Voted the best new course of 2007 by GOLF Magazine, at Chambers Bay the visuals scream Ireland: giant sand dunes, rumpled fairways, stunning sea views, and unpredictable weather (photo gallery). But this superb new course is almost 5,000 miles west of Ballybunion, atop an old gravel mine about an hour south of Seattle, Washington. This Robert Trent Jones II municipal design is a walkers-only feast for the eyes, a relentless test of both swing and stamina. Call it Bethpage Black-by-the-Sea.

The eye candy commences right at the 1st hole, with a 50-foot-high dune to the right and the backdrop of Puget Sound. It gets better from there. Highlights include the par-4 5th, called "Free Fall," which plummets 80 feet from tee to landing area and which culminates in two separate greens-150 yards apart. The farther green is receptive to a low-running approach, the closer one fiercely guarded by sand. The dearth of forced carries means Chambers Bay is playable for all, though a memorable exception to that is the jaw-dropping par-3 9th, its wavy potato chip-contoured green perched on the far side of a ravine.

Chambers Bay earns the greatest compliment its possible to bestow on a new course: By the time your caddie replaces the flag at 18, all you can think about is repeating the journey.

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