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Richard Choi

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Richard Choi

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520 yards, Par 4 OR 590 yards, Par 5
« Reply #1 on: June 05, 2015, 01:53:23 AM »
Tiered Greens



Along with firm conditions and sideboards, tiered greens at Chambers Bay serve as triumvirate of course features designed to aid mid to high handicappers while challenging the very best players.

Tiered greens, greens with multi-level surfaces separated by ridges and elevation changes, make it easier for weekend hackers to hit the green due to their extra-large size. Putting, even from great distance, is much easier for hackers than trying to chip out of greenside rough or even worse, out of bunkers.

For pros, a tiered green is a plague. For them, the effective target area shrinks greatly as you must be on the same tier as the pin to have any reasonable chance at a birdie. With a firm green, this is doubly so as it may require hitting different tiers to end up in the desired tier. If you are unlucky and end up in a tier above the pin, two putts may not be enough to end up in the hole.

With the five-tiered green, #18 may have the most complex green at Chambers and it will provide a formidable challenge to the players. Everything you do on this hole must be viewed from the pin backwards. Plenty of players will find themselves in situations that they are unfamiliar with. Opportunity is there for a great dramatic finish to a major.

US Open Changes



This hole has gone through as much changes as any on Chambers Bay. The most obvious is the option of playing it as a par 4. There is enough teeing ground to make this hole play as a 450 yard to 550 yard par 4. I expect this hole to play at around 500 to 520 yards when it is playing as a par 4.

The waste area between the tee box and the fairway (F) has been lengthened to occupy the entire right side of the landing zone. This narrowed the fairway in the landing zone by at least a third. This makes what club to use (especially when playing as a par 5) a much more difficult decision as both sides of the landing zone is now lined with sand.

You also have to think hard about your layup shot as there is a very deep and wide coffin bunker (M) in the middle of the fairway about 150 yards from the green.

I am not a big fan of these changes as I believe they eliminate a lot of the risk/reward scenarios for this hole for regular golfers while not affecting pro players much. There has been some talk about getting rid of the coffin bunker after the Open, and I hope that is true.

Tee Shot – Par 5



What tee shot you hit here depends on whether or not you have a realistic shot at reaching the green in two. With the hole playing at around 600 yards, this is not going to be likely without a strong tailwind. If not going for it in two, it makes very little sense to challenge the narrow landing zone for a shorter layup shot. The smart play here is to hit a hybrid or an iron well short of the bunkers on the left (A &B) where the fairway is close to 100 yards wide. Another hybrid shot will put you within a lob/sand wedge from the green. I fail to see any logic in hitting a driver here if you cannot reach the green in two.

The main problem with hitting a driver is that two left bunkers come in to play (A & B). These are pretty nasty bunkers as they have a fairly steep face and balls usually roll through the bunker and end up just below the overhangs which may preclude you from hitting anything other than a wedge. These are not bunkers that you want to challenge.



It is even worse if you end up above (I) or between bunkers (D) as rough will be thick and heavy. The entire left half is to be avoided.

Hitting the bunker on the right (F) is easier as there is no face to deal with (unless your ball just rolls in to the bunker), and you should have a fairly level lie with a good view of the target area. However, there are various finger intrusions and islands that can complicate things very quickly. Missing further to the right is actually not terrible as there is a plateau above the sand (G) and vegetation here is thin (and will be trampled down by crowd). If you are going to miss, miss to the right.

Tee Shot – Par 4



Now, you don’t have a choice, you must hit a driver to have any hopes of reaching the green in two. The long hitters have a huge advantage here as they should be able to fly most of the trouble and land short (H) of the cross fairway bunker on the right (I). If you are Rory or Dustin, you just grip and rip it.

For shorter hitters, you have about a 25 yard wide target you need to hit (E), preferably with a little draw, and hope that you get by the gauntlet. If you end up in either bunker, you will have no hopes of hitting the green in regulation.



Lay Up

The layup shot here is all about the coffin bunker (M). Any ball that ends up there is an automatic bogey as it is impossible to reach the green from the bottom of this bunker.



If you are in one of the left bunkers (A or B or in the rough), the prudent decision is to layup short of the coffin bunker about 200 yards away (K). You can still hit a pitching wedge (or 9 iron) from just short of the bunker, there is really no reason to challenge the bunker if you do not have a good lie. The fairway is very wide here, you should take advantage of what the course gives you.

If you are in the right bunker (F), you have more options as the area to the right of the coffin bunker is very wide and accessible from this angle. As long as you stay short of the greenside bunker (O) on the right, any shot here (L) will leave you with a lob wedge approach. The right side is also tilted left, so any slight miss to the right should find its way back towards the middle of the green (but it should not roll all the way to the coffin bunker).



From the fairway, you need to think about where the pin is and what kind of approach shot you want to hit towards it. If the pin is in the left, going past the bunker towards the narrow neck short of the green is going to give you a big advantage on your next shot. The same goes for any kind of a back side pin. If the pin is in the front right, you may want to lay up just short of the greenside bunker where you can use the backstop to help you get the ball close to the pin.

Approach – Long Iron

Even if you hit a great drive, you will most likely end up with 200+ yards, uphill, to the green. With this much carry, one must be hyper-aware of how firm the green is and how your ball will interact with the green.



If the pin is in the right front (4), going for the pin is a foolish adventure. To stay within the front right tier, you would have to hit the green just so, past the front lip that will turbo-kick your ball to the back of the green, just short of the front ridge so that you hit it on the second bounce. If you do not pull this off, you will end up in the tier just above where you will pray that you can keep the ball on the green with your putt.

Any back pin is no gimme. You have to weight it so that it is enough to carry the back ridge up to the back tier, but without so much momentum that it will ride up the backstop and end up in the rough above the green (Q), from which you are looking at a bogey or worse.

For any front pin, your best bet is to bump and run up the left opening (N). Without a significant left to right fade, the ball will just stay to the left side of the green away from the middle (R), but you will have an uphill/level putt to the front pin positions which means going up and down is a reasonable proposition.



For middle and back pins, you must judge your carry precisely to land in the front tiers and ride the ridge up to the middle tier. Going directly for the back pin is just too risky. It is better to leave yourself a difficult putt than have an impossible downhill chip coming back.

If you ended up in the rough or a bunker, you have no choice here but to lay up (see above). You can try to ride up the left side, up the narrow neck to the green with a decent lie, but it will be very difficult.

It is imperative not to take too much risk going for the pin here. There are too many things that could go wrong. You must stay below the pin and there are not many ways to achieve this goal.

Approach – Wedge

If you ended up in the coffin bunker, the choice is simple, just get it out of the bunker.

If you have successfully negotiated around the coffin bunker, you must now test your wedge distance control. With a height and spin that a wedge generates, you should be able to access any pin position, especially front and middle. As long as you are precise, there is a pretty good chance that you will have a makeable putt. The main thing to avoid is going long. You can always recover from below the pin, you cannot say the same from above.



The back pin will be more difficult. As long as you hit the space between the front ridge and the back sideboards, your ball should stop. However, if you fly just little too far, the ball will hit the sideboard and ricochet back down the green, far away from the pin. This would still be preferable to flying too far and ending up in the rough above the back tier. It may be preferable to hit a low chip that will land in the middle tier and ride up to the back tier. If I was playing at US Open, 50 to 100 yard low running shot is something I would practice a lot.

Around the Green

If you made a major mistake and ended up in the rough above the green (Q), do not compound your mistake, just take your medicine and bail out to the right. Yes, your ball will probably roll down to the fairway, but at least you will have some options coming back. You don’t want to risk leaving it in the side or front bunkers.



If you are in the front bunker (O), as long as you have a good lie, all pin positions are available to you, albeit it will be completely blind. It is not the worst place to play out of to this green.

From the side bunker (P), you need to be realistic about how quickly you can stop your ball. You may be able to use the back ridge (or sideboard) to slow your ball down if the lie is not ideal. Trying to attack the pin below you may not be wise as you may have to hit another shot out of a bunker afterwards.



If you are playing from the neck just short of the green (N), you need to be creative about where you are trying to go. There are multiple options as all the movements within and around the green can be used for various purposes. During US Am, I saw a lot of players hit flop shots from here. It is not something I would recommend for normal players as the lie here is very tight, but with the skills that these guys have, that is definitely an option. Putting is also a very good option as distance control is very important and some pin positions are not really accessible to chip shots.

Putting



If you putting from a higher tier to the lower one, your number one priority is to leave the ball on the green. You should disregard where the pin is. This may require you to hit towards right edge or left edge of the green so that you can sling the ball back towards the middle from the side. Any direct putt down the ridge may not stop at all, no matter how delicate your touch is.

Conversely, going up the hill will take enormous effort as the ridges are steep and there is about 15 feet elevation change between back of the green to the front. There is a general right to left tilt that you must take into account. For back pins,  you may want to use the back sideboards to slow your putt down and bring it back towards the pin.



