Golf Central

Oh, what a beauty! ... The US Golf Association, more than 100 years old now, is starting to show some sense. Here's the latest announcement from USGA HQ: The practically brand-spanking-new Chambers Bay (above pic) on Puget Sound, Washington state, a daily-fee stunner which has only been open since last June, will be the site of the 2015 US Open. The course will also host the 2010 US Amateur.

The links course, designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr with its old-school Scottish feel in the hopes of attracting a major championship, is the latest in a line of courses accessible to the public which have found their way onto the US Open rota, following Bethpage Black (New York) and Torrey Pines South (California). It's also rated the best new course of 2007 by Golfweek and Travel & Leisure Golf Magazine.

But what a honey this is. The former sand and gravel quarry costs anywhere from $75-171 to play 18 holes, but Chambers Bay will have no problem attracting spectators or players ... the seaside links is only 20 minutes from Tacoma, Washington, and only an hour's drive from grunge-capital Seattle. The course only has one mature tree, but when the tree looks like Chambers Bay's does, who cares?

Which leaves us only one question: When can we go, boss? When can we go? (OK, that's the same question twice, but the point remains the same).