2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay Discussion Thread

[nevets88]

So all the hubbub w/Fox taking over, ratings were better than last year's, but last year's ratings were pretty much the lowest ever. Fox beat all the other networks Sunday, but this USO's ratings were no better than any of the previous West Coast USOs overall. Total streamed minutes up ~20%. With all the talk about the actual telecast, the bottom line of the business, how many watched, not good.

http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2015/6/22/us-open-ratings-up-from-14-plunge-vs-west-coast-opens.html

Last I checked CB green fees, it was $229. It's $299 now. I missed when the increased happened. Anyone know? Even for residents, it's over $200. I remember when resident rates were well under $100. This is the most expensive compared to all the other USO public venues besides PB. I still love the layout, but that's quite the markup.

If Bandon Dunes gets the USO, which is not likely according to general opinion, but if it does, I don't want to think about what that would do to its green fees.

[jsgolfer]

$299 to play Chambers Bay, good luck with that.  That course with the conditions I saw on TV wouldn't warrant $20 to play, US Open or not.

[ChrisP]

So all the hubbub w/Fox taking over, ratings were better than last year's, but last year's ratings were pretty much the lowest ever. Fox beat all the other networks Sunday, but this USO's ratings were no better than any of the previous West Coast USOs overall. Total streamed minutes up ~20%. With all the talk about the actual telecast, the bottom line of the business, how many watched, not good.

This goes back to what I said a couple weeks ago....ratings are going to be down leaving ESPN. The marketing for the Championship took a huge hit and nobody even knows where FoxSports 1 is on their TVs. Say what you will about ESPN, but people watch it and they market the heck out of what they cover. My buddy actually didn't even know the US Open was going on until Saturday. Where I work, ESPN is on in every office. Of course, we got a bunch of Navy guys here that love sports. If there were more women, it'd be the HSN or CNN.

I also think Tiger and Phil and even Rory now still move the needle and they were nowhere to be found on the weekend except a little bit of Rory late Sunday. I think The Open ratings will be good with Spieth going for the Grand Slam and ESPN covering it. You watch....they are going to market this Grand Slam thing to death come July. And to Jordan's credit, he deserves the pub.

[saevel25]

$299 to play Chambers Bay, good luck with that.  That course with the conditions I saw on TV wouldn't warrant $20 to play, US Open or not.

You wouldn't be playing a course that looked remotely like that. See image below.

Looks like a really stunning good golf course. Look how green the fescue grass is. US Open can't have make it look like this or the course would play way too soft and easy for the players.

You might want to realize that the US Open set up is an outlier on how the golf course would look compared to the 99.999% of the time people normally play it. Even when you see them at a more traditional Country Club course the fairways and greens still get brown in some spots because they dry it out. The rough is the only thing that makes it look green.

[Golfingdad]

You wouldn't be playing a course that looked remotely like that. See image below.

Yup.  And, you wouldn't be playing a course even remotely as difficult as that either.  (Note that "difficult" is relative seeing as how this was one of the easiest US Opens in recent years, score wise)

Scores from the latest GC AM Tour event fall right in line with the scores at most events I play.  The top scores of my flight (8-12 handicap, play tees near 6500 yards) were 75,76,79,79,80.

[nevets88]

Fox Makes Its Debut at the Open, and at Times It Seems Like an Amateur [NYT]

Quote:

■ The wildly inconsistent use of graphics to show putting lengths was consistently maddening. So was the constant five-man leaderboard in the bottom right of the screen that was so inflexible that it excluded golfers who were tied from the bottom slot, as when Adam Scott, Brandt Snedeker and Rory McIlroy were at one under on Sunday but only McIlroy was listed. There was also a lack of consistency in how quickly graphics updated to reflect a change in the score. Viewers have come to expect such fundamental information delivered quickly.

■ The use of tracer technology to chart the flight of a tee shot was interesting, but it appeared to serve as a surrogate for Fox’s cameras trying to locate the ball in the air. Too often, the network stuck with the tracer lines too long, depriving viewers of seeing the ball flying and bouncing to its destination. Sometimes, tracers notwithstanding, the cameras could not find the balls at all.

Yes, mini leaderboard annoyed me as did the where did the ball go camera work.

Quote:

Even as Johnson foundered in the final round, Norman did not bring up his epic collapse at the 1996 Masters to provide perspective.