Almost every tier has severe back to front and right to left tilt. The right to left can be tricky to read some times, but most are pronounced. However, most uphill putts will be very straight and makeable (within the same tier).

There is a small knob in the middle between three tiers where all sides fall off (1). If USGA is feeling particularly evil, they will place the pin there. At that point, you should just hit and pray.


Richard Choi

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Epilogue
« Reply #2 on: June 05, 2015, 01:54:01 AM »
I want to address what Mike Davis said about Chambers Bay, specifically how only playing two practice rounds means you will have no chance of winning this event.

I respectfully disagree.

PGA tour players talk about how they like courses where “everything is in front of you”. I would posit that Chambers Bay is about as “everything is in front of you” as a course gets. Chambers Bay has almost no blind shots. From the tee, every area that you should avoid is blindingly obvious and in plain view. After a couple of careful practice rounds, one should be able to figure out how the ball bounces around the green. Chambers Bay is huge and bold, subtle is not an adjective used often to describe this course. It is not an intricate puzzle that takes months to assemble.

That does not mean that any PGA Tour player will be ready for this course after a couple of practice rounds. This is a 100% tee to green fescue course (just ignore that poa encroachment for this discussion). How balls bounce and react to this surface is something foreign to most domestic players. Add extra-firm surface and this might as well be a moonscape to most players. This is not something they are going to get a good feel for after a couple of rounds.

However, if you are a player with extensive experience playing on true links courses (or Bandon Dunes), a couple of practice rounds should be sufficient to get you ready for this tournament. I suspect Tiger and Phil feel pretty content about their knowledge of this course after their first visit. European Tour players (especially after RCD) should feel right at home.

There has also been some talk about how players who played well during Irish Open may have a leg up for US Open, and conversely, how Rory might be in trouble after failing to make the cut.

That would be true if wind blows as consistently they do overseas (or at Bandon) at Chamber Bay, but alas, wind will be a non-factor for US Open. I can probably count in one hand when I faced more than a half-club wind at Chambers Bay. The long range forecast is predicting sunny, warm, and calm days.

The low ball hitters who were able to navigate the howling wind at RCD will not have any advantage at Chambers Bay. In fact, high (and long) ball hitters will have huge advantage over the rest of the field since they will be able to minimize the bounces and aim closer to the pin. Above all else, this is an extremely long course, and the ability to hit it far is the number one desired trait at Chambers Bay. I suspect the player with the best long iron performance will be at the top of the leaderboard come Sunday.

P.S.

Wow.

I can’t believe I actually finished this thing. The 19 weeks went by much more quickly than I anticipated. I would like to thank everyone for their encouraging words and reading my rambling thoughts. I will be thrilled if my words increase your viewing pleasure in any way during US Open. It is a special privilege to host US Open at your home course. I hope you enjoy our little slice of heaven.
« Last Edit: June 05, 2015, 02:02:58 AM by Richard Choi »

Colin Macqueen

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Re: Photo Tour - Chambers Bay - US Open Edition - 18th Hole!!!
« Reply #3 on: June 05, 2015, 02:08:33 AM »
Bravo Richard, bravo!

A herculean effort which I suspect will be immensely appreciated by all and sundry.....particularly the contestants!

You've put this to bed so now you can have a well earned rest yourself!

Well done indeed,

Cheers Colin
"Golf, thou art a gentle sprite, I owe thee much"
The Hielander

Jim Nugent

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Re: Photo Tour - Chambers Bay - US Open Edition - 18th Hole!!!
« Reply #4 on: June 05, 2015, 05:52:38 AM »
Incredible guide to the course, Rich.  Anyone playing the Open this year should get hold of this and study it.  (Or maybe hire you as his caddy.) 

Care to make any predictions/guesses about winning score, cut, and who could win? 

Richard Choi

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Re: Photo Tour - Chambers Bay - US Open Edition - 18th Hole!!!
« Reply #5 on: June 05, 2015, 09:23:33 AM »
Thanks for your kind words.

I hesitate to make a guess on the score as it can be anything that Mike Davis wants. The weather has been very favorable and the course can play as firm as he wants.

Any long hitter with a hot putter has a chance, and that would include many familiar names.

Jon Cavalier

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Re: Photo Tour - Chambers Bay - US Open Edition - 18th Hole!!!
« Reply #6 on: June 05, 2015, 10:40:17 AM »
Richard:

Thanks for your efforts on this tour.  I have very much enjoyed following along -- outstanding work.


