No same old story: 2015 U.S. Open awarded to newborn Chambers Bay

Golf Magazine and Golfweek lauded the links course as the best new layout of 2007 and while it has virtually no golf credentials, its history has been nonetheless colorful. The site over the past two centuries has served as a quarry, lumber center, wastewater treatment plant and gravel mine.

But it has its modern influences -- the back tees stretch to nearly 7,600 yards. Wind and the course's fescue grass will present daunting tests, but the biggest visual difference is the linkland feel. The traditional Open course has been a tree-lined, parkland style layout with high rough and narrow fairways. Predictable fare, really.

"There is no question, sometimes we have been a little cookie-cutter with regard to the set-up," Davis said. "This is a course we can almost set up like a British Open. I am so excited, I can hardly stand it."

With some higher-profile private courses meeting resistance from membership with regard to hosting Opens in the future -- Winged Foot and Shinnecock Hills, for instance -- doors of opportunity have opened for new courses to be added to the mix.

And there's nothing newer than Chambers Bay, obviously.

"While people may say they are jumping the gun, I don't think they are," Whitten said.