I dunno, I'll give Norman a pass on that.

Quote:

Whatever Fox promised the United States Golf Association about how it would change the way the U.S. Open is televised and marketed may have to wait. Its innovations — from shading the greens to show Chambers Bay’s undulations to embedding microphones in holes — felt hollow with the basics not yet mastered.

Fox didn't get the fundamentals down. After that, then you worry about the nice to haves. Microphone in cup was annoying.

Quote:

Miller predicted in 2013 that Fox would have, at best, growing pains. After hearing that Fox had outbid NBC, Miller said, “You can’t just fall out of a tree and do the U.S. Open.” Early in Round 1, Buck said, “We’ve dropped out of a tree onto your TV.” And too often, that was precisely how it looked.

Ouch!

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/23/sports/golf/fox-and-greg-norman-have-a-rough-debut-at-the-us-open.html?_r=0

[Golfingdad]

Fox Makes Its Debut at the Open, and at Times It Seems Like an Amateur [NYT]

Yes, mini leaderboard annoyed me as did the where did the ball go camera work.

I dunno, I'll give Norman a pass on that.

Fox didn't get the fundamentals down. After that, then you worry about the nice to haves. Microphone in cup was annoying.

Ouch!

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/23/sports/golf/fox-and-greg-norman-have-a-rough-debut-at-the-us-open.html?_r=0

A lot of little annoyances, no doubt.  And plenty of stuff to bitch about all week - I even mentioned the stupid part about the leaderboard not showing all of the -1's on Sunday in a text.

But, all in all, it was a pretty good success and a great, exciting tournament with no MAJOR foul-ups, and now they have 365 days and a few other "lesser" tournaments to fine tune and prep for Oakmont.

I think they will be just fine.)

[jsgolfer]

You wouldn't be playing a course that looked remotely like that. See image below.

Looks like a really stunning good golf course. Look how green the fescue grass is. US Open can't have make it look like this or the course would play way too soft and easy for the players.

You might want to realize that the US Open set up is an outlier on how the golf course would look compared to the 99.999% of the time people normally play it. Even when you see them at a more traditional Country Club course the fairways and greens still get brown in some spots because they dry it out. The rough is the only thing that makes it look green.

Don't care, looked like crap during the open, they would have to pay me to play that place.  Tournament finish was spectacular, course looked like garbage.

[saevel25]

Don't care, looked like crap during the open, they would have to pay me to play that place.  Tournament finish was spectacular, course looked like garbage.

You'd be wrong. The course looked great. To judge the course because how the USGA set it up is just short sited idiocy in my opinion. How can a person judge a course based on looking at it under the most extreme course set up conditions possible by the USGA? Honestly you can't. Basically you are condemning the course because of the USGA not Chambers Bay itself. If you are going to judge a course then judge the course, not the USGA set up.

[jsgolfer]

You'd be wrong. The course looked great. To judge the course because how the USGA set it up is just short sited idiocy in my opinion. How can a person judge a course based on looking at it under the most extreme course set up conditions possible by the USGA? Honestly you can't. Basically you are condemning the course because of the USGA not Chambers Bay itself. If you are going to judge a course then judge the course, not the USGA set up.

How else would you expect to review the course without going there.  That's my impression from watching it on TV for 4 days (not sure it makes me an idiot, opinions vary on that account), but you go pay $299 to play and let me know how it is.  If you think the course looked great.....not even going to go there.

[nevets88]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nevets88

Fox Makes Its Debut at the Open, and at Times It Seems Like an Amateur [NYT]

Yes, mini leaderboard annoyed me as did the where did the ball go camera work.

I dunno, I'll give Norman a pass on that.

Fox didn't get the fundamentals down. After that, then you worry about the nice to haves. Microphone in cup was annoying.

Ouch!

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/23/sports/golf/fox-and-greg-norman-have-a-rough-debut-at-the-us-open.html?_r=0

A lot of little annoyances, no doubt.  And plenty of stuff to bitch about all week - I even mentioned the stupid part about the leaderboard not showing all of the -1's on Sunday in a text.

But, all in all, it was a pretty good success and a great, exciting tournament with no MAJOR foul-ups, and now they have 365 days and a few other "lesser" tournaments to fine tune and prep for Oakmont.

I think they will be just fine.)

Yes, I think it'll be much better as they go along - it's good to change things up every once in a while. I really missed the NBC theme. There was a regalness to it.

[ChrisP]

I'd play there in a heartbeat. Just because the greens looked bad in the Open doesn't mean they're usually like that. Even members said they don't nearly resemble the norm. Just go to their website and look at YouTube videos of the course non-US Open and you'd see how awesome that course is. It's spectacular. That's why the USGA said they want to go back there, provided they take precautions to keep fescue out of the greens.

[nevets88]

Quote:

Originally Posted by saevel25

You'd be wrong. The course looked great. To judge the course because how the USGA set it up is just short sited idiocy in my opinion. How can a person judge a course based on looking at it under the most extreme course set up conditions possible by the USGA? Honestly you can't. Basically you are condemning the course because of the USGA not Chambers Bay itself. If you are going to judge a course then judge the course, not the USGA set up.

How else would you expect to review the course without going there.  That's my impression from watching it on TV for 4 days (not sure it makes me an idiot, opinions vary on that account), but you go pay $299 to play and let me know how it is.  If you think the course looked great.....not even going to go there.

The videos in the first post of this thread show you what the course looked like before it was prepped for the USO. That's a more accurate look at the course one would play post USO.

[saevel25]

How else would you expect to review the course without going there.  That's my impression from watching it on TV for 4 days (not sure it makes me an idiot, opinions vary on that account), but you go pay $299 to play and let me know how it is.  If you think the course looked great.....not even going to go there.

Certainly by not judging it by how the US Open sets it up.

How about these reviews,

#1 public golf course on this list, http://cascadegolfer.com/washingtons-10-best-public-golf-courses/2/

nearly 5 starts on Golf Link, http://www.golflink.com/golf-courses/course.aspx?course=2046756

4.3 out of 5 on Golf Now, http://www.golfnow.com/course-directory/washington-golf-courses/university-place-golf-courses/chambers-bay

#2 best course in Washington by Golf digest, http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-courses/washington

Seems to be that besides what you saw on TV as the most extreme golfing conditions for the course, it has gotten very good reviews.

Is it worth $299 dollars, that's pushing it for me since I have to fly out there. I Maybe if it was packaged with some other courses to make it a better deal. I don't know if I'd fly out there to play that course alone. I'd make a trip out of it with a few buddies.

[boogielicious]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsgolfer

How else would you expect to review the course without going there.  That's my impression from watching it on TV for 4 days (not sure it makes me an idiot, opinions vary on that account), but you go pay $299 to play and let me know how it is.  If you think the course looked great.....not even going to go there.

Certainly by not judging it by how the US Open sets it up.

How about these reviews,

#1 public golf course on this list, http://cascadegolfer.com/washingtons-10-best-public-golf-courses/2/

nearly 5 starts on Golf Link, http://www.golflink.com/golf-courses/course.aspx?course=2046756

4.3 out of 5 on Golf Now, http://www.golfnow.com/course-directory/washington-golf-courses/university-place-golf-courses/chambers-bay

#2 best course in Washington by Golf digest, http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-courses/washington

Seems to be that besides what you saw on TV as the most extreme golfing conditions for the course, it has gotten very good reviews.

Is it worth $299 dollars, that's pushing it for me since I have to fly out there. I Maybe if it was packaged with some other courses to make it a better deal. I don't know if I'd fly out there to play that course alone. I'd make a trip out of it with a few buddies.

The photos in the USGA US Open magazine show it to be stunning in my opinion.

[Golfingdad]

Is it worth $299 dollars, that's pushing it for me since I have to fly out there. I Maybe if it was packaged with some other courses to make it a better deal. I don't know if I'd fly out there to play that course alone. I'd make a trip out of it with a few buddies.

Wife just OK'd me to sign up for next years tournament (this years is already sold out).  GCamtour charges $575 for two rounds so it's actually a slight discount from the regular prices along with the ability to win some dough and a trophy.

Hopefully nothing crazy comes up before next year so I can actually do this.

[ChrisP]

Can't wait for next years Open at Oakmont. Navy's stationing me up in Pa. this upcoming year so I'll be close by and plan to be there.

[saevel25]

Wife just OK'd me to sign up for next years tournament (this years is already sold out).  GCamtour charges $575 for two rounds so it's actually a slight discount from the regular prices along with the ability to win some dough and a trophy.

Hopefully nothing crazy comes up before next year so I can actually do this.

Awesome, good luck with that