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Chambers Bay • University Place
When Pierce County executives faced a decision over what to do with their old gravel pit on the Puget Sound shore, someone suggested they build a golf course.
God bless that glorious person.
Now almost a decade later (a fact that itself seems amazing), Puget Sound golfers enjoy one of America’s most unique golf venues, a rolling, rollicking time machine with an unbeatable view, to boot. It’s more Ardglass than Augusta, with country-club conditioning replaced by firm, fast fairways and long, wild grasses; crisp pines and colorful azaleas replaced by a single tree, Lone Fir, which stands sentinel behind the iconic 15th green, backdropped by Puget Sound and, in the distance, the peaks of the Olympic Mountains.
In less than two years’ time, the entire world will step onto the first tee alongside Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson and golf’s greats for the U.S. Open. Until then, Chambers Bay’s secrets are ours to discover — and as first our readers in 2012, and now our voting panel in 2013 have indicated, they’re a wonder to behold.