Chambers Basement (while I so hope that someone ends up in this bunker, I doubt that anyone will -- its so deep, some unsuspecting member of the public will eventually fall in and get hurt):


Couple shots of the 18th green at dusk (you can really see the contours of the putting surface in these shots):


Golf Photos via
Twitter: @linksgems
Instagram: @linksgems

Richard Choi

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Re: Photo Tour - Chambers Bay - US Open Edition - 18th Hole!!!
« Reply #7 on: June 05, 2015, 11:02:27 AM »
Jon, outstanding photos, thanks.

You can see the "evil plateau" clearly in the third photo above. It is just below the flag on the left side. It would be really, really nasty.

Matthew Petersen

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Re: Photo Tour - Chambers Bay - US Open Edition - 18th Hole!!!
« Reply #8 on: June 05, 2015, 05:48:59 PM »
Rich,

What a fabulous tour and resource for the championship. Bravo!

With respect to your comments about what Mike Davis has been saying, I quite agree. I think Tiger really made an excellent point that given how many options the course presents in terms of set-up, there's very little way to really prepare for what you'll see at this US Open. These guys are really good. They can spend a few days and get a sense of how the greens are rolling, how the ground is holding various shots, and everything from there really depends on the setup (and not just the big obvious things like whether 18 is a paper 4 or 5, but just day to day pin placements on these huge and varied greens, as you've so well discussed in these threads).

Brent Carlson

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Re: Photo Tour - Chambers Bay - US Open Edition - 18th Hole!!!
« Reply #9 on: June 05, 2015, 07:17:38 PM »
Rich,

I have to agree with you on the changes.  This was a hole I anticipated greatly before.  It was a chance at birdie but instead ended mostly in three putts.  Now the drive is very difficult.  I thought the hole had enough defense with challenging lies and a hard green.

BCowan

Re: Photo Tour - Chambers Bay - US Open Edition - 18th Hole!!!
« Reply #10 on: June 05, 2015, 11:20:38 PM »
Great job Richard!

   You said that low ball hitters would seem to have a disadvantage.  Is that because of knobs short of the green?  Inconsistent bounces coming in?  I don't have much of any links experience, can you elaborate?  I am excited for this US Open, as I very much enjoyed last years too. 

Bill_Yates

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Re: Photo Tour - Chambers Bay - US Open Edition - 18th Hole!!!
« Reply #11 on: June 05, 2015, 11:56:28 PM »
Richard,
Great work pulling this all together for us. Well done!

I agree with your assessment of the difficulty of the muscularly tiered 18th green at Chambers Bay. If the USGA really wants to separate the wheat from the chaff, they will look at your tiered green photo and place the Sunday hole location on the plateau right where the tip of the flagstick is pointing.

This reminds me of a similar location on Oakmont's 18th green.  Ouch!
Bill Yates
www.pacemanager.com 
"When you manage the pace of play, you manage the quality of golf."

Richard Choi

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Photo Tour - Chambers Bay - US Open Edition - 18th Hole!!!
« Reply #12 on: June 06, 2015, 01:26:21 AM »
You said that low ball hitters would seem to have a disadvantage.  Is that because of knobs short of the green?  Inconsistent bounces coming in?  I don't have much of any links experience, can you elaborate?  I am excited for this US Open, as I very much enjoyed last years too. 

It is not necessarily that low ball hitters have disadvantage, but that they do not have any advantage.

At RCD, with winds howling, hitting low gave you much more controlled trajectory and outcome. Without the same wind at Chambers Bay, the high hitters will fare just as well, and they will be hitting longer.

Steve Lang

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Re: Photo Tour - Chambers Bay - US Open Edition - 18th Hole!!!
« Reply #13 on: June 06, 2015, 12:33:54 PM »
 8) Congrats Richard, You MADE IT through all 18!!  This thread is certainly a benchmark for frank discussion of the golf course architecture at CB or anywhere.  This thread is especially valuable as CB is open to the public.  I'm reminded of some of the multiple readings i did in preparation for playing TOC, and I was able to discuss things with the caddies in my group and play pretty well as a result.

On 18 I remember taking too much club on my approach and ending up in the stuff behind it, short sided to a back pin and lamenting it taking 3 shots to go 500 yards and three shots for that last 5 or so..   

So, well done, kudos and all was great.  Enjoy the Open!
Inverness (Toledo, OH) cathedral clock inscription: "God measures men by what they are. Not what they in wealth possess.  That vibrant message chimes afar.
The voice of Inverness"

RJ_Daley

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Re: Photo Tour - Chambers Bay - US Open Edition - 18th Hole!!!
« Reply #14 on: June 06, 2015, 11:09:03 PM »
Ditto.  This series was magnificent.  I haven't commented much, but will now book mark this last entry with all the convenient links to the entire series of posts.  The USGA should link their website to this opus of Richard's.  That would do a great deal for advancing the enjoyment and understanding of this year's open.  Thank you Richard...  8) ;D
No actual golf rounds were ruined or delayed, nor golf rules broken, in the taking of any photographs that may be displayed by the above forum user.

Buck Wolter

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Re: Photo Tour - Chambers Bay - US Open Edition - 18th Hole!!!
« Reply #15 on: June 14, 2015, 02:22:42 PM »
Bump -this thread needs to be easy to find for the next week
Those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience -- CS Lewis

Buck Wolter

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Those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience -- CS Lewis

Richard Choi

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Re: Photo Tour - Chambers Bay - US Open Edition - 18th Hole!!!
« Reply #17 on: June 16, 2015, 12:52:38 PM »
I marshaled on this hole all day, and I gained some additional insights.


With wind from behind, most of the players were able to reach the green in two, even from the back tee playing at 604 yards. Most of the misses ended up in the first left bunker, from which, everyone laid up. My advice of laying up may not be applicable unless there is a head wind.


From the par 4 tees, players were bombing over the second bunker. That was pretty impressive. This leaves them nothing but a mid-iron to the green.


Only about 1 in 4 or 5 missed fairways. This is a second shot course, and the current setup is definitely encouraging it.


I expected a fairway wood shot to the green that lands in the middle of the green to run through the green, but they were stopping yesterday. This makes this hole very open to eagles and birdies. This may end up being one of the easiest hole on the course.

Matthew Petersen

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Re: Photo Tour - Chambers Bay - US Open Edition - 18th Hole!!!
« Reply #18 on: June 16, 2015, 04:23:49 PM »
These guys are good.


Then again, it's always easier on Monday.

Jason Topp

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Re: Photo Tour - Chambers Bay - US Open Edition - 18th Hole!!!
« Reply #19 on: June 16, 2015, 06:29:13 PM »
Thank you Richard for this incredible contribution to the site.  I will be referring to your commentary throughout the tournament.  It would be interesting to find out afterwards what surprised you about the way the course played or how it was set up.

Richard Choi

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Re: Photo Tour - Chambers Bay - US Open Edition - 18th Hole!!!
« Reply #20 on: June 19, 2015, 01:42:50 PM »
Jordan just called this hole "dumbest hole I ever played in my life" after duffing the shot out of a bunker.


I hate the changes to the driving zone too! :)

Paul Richards

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Re: Photo Tour - Chambers Bay - US Open Edition - 18th Hole!!!
« Reply #21 on: June 19, 2015, 01:48:50 PM »
Great photos. Thanks for sharing.
"Something has to change, otherwise the never-ending arms race that benefits only a few manufacturers will continue to lead to longer courses, narrower fairways, smaller greens, more rough, more expensive rounds, and other mechanisms that will leave golf's future in doubt." -  TFOG

Brent Carlson

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Re: Photo Tour - Chambers Bay - US Open Edition - 18th Hole!!!
« Reply #22 on: June 19, 2015, 01:54:06 PM »
Jordan just called this hole "dumbest hole I ever played in my life" after duffing the shot out of a bunker.


I hate the changes to the driving zone too! :)


Yes, the 18th hole was fine before.  The green provides plenty of challenge.

Pete_Pittock

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Re: Photo Tour - Chambers Bay - US Open Edition - 18th Hole!!!
« Reply #23 on: June 19, 2015, 11:41:33 PM »
Brent,
For a second I thought you were quoting Jordan Wall,

Is there a consensus about being a par 4 or a par 5 on Sunday? 

Brent Carlson

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Re: Photo Tour - Chambers Bay - US Open Edition - 18th Hole!!!
« Reply #24 on: June 20, 2015, 12:19:52 AM »
Brent,
For a second I thought you were quoting Jordan Wall,

Is there a consensus about being a par 4 or a par 5 on Sunday?


Pete,


I heard that comment by Spieth as well.  To me it was unclear whether he was referring to the hole's design or his uncharacteristically poor play on the hole.
« Last Edit: June 20, 2015, 12:29:55 AM by Brent Carlson »

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