubs on that tee, depending on the wind.
"The biggest thing people will notice out here will be the wind," acknowledged Tony Tipton, the Chambers Bay project manager. "Sometimes you'll be hitting into a very stiff breeze and sometimes you'll be able to play with a very stiff breeze. So the challenge will be immense, deciding which club to hit and where to aim."
Ladenburg remembers chatting with Jones in the project's early days, and the latter wondered if there would be enough wind to give Chambers Bay a genuine links feeling. Ladenburg, with a straight face, gave Jones a quick history lesson. The original Narrows Bridge, located about 2 miles to the north, blew down years before in a powerful wind storm, he pointed out.
"Well, then there ought to be enough wind," Jones conceded.
Other things to know about Chambers Bay. First, this is a walking golf course. That's right, no golf carts, with the exception of up to three per day for golfers with doctor-confirmed medical conditions, and then the carts must be driven by a caddy. Pull-carts are permissible, but Joe Wisocki, the Chambers Bay general manager, also expects to have 200 caddies available by the June opening. They can be hired for $35 per bag, plus gratuity.
The decision to make Chambers Bay a walking course came early in the project, and was instrumental in certain design decisions as well as the choice of links-like fescue grasses, which are not compatible with considerable cart traffic.
"The golf course you see today would not exist as it is if it were a cart golf course," said Jay Blasi, a project architect with the Jones company. There are, he went on, topographical design features - for instance, a few narrow, canyon-like holes between dunes "that we were only able to create because of the walking-only nature. Those situations could not exist with golf carts and golf cart paths."
Be prepared, then, for a workout at Chambers Bay. Golfers will walk a good distance and endure significant elevation changes in places, not to mention pretty good treks between some holes.
And for those players brash enough - or foolish enough - to play from the championship tees, this golf course can be outright punishing. The par-4 seventh hole, for example, is a dog-leg right, all uphill to the green. At 449 yards, it is menacing enough from the white tees (or sand tees, using the Chambers Bay color scheme), but from the tips it is downright wicked at 508 yards.
Guests should easily remember No. 7, but other holes will stand out as well. Each one is distinct in its own way, and that was an important part of the architectural process, said Bruce Charlton, president and chief design officer of the Jones company.
"We think a golf course is kind of a symphony of 18 holes," he said. "There's ebb and flow, there's rhythm up and rhythm down. So we do not have a signature hole. We have a signature golf course that we're extremely proud of."
Someday, Pierce County officials hope Chambers Bay might be chosen to host a major golf championship. Among other criteria, organizations like the United States Golf Association are looking for "a challenging golf course that can challenge the best in the world," Tipton said. "And we believe we've got that."
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