Chambers Bay (Tacoma, Olympia, Pacific: home, buy, income)

[NCDavid]

Watching golf balls skitter across greens like the greens are covered with astroturf, and seeing balls carom around like cue balls with super backspin, makes it look like they're playing on a putt-putt course. It might be a true test, but I'm not sure of what it's a true test.

[HuskyDawg]

The USGA has been on site for several years. It's the conditions they wanted. If you don't like it, don't watch.

[carroll4628]

I was surprised by the number of train cars running along the course while the guys are putting on the green. I don't think I've ever seen trains at another major, but I don't watch too many.

[NCDavid]

Originally Posted by HuskyDawg

The USGA has been on site for several years. It's the conditions they wanted. If you don't like it, don't watch.

And if you don't like my opinion, don't read it.

[NCDavid]

Internet is filled with gripes from players about Chambers Bay. Even Gary Player weighed in, calling it the 'worst golf course I might've ever seen.'
Worse is the continuing poor coverage by Fox Sports. At one point today they had split-screen coverage, showing Jason Day walking down a set of stairs on one-half the screen. Why? Were they hoping they'd see him fall? Or did they really think walking down stairs had something to do with golf? They spend more time showing recorded shots than live ones. Good thing Fox didn't win the rights to air all tournaments.

[HuskyDawg]

Originally Posted by NCDavid

And if you don't like my opinion, don't read it.

Uhhhhh. Ok I will do my best to not read your opinion. Have fun continuing to watch the worst course ever.

[kanhawk]

Originally Posted by DP79

It makes the Pacific Northwest look like a landfill with pine trees. Not the most flattering angle. The huge cloud of black smoke doesn't help either.

my thoughts too. I have no desire to play that awful looking course. If I want a bleak scottish highland course I'll go to Scotland. Not appealing in the least.

[Wheatridger]

I watched more of this than all the golf I've watched in my life. The course was just so bizarre, like a supersized skateboard park. I enjoyed watching "The Best" making the same ineffective putts that I make at mini-golf, too. But I was really watching for the background scenery, which was unique and spectacular. I'm just become familiar with Tacoma, as my daughter is entering the University of Puget Sound in the fall. I enjoyed this event as a chance to feel closer to this faraway place.

[jm31828]

Originally Posted by ilovemycat

I agree that it looks gorgeous and am happy for the local folk whose experience won't be ruined by a horde of folk hopping on the next plane to go there and golf.

But to say that it's good if the viewers think it's crap - well, that is ridiculous. These past 3 days have really been torture. I love watching golf on TV- well, at least major championships, but this experience has taken all the pleasure out of what should have been an incredible tournament. Everything was set up for a great golf - new, and very interesting and challenging venue, incredible setting, all the players you would want to follow etc. etc.

But, Fox and something about the greens have made it terrible. Hours go by and they just show a few players. Mickelson disappears for hours- then they show one shot. They keep the same graphic up all day, with the top five scorers, and sometimes that just goes to 3 - the original boring graphic about players who haven't even started their round. . They put the graphic with the hole, the shot, the player up for a few seconds and then take it away. If you are not watching religiously, you have no idea what hole they person is on, what shot it is, sometimes who is this person!

Every single putt- they keep blaming the players, when obviously it is something about the greens that is making them miss, and miss big - the ball rolls way past the hole, time and time again. Shots onto the greens roll and roll and wind up in a bunker- which seemed like it was 60' away from where the ball landed. They didn't hit a bunker shot- they hit a good shot and the course made it an unplayable shot. Same with the putts- they are not hitting putts that are bad - they are just turning out bad.

So, please, don't say it's good if the viewers think it is crap. Golf is dying as it is- they need viewers and we deserve better.

I don't get why they didn't water the he** out of that course in the days/weeks leading up to the tournament so it would actually look presentable on TV like any other golf course I've ever seen on TV. To have a major tournament on a course that looks like one where the owners were too cheap to water it, saying "eh, this will have to do" was just ridiculous. Yes we know our cool weather grass in this area goes brown in the dry/warm summer months if left as is... but the thing is, if you water your yard it stays green in the summer- it just doesn't seem that it HAD to look like crap at a time when the whole golf world's eyes were on this course.

[DevanXL]

People are complaining about the coverage by fox but viewership is up significantly from last year. If you are a true golf enthusiast then yes that commentating was horrible, but for the golf novice or average fan it added entertainment value the you had never seen before to a golf major. Lets face the facts, chambers bay was not chosen because it's an amazing course. It was chosen because it provides a Beautiful backdrop for TV coverage, and the course was difficult enough to make it competitive and add drama. I had never seen anyone talk about a golf course so much until this week. This is what golf wants. We are preparing for the post Tiger Woods era. No matter how good Jordan Speith is, he will never be as popular and polarizing as Tiger Woods was. Golf used this year as a test run on how golf can grow it's popularity and viewership to the average sports consumer. From a numbers standpoint, Fox and the PGA succeeded. Chambers Bay was exactly what it was meant to be, Perfectly Un-Perfect.