"A fan cannot really watch and follow and get inside the action."

Golf.com's Michael Bamberger has been floored by the scenery, the audacity of the course, the energy of the natives and...a course billed as the first ever built to host a U.S. Open that is the "most fan-unfriendly" course he's seen.

The experience getting to Chambers Bay, from my random polling of fans in merchandise and the coffee line, has suggested mostly unanimous delight with the effort to get people to the course and the on-site amenities. But there is one missing piece: the ability to sit on a dune and see golf.

As for the course, it makes no physical sense. It is so complicated, as an engineering riddle, as a walk, as a living play field that must be maintained. I apologize in advance for the italics but I must: every good golf course in the world has this as a starting point: you play the hole, stumble off the green, play the next. You can see the shepherd’s path! And if not, the architect. The Old Course in St. Andrews. Colonial in Fort Worth. National Golf Links in Southampton, N.Y. Bethlehem Municipal in Bethlehem, Pa. This Chambers Bay course is a 10-mile hike, start to finish. I like hiking. But not while wearing Foot-Joys. The bunkers are so much work. If had to go to a Chambers Bay bunker to buy you a half-gallon of milk, baby would do without.