#7 Green Renovation Update

Over the past several months we've been working hard on the site preparation for the 2015 U.S. Open.  Here are a few pictures of the renovation process of the 7th green that has taken place over the last three months. 

#7 (before)

Rough Shaping

Excavated cavity...ready for drainage and gravel blanket

Drainage and gravel blanket installed

Irrigation installation

Sand-capped and working on finish grading

Hydroseeding (day 1)

Hydroseeding (day 2)

Hydroseeding (day 2)

Hydroseeding (day 3)

View from #5 fairway

View of the finished complex looking up #7 fairway

Stairway to Heaven

Due to the natural shape of the bunkers at Chambers Bay some of them are extremely difficult to enter or exit.  This also causes maintenance issues when trying to maintain turfgrass on these high traffic entry/exit points.  Our solution was to add several sets of stairs to many of the more difficult bunkers, and rebuild the edges/noses in the process.

#16 Greenside Bunker

#4 Greenside Bunker (Steve, Nick, Drew, Jerold and Orlando)

#4 Greenside Bunker

#4 Greenside Bunker

#4 Greenside Bunker (back view)

Throughout the process we made every effort to "hide" the stairs behind undulations and existing contours so that there would be minimal visual impact from the approach angle of the hole.

#4 Greenside Bunker (approach view with "hidden" stairs)