When I first told people of my plan to bike across the US this summer I got many different responses. Most were excited with some concern about my backside. Some were rightfully skeptical. Some felt I had confirmed their long held belief I was a few cards short of a full deck. Then I told them I intended to golf along the way with clubs I brought along on the ride. Unanimously I was deemed a lunatic.
So why am I lugging an extra 5.5 pounds with me and adding to the physical toll of the ride? It makes for a great story? I am crazy? It is the best idea ever? So far the answer is all three. The real reason for adding golf to the ride is actually to enjoy the places I am visiting and meet people. I know myself and if I did not give myself a reason to interact with people and stop along the way I would blow through town after town only speaking with convenience store clerks and the folks checking me into hotels. So far my plan is going great and if it cost me getting all the way to DC it will still be worth it.
Today is a prime example. Since conceiving of this route I knew it would be bringing me past a bucket list golf course. Number 20 on the Golf Digest’s 100 best US public golf courses. Chambers Bay.
It felt like eating dessert before your meal. Only 7 days in and I was rewarded with one of the best (read hardest) courses I have ever played. To be clear, this will be the best course on the route. My intention is to mostly visit local nine hole tracks and meet folks that live in these towns.
Chambers bay hosted the US Open in 2015 and it is easy to see why. The routing is impossibly inventive. Nothing is straight forward. Robert Trent Jones II employs a bevy of optical illusions forcing you to give up trusting your eyes and just swing away and take your lumps as they come. There is risk reward in play on almost every hole. And despite its wild juxtaposition in a brownfield, public beach access park with a train roaring by regularly it is outrageously beautiful.
It is a public course run by Pierce County. Locals get wonderful rates and us tourists seem to make up for the cost of its outstanding upkeep. (This course was budgeted for prior to departure)
I was paired with these fine chaps, Anthony, Ben, and Ben. Ben in the middle absolutely schooled us, putting on a clinic crushing the ball off the tee and into the green. Other Ben brought his Wisconsin work ethic and played it how it laid and never gave up putting it the cup no matter how punishing (I did not!). Anthony shares in my enthusiasm for course architecture making for fun conversation and also played some fantastic golf. I had a few pars including from that bunker pictured above. They felt like birdies so we all left having a great afternoon. That sunset made it all the sweeter.
