Nestled on the shores of Washington’s Puget Sound, Chambers
Bay Golf Course’s dramatic sand dunes, massive and undulat-
ing fairways, breathtaking views from Sound to snow-capped
mountain, authentic links experience, and its championship
pedigree have already left an indelible mark on golf.
Now Chambers Bay — which rests less than an hour south of
Seattle in University Place — has undergone a rebirth.
“Putting greens are to golf courses what faces are to portraits,”
said legendary golf-course architect C.B. Macdonald. It’s a
message that Chambers Bay has embraced with a recent reno-
vation of all 18 of its fine fescue putting surfaces with a hearty
strain of Poa annua.
Reopened in Spring 2019, the renovation has received
overwhelmingly positive reviews, unveiling greens that will offer
superior playability and consistency for generations to come.
Firmly established as an architectural gem from the begin-
ning, Chambers Bay had already achieved so much in its rela-
tively short history. Here, players of every ability literally follow
in the footsteps of the world’s best on this walking-only, 18-hole
championship course.
Just eight months after Chambers Bay opened in 2007, the
United States Golf Association did the unthinkable by select-
ing a municipal course tucked away in the country’s Northwest
corner to host the 2010 U.S. Amateur and 2015 U.S. Open
Championships. No course built in the previous 45 years had
ever been deemed worthy of holding our national champion-
CHAMBERS BAY
ship, let alone a brand-new one.
Chambers Bay’s first real test came during the 2010 U.S.
Amateur, and it passed with flying colors. But the course that
was designed with the U.S. Open in mind would soon bring
modern links golf to the world’s stage.
Chambers Bay helped make an unforgettable 2015 U.S. Open
Championship that peaked with a white-knuckle finish. The 2015
Open was marked by its many firsts. It was the first U.S. Open in
the championship’s 115-year history to be played in the Pacific
Northwest, and the first new course to be added to the Open
rotation since 1970. And because Chambers Bay’s diverse tee
placements could extend a hole’s length by 100 yards or greater,
the 2015 Open saw, for the first time in tournament history, a
hole played as a par 4 one day, and a par 5 the next.
No doubt that Chambers Bay is ready to once again change
the face of championship golf in the Pacific Northwest. The
USGA returns to Chambers Bay for the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball
Championship in 2021.
For Chambers Bay, it’s the first chance to show off its new
greens to the world. But as a municipal golf course course
open to the public, golfers of every level have the opportunity
to experience Chambers Bay for themselves long before then.
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Reopened in Spring 2019, the
renovation has received over-
whelmingly positive reviews.
