All change at Chambers Bay

After Jordan Spieth was crowned champion at the 2015 US Open at Chambers Bay, one think was abundantly clear. There would need to be changes to the course if it were ever to stage another major. And now those changes are in hand.

Chamber Bay's General Manager, Matt Allen explained that the greens will be changed over the next few years, and the fescue greens will be replaced by a meadow like poa annua.

“We know the putting greens are an area of concern not just for future championships but for our customers, and that's why we are working so hard to make the progress we are.”

When Dustin Johnson three–putted on the 18th green to lose the tournament, questions followed about whether the greens of Chambers Bay were the reason.

Ian Poulter, for one, was highly critical of the state of the greens.

"It is disgraceful that the @USGA hasn't apologized about the greens," he wrote. "They simply have said 'we are thrilled the course condition this week.' It wasn't a bad golf course, In fact it played well and was playable.

"What wasn't playable were the green surfaces. If this was a regular PGA tour event lots of players would have withdrawn and gone home on Wednesday, but players won't do that for a major. They were simply the worst most disgraceful surface I have ever seen on any tour in all the years I have played. The US Open deserves better than that."

Officials at the course had spent months trying to hold off the poa annua grass from overtaking the greens. But above–average temperatures before the tournament forced the green keepers to water more than intended, and that intensified the growth of the poa.

Rather than a smooth, brownish putting surface, many of the greens appeared dead.

With the USGA’s approval, the poa is now being allowed to take over, with the goal being to create poa greens that can still be firm and fast under tournament conditions.

The course will host the U.S. Amateur Four–Ball championship in 2019, and there is talk of Chambers Bay as a possible site for a U.S. Women’s Open.

The US Open is already scheduled until 2026, so it could be 2030 before the rotation of courses gives Chambers Bay another opportunity. But at least by then we know that the greens will be up to scratch.

Related:

Take our fiendish The Open quiz