Chambers Bay - Holes Nos. 4-6

We'll get to our flyovers in a sec, but first some other varied and sundry U.S. Open notes...

The World According to Fax - If there's a member of the Fox crew for whom I have high hopes, it would be Brad Faxon, mostly because he just seems to be pretty down-to-Earth...unlike a certain lead analyst that leans more to the cast-in-bronze attitude.  So Fax had this to say in an interview:

“I never would have said what Mike said,” Faxon said, referring to Mike Davis, the

executive director of the USGA. “I don’t think it’s crucial to have experience with the course at Chambers Bay. I think the opposite. I think you’ll need a certain degree of nonchalance.”

All credit for dissenting from the Politburo, and let's let him finish his thought:

Mind you, Faxon didn’t think Chambers Bay was a joke; far from it. He remembers watching on TV in 2010 when a kid whom he has known for years, Peter Uihlein, won the U.S. Amateur there. “I thought it was kind of cool watching the ball roll like it was St. Andrews.” 

Faxon was intrigued by the course then, and when he saw it recently, he remained so. “I think it has a lot of the feel of a Pinehurst (No. 2), and visually it’s stunning,” Faxon said. “But I was struck by how severe the greens are. Players are going to hit shots and get bounces that they’ve never seen before.” 

“You'd better be damn resilient, because so many whacky things are going to happen,” he said. “You can’t slump your shoulders. I would look at players who have the ability to let things roll off their backs to do well.”

He's making a very good point, but one quite different from that made by Mike Davis.  I remember those balls bouncing every which way in 2010 as well, but that makes prep time more, not less, valuable....

The World According to Ernie - If they hold a golf tournament at storied Royal County Down, Ernie Els has been around long enough to know you don't miss it...especially in 2016 with the U'S. Open also to be played on a links:

Four-time major winner Ernie Els feels his four testing rounds at the Irish Open have been the perfect preparation for next month’s U.S. Open, he told Reuters. 

Els endured a trying time at the Royal County Down course in Newcastle, Northern Ireland, finishing on Sunday with a one-over-par 72 for a 10-over-par tally in bright but windy conditions.

But this is the bit that has gotten the attention:

"After four days here at Royal County Down, it will make Chambers Bay look like it’s on steroids," Els told Reuters. 

"This course was tricky but then I hear Chambers Bay is really tricky and I’m glad I played here this week as this will have been great practice heading up there to Washington State. 

"You’re going to get all those links type shots from uneven lies, putting in wind and sometimes rain, so this will be a great test for Chambers Bay even though most of the guys going there have never played the golf course...

Steroids?   Was he talking to Poulter?  What's funny about the comment is that County Down, with all it's blind shots and severe features, is the links on steroids... that's what makes it such an unusual and captivating experience.

The World According to John Paul - Newport, that is, who has the enviable job of penning the weekly golf column for the Wall Street Journal.  Pre-tournament whining is a U.S. Open tradition dating back to Myopia Hunt Club, but there's an intensity to it this year, and JP might have put his finger on it:

The pros are griping because week in and week out they make their living playing golf in

a certain way, and Chambers Bay doesn’t favor that way. Modern Tour pros are extremely good at hitting golf shots precise distances, with spin and trajectory combinations that cause the ball to behave just so after landing, on fairways and greens that are usually pretty soft. At Chambers Bay, half the fun—for spectators, at least—will be watching balls bound, swerve, swoop and trickle in unpredictable directions after landing. The sand-based fescue terrain at Chambers Bay is hilly, hard and fast.

JPN channels his inner Fax with this conclusion:

Smart, patient players like Jordan Spieth and Graeme McDowell might fare well at Chambers Bay. More temperamental players like Poulter, dismissing the course as a joke, may already have talked themselves out of the trophy.

Poults was just doing us the favor of removng himself from consideration and thereby saving us the bother.

The World According to Holly & Gil - Back to our flyovers, first the long, uphill Par-4 fourth, which at almost 500 yards will be the very definition of a well-earned par.

That back right pin position looks quite devilish, and from the fairway must look like it's in the bunker.

The fifth hole heads back towards Puget Sound, offering great vistas, a choice of club off the tee and a very distinctive green:

The sixth is another challenging Par-4 (Hey, it's still a U.S. Open), and Hanse has some interesting comments about natural features found on the property.  I do think this green sits beautifully amidst those sawed-off mounds and the bunkering is also well done: