Tuesday

Chambers Bay: A Polarizing US Open Site & A Very Cool Wedding Venue

Groomsmen at a Chambers Bay Wedding - Wallflower Photography

As a US Open Venue, Chambers Bay Golf Course is shaping up to be rather... controversial.

While some PGA Tour players are lamenting its firm, sloping fairways and barely discernible greens, others are praising the coastal track for a links-like purity they feel will encourage creativity and reward resourcefulness.

Indeed, the players are already somewhat polarized, and the split is sure to grow as the competition heats up. One thing they'll all undoubtedly agree on though,.. and this has nothing to do with pin positions or tee box length... is the multi chromatic magnificence of a Chambers Bay sunset.

With views that cross the Puget Sound to the snow-capped Olympic Mountains, it's a setting of such singular beauty that at the end of the day (literally and figuratively) Chambers Bay is likely to charm even those befuddled by its myriad idiosyncrasies.

So just imagine how sublimely romantic a Chamber's Bay wedding would be? Actually, you don't have to imagine. In addition to its status as host to the 2015 US Open, Chambers Bay Golf Course is renowned for its weddings, and Wallflower Photography, a photo studio in nearby Tacoma, features photo galleries from weddings they've shot at Chambers Bay on their website.

Chambers Bay Wedding photos often feature relics of a gravel pit past... and the Lone TreeWallflower Photography

The unembellished natural beauty of the site... along with the massive sculptural relics of the course's history as a gravel mine... provide an interesting and edgy photo backdrop.  The lone tree and the freight train are at once odd and endearing.  Perusing the galleries I clearly get the sense that the couples who chose Chambers Bay were seeking something out-of-the-ordinary, and that's what they got... in a good way.

Of course wedding celebrants don't have to worry about unexpected undulations or oddly placed pot bunkers. Such concerns will belong to the PGA Tour players as they venture out later this week.

This ultra cool photo captures an impromptu sword fight overlooking the links  -  Wallflower Photography