Only six public golf courses in America have hosted a U.S. Open. Pebble Beach, Pinehurst No. 2, Bethpage Black, Torrey Pines South, Erin Hills -- and Chambers Bay, a former sand and gravel mine on the shore of Puget Sound that gave us Jordan Spieth’s 2015 win and Dustin Johnson’s three-putt on the final green.

Of those six, Chambers Bay is the only one where one phone call gets you the Open venue, two more USGA championship courses and two nights in a first-class downtown hotel. That package is called The Championship Experience. I did it a few years back, and I still think it’s one of the smartest golf trips in the country.

The Deal

The Championship Experience is a partnership between Chambers Bay, Gold Mountain Golf Club, The Home Course and Hotel Murano in downtown Tacoma. You get one round at each course, two nights at the Murano, free self parking and a $20 food and beverage credit per person per day. Carts are included at Gold Mountain and The Home Course. Chambers Bay is walking only, but push carts are free.

Pricing runs per golfer, based on double occupancy, before tax. The 2026 rates ran from $425 in January and February up to $849 in July and August. Shoulder season is the sweet spot: $550 in March, $650 in October. Arrive Sunday through Wednesday and you can knock up to $80 off. Considering a peak-season tee time at Chambers Bay alone runs north of $400 for out-of-state players, the math is easy. You are basically getting two rounds and two nights for the price of a nice dinner in Seattle.

Chambers Bay: The Main Event

Chambers Bay needs no introduction, so I will keep this short-ish. Robert Trent Jones II turned an old gravel quarry into 249 acres of fescue, sand and towering dunes, with Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains as the backdrop. It hosted the 2010 U.S. Amateur, the 2015 U.S. Open, the 2021 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball and the 2022 U.S. Women’s Amateur. More USGA events are on the calendar.

Every hole earns its spot, but the one you will talk about at the bar is No. 15, Lone Fir. It’s a downhill par 3 that drops toward the Sound, with a single Douglas fir standing behind the green -- the only tree on the entire golf course. Time it right and a freight train rolls along the tracks below just as you hit. Holes 15 through 17 all run beside those tracks, so you get the full show: water, mountains, rail cars and a tree that has survived a lot. Legend has it someone once took an axe to it after a few too many beers. The tree is still standing. Can’t say the same for most of my tee shots out there.

A word about the walk. Chambers Bay is one of the toughest walks in golf, and you will cover more than six miles of serious elevation. Book a caddie. The fee goes to $125 a bag plus tip in 2027, and it is worth every dollar. The greens are hard to read and the wind changes club selection every five minutes. Your caddie knows things your rangefinder never will. Your knees will thank you too.

Gold Mountain: Not a Throw-In

This is where the package separates itself from the usual “one great course plus two filler rounds” deal. Gold Mountain’s Olympic Course in Bremerton is a John Harbottle III design that opened in 1996. It has been one of the top-ranked municipal courses in the country ever since.

The resume backs it up. The Olympic has hosted the 2006 U.S. Amateur Public Links, the 2011 U.S. Junior Amateur and multiple NCAA regionals, and the University of Washington plays its Husky Invitational there every fall. The course is carved out of the forested Bremerton watershed, with big elevation changes and wide fairways framed by Douglas firs. After a day of no trees at Chambers Bay, it feels like a different state. It’s owned by the City of Bremerton, and golfers who make the drive across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge usually leave asking why they had never heard of it.

The Home Course: Where the Amateurs Battle

The Home Course in DuPont, just south of Tacoma, opened in 2007. It is owned and operated by the Washington State Golf Association and the Pacific Northwest Golf Association, and golf associations tend to set up a golf course like they mean it.

Mike Asmundson designed it on the site of a former DuPont dynamite plant, which might be the best origin story in Northwest golf. It stretches past 7,400 yards from the tips and has views of Puget Sound, the Olympics and Mount Rainier. The USGA has kept coming back. It was Chambers Bay’s companion course for the 2010 U.S. Amateur, where Jeff Wilson shot a course-record 62. It also hosted the 2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links, co-hosted stroke play for the 2021 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, and hosted the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball.

You will not shoot 62. But you will have a good time trying, and with a cart included it’s the perfect getaway-day round before your flight.

Hotel Murano: The Home Base

Plenty of Chambers Bay trips end up in a chain hotel by the freeway. Do not do that. Hotel Murano is a first-class downtown Tacoma hotel with a serious glass art collection running through the building. It’s a fitting nod to a city that also has the Museum of Glass a few blocks away. Rooms are sharp, the staff takes care of golfers, and the location puts you in the middle of everything instead of staring at a parking lot.

Use the F&B credit at bite, the hotel restaurant, or at BAR960. Get a drink in your hand and start relitigating the Lone Fir tee shot. That is what the credit is for.

After the Round

Tacoma is a better night out than most visiting golfers expect. The Brewery District is the obvious first stop for a buddy group. McMenamins Elks Temple is a restored landmark with multiple bars under one roof -- basically a bar crawl you can do without a coat. For a sit-down dinner, Copper and Salt Northwest Kitchen and the restaurants along the Ruston Way waterfront are strong picks. If somebody in the group still has money after the Chambers Bay caddie tip, Emerald Queen Casino is close by.

Couples have plenty to do too. The Museum of Glass is worth an afternoon, and a day trip to Mount Rainier National Park is doable if you can tear yourself away from the golf.

How to Book It

You do not book the Championship Experience online. You fill out the request form on the Hotel Murano website, and a staffer handles all the tee times and rooms. Packages require at least two golfers, though solo players can ask for a custom itinerary. There is a 14-day cancellation policy. Book early for summer, take the Sunday through Wednesday discount if your schedule allows, and reserve your Chambers Bay caddie as soon as your tee time is set.

So, is it the best golf deal in the Pacific Northwest? You get a U.S. Open venue, two legitimate championship courses, two nights downtown and dinner money, for less than some resorts charge for a single round. I have played a lot of golf in this part of the country, and I have not found a better one.