Travelogue: Chambers Bay, Tacoma C&GC, Safeco Field

I was excited to recently make it back to Seattle, my first trip there in maybe 25 years. My trip coincided with one of my favorite holidays — St. Patrick’s Day — and it was indeed a trip heavy on the good luck.

Seth stands in the fairway bunker on No. 18 at Chambers Bay. Photo by Josh Lewis

I flew out on a Sunday, a full-day of travel to get from NE Kansas to Washington, including a 4.5-hour flight from Chicago to Seattle. I was scheduled to get into Sea-Tac Airport in the late afternoon, but storms in Washington delayed my arrival a few hours. Turns out that weekend, the area was pummeled with a record-setting rainfall and 40 to 50 mph winds. Lucky moment # 1 — I missed all that weather.

It’s about an hour from Seattle to University Place, home of Chambers Bay, and site of this year’s U.S. Open. Monday morning I made my way out to the course, and got the complete tour of all 18 holes from superintendent Josh Lewis. Lucky moment # 2 — Josh and Eric Johnson, director of agronomy, were amazing hosts… but I’m going to keep most of that info in my notebook for now, as that will clearly be an upcoming feature story in the pages of Golfdom.

I took Monday afternoon off to do a little sight-seeing and found a couple good watering holes in nearby Steilacoom. This coming U.S. Open, I now know a few places to go once the golf stops — stick with me.

Tuesday morning I was back out at Chambers Bay for lucky moment # 3 — my trip coincided with a USGA visit to the course. I got to catch up with USGA Executive Director Mike Davis and Director of Championship Agronomy Darin Bevard. I also got some photos of their visit. But again, more on that in a future issue.

Joel Kachmarek, superintendent at Tacoma Country & Golf Club. Photo by Seth Jones

From there I headed to Tacoma Country & Golf Club, where Joel Kachmarek is the superintendent. Joel was recently featured in our March cover story, “To core or not to core?” Funny coincidence, huh? The story never came up in conversation, as Joel has a lot going on at his course, I had a lot of questions and he had as many answers. You can check out Joel’s excellent blog here. Lucky moment # 4 was Joel willingly taking the time to see me on short notice and giving me his VIP tour.

Most interesting to me was his simplification of mowing practices at the course. The fairways and tees are the same height-of-cut, and there’s no separation from the two. Check out the photo for a visual. By eliminating that common design element of having tee surrounds a much taller cut, Joel says he’s saved a ton of labor at his course and sped up maintenance. Also, there’s no wear patterns, as members are allowed to, and even encouraged in some areas, to drive right over the tee boxes.

See the difference between the cut in the tee and the tee surround? Us neither. Kachmarek says it’s saved them time and money. Photo by Seth Jones

From there I headed back into the big city, for lucky moment # 5 — a meeting with Bob Christofferson, head groundskeeper for Safeco Field and the Seattle Mariners. Is everyone really this nice in the Pacific Northwest, or just the people I ran into? Bob took the time to talk turf with me for our sister site, AthleticTurf.net, and I also got a nice video interview out of the stop.

I did have to take it easy on that St. Patty’s Day evening, as I had a 5:50 a.m. flight the next morning, and I figured I used most of my luck up with my business meetings at that point. While I would have loved to have caught some of the St. Patrick’s Day revelry in Seattle, I’ll have to save that for when I return in June for the U.S. Open… and of course, a Mariners game.

Bob Christofferson (left), head groundskeeper at Safeco Field, with Leo Liebert, assistant groundskeeper. Photo by Seth Jones

So thanks to everyone in the great state of Washington for the warm welcome back… and I can’t wait to get back in June for what is sure to be a great U.S. Open!