Why this PNW Muni was my favorite course to play in 2025

I was lucky enough to play many new-to-me courses in 2025, but my venture into it Chambers Baythe darling of the Pacific Northwest and home of the 2015 US Open, was easily my favorite for one simple reason:

I didn’t know what to expect, and it completely exceeded any expectations I ended up having.

you see three factors had shaped my image of Chambers Bay: 1) That 2015 US Open won by Jordan Spieth, where pros and fans alike complained about lumpy greens, a weird set-up with a variable par and a sketchy Dustin Johnson 3-putt to cap it off. 2) My dad’s experience with the course and he told me he didn’t like it … hard way to start for ole muni. 3) Final praise of course (endorsed by GOLF’s own Seattleite Dylan Dethier), which had its greens renewed and has since hosted the 2022 US Women’s Amateur.

But, it’s golf, and when I scheduled a trip to Bend, Oregon and then Seattle last November, I knew I had to get down to University Place and check out the course for myself.

My initial attempt to book an appointment at Chambers a month before my visit was fruitless. I wasn’t sure what kind of demand it would have in late fall in the Pacific Northwest where the weather could have been anything but there was no tee time available for a single.

Fortunately, the course allows you to put your name on a waiting list for a spot, and not two hours after I put my name on it, I got a message that a single spot was available at 10:36 on the day I wanted to play. Just enough time for an hour drive from Seattle and back in time for a dance class at the Chihuly Garden and Glass museum with my fiancee that evening.

Lo and behold, I would be joined by a father and two sons from the Pittsburgh area, making our group a full Keystone State Quartet.

As it turned out, we got incredibly lucky with the day we chose to play. I had just come from three days in Bend, where I experienced possibly the worst three-day weather I’ve ever seen there (and I lived there for two years. We had rain and wind every day in a place known for 300 days of sunshine a year.)

The weather in Seattle and Tacoma is probably much more unpredictable, so when I saw a 40 percent chance of rain for the day of my time at Chambers, I prepared for the worst.

But by the time I arrived at the golf course, the clouds were staying out and the sun was beating down on the course, the site of an old sand quarry along Puget Sound and the centerpiece of a 930-acre park. Temperatures were in the mid-50s, and I just had to decide if it was too warm for my outer layer or not.

There is a small process when you check in to play in Chambers. The parking lot and clubhouse are located on the course with an incredible view of the property and after checking in, you’ll walk onto the first driving range, complete with a brand new halfway house.

After hitting a few balls on the range, I decided to tee off on the blue tees to 6,748 yards – one step short of the tops. The actual length of the course is over 7,800 yards, but a staff member at the pro shop told me you have to “have played in a US Open” to get back there.

The first hole sets you up for the day, a downhill fairway with a massive dune to the right, a massive rolling fairway that drops to the 18th fairway below and an elevated green. At times, this hole has played as a par-5, but I had to start my round with a tough par-4, almost 500 yards.

Here I hit my three best shots of the day so far. A pared drive down the middle and then a flush 7-iron to about 18 feet that I converted into an open birdie. I thought, was the US Open really here?

From what the golfer and other staff members told me, all the changes to the course since the US Open have made the links-style course easier to play. But given the course design with its uneven lies, large bunkers and massive sloping greens, there were still places where you could make big numbers.

For me, the course is designed to have a good time and play a fun and exciting round. That means there were a lot of birdies and bogeys on my card.

Sometimes you’d look at a tee shot and wonder how far the corner of the fairway or a bunker was, only to find it was much farther or shorter than it looked. The height change really played with my depth perception.

Throughout the loop, you’re going up and down and across the sprawling property, which has about 200 feet of elevation change as you pass between the shore of Puget Sound and Grandview Drive that overlooks it.

There are some holes where you have a lot of room to play off the tee, and then there are others like no. 5, no. 8 and no. 10, where you seemingly have to pass a needle between bunkers or a massive drop.

It sure looks like you need to stick a needle in no. 12, a short, uphill, driveable par-4 where a long skinny green sits between two massive mounds. I thought I lost it completely when I jammed my mini driver from the 250 on what looked like the wrong side of the right side mounds. But when I got up to the green, I was shocked to see my ball down the green with just an easy uphill shot left for eagle.

Was this fate or my plan all along? We’ll never know! (Yes, yes!)

The 12th is the last climb up before the dramatic finish of the long descent of the 14th and stretches 15-17 marked along the BNSF Railroad tracks and the Puget Sound coast.

This was again something I did not expect. I love trains and I think railroad tracks next to a golf course instantly make it better. Check out all the great courses in Scotland that have a railway nearby, especially along the Ayrshire coast with places like Troon, Prestwick, Western Gails and more on either side of the tracks.

The freight train line runs right along 15-17 at Chambers – the 16th is even called “The Derailment” – but I must have had 15-20 trains go by in the five hours of my round (yes, it’s a big course with big greens and big rocks and it’s a muni, it took a while to play!).

I wanted to make sure I could get a picture of the lone fir tree behind the 15th green, the only tree on the property, with the train running behind it. Right on the mark, as we walked to the 15th, a nice little point par 3 shot with water behind it, the train immediately rolled.

With an early birdie at 13 I had got myself back to even par but bogeys at 15, 17 and 18 sunk me to a disappointing 75 but that was about the only thing I could be disappointed about.

I took the moment, got the perfect weather day and enjoyed it one of America’s largest public golf courses. In terms of days playing a single away from home, it was hard to top.

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