Lots of Walking and A Little Bit of Golf ~ The U.S. Open
The US Open, a test of physical, mental, and emotional toughness as the world's greatest golfers battled it out at Chamber's Bay Golf Course.
Brandon and I were blessed to have a chance to attend this once in lifetime opportunity to walk many miles, up many steep hills, in the hot baking sun with no water, and only a slight chance to glimpse where the golf ball actually landed. Now I want to get it out in the open that if you had asked me two years ago if I would like to go to the US Open, in all honesty I probably would have only had a vague clue about what you were talking about. Would I have said yes if handed free tickets, probably, because going to events like this are always very cool. The bigger question would have been would I have been excited about it, well sure.
But now if you had had the time to ask me last week if I was excited about the opportunity to go the US Open I would have answered with an emphatic yes I am! So what changed; well I am about 70 days away from marrying an avid golfer and when you spend many many many Sundays watching golf you learn to love it. :)
So first off I should of course thank PCE Pacific, Brandon's employers, for not only getting us the tickets and letting me tag along but for the beautiful accommodations we were allowed to stay at and the amazing hospitality tent we got to be a part of.
We got up early Saturday morning since it was a 45 minute drive and we weren't sure about how traffic would be on the way to the course. Surprisingly traffic was basically non exsitent which gave us plenty of time to find the nearest Starbucks, get parked, and walk on over to the hospitatitly tent. We were both very surprised when we showed up at the ISM tent, which we figured would just be a small tent for the PCE company, not at all, it was a HUGE tent with about 15 different companies, an open bar (can you say mimosas at 8 am), full buffet, tvs, and professional swing consultation.
After some breakfast, more than one mimosa, and an amazing swing lesson we headed out to the course. Chamber's Bay was BEAUTIFUL!! I was absolutely in love with the course, yes I know how challenging it was for the actual golfers but I wasn't one so I loved it! Sitting right on the Puget Sound the course made a picture perfect setting.
Not only was the setting perfect it was a beautiful day; for those that don't live in the PNW you should know just how lucky those golfers were this week. As even in the summer Seattle can experience some not so wonderful weather.
Challenging is a great description for the course, sitting on about 950 acres Chamber's Bay offers up a lot of acreage. really long holes, and huge elevation gain. If I am remembering correctly to walk all 18 holes averaged about 10 miles of walking for the day; meaning that Jordan Spieth walked a minimum of 40 miles (not including practice rounds) in four days. Brandon and I ended up walking a total of 7 miles that day between walking the course and going back and forth to the tent. The biggest downside of this course was that it was walking spectator friendly. If you wanted a chance to walk with a golfer, or walk the whole course so that you could experience many holes you did not really afford the opportunity to see the ball as you could not get close enough. That being said we did not actually see much golf, we watch Phil play a little bit, rather walked the course and experienced the atmosphere. It was really cool being able to hear the cheers and groans of the crowds floating across the course.
By the time 3:00 pm rolled around we were exhausted. We toyed with the idea of hanging out some more because how often do you get a chance to go to the US Open but Brandon really wanted to be able to watch each golfer play and see their shots so we went back to the hotel and watch from there.
Oh man did it feel good to take our shoes off, I am pretty sure my feet had swollen to twice their size and were only being held together by my shoes.
Next I must admit we got very lazy. It was as though by laying down we succumbed to all aspects of the lazy bumness; we had great intentions of hitting the gym after finishing the US Open that ended up getting put to the side for room service then a quick jaunt down to the nearest FroYo to fill our bellies. By then it was about 8:30 pm and the lights went out and we were asleep by around 9:00 pm. Yes we induldged on Saturday but we also walked 7 miles complete with hills and heat; no I know not my usual crazy activity so you'd think I wouldn't be so exhausted but I was whooped.
For those of you that watched the rest of the US Open on Sunday know that it came down to a very exciting finish, and I am so blessed to say that I had a chance to experience part of it. It really was a once in a lifetime experience and to spend it with my fiance meant more to me than the whole experience did as it meant we got to spend the weekend together doing what we love most, adventuring and being together. I am blessed to be marrying someone who I want to spend every second of every day with, who's mere presence makes my day a little bit better, and who always brings a smile to my face.
Did you watch the US Open? What was the most exciting thing you did this weekend? Any tips for a newbie golfer like myself ?