Merion Golf CLub
By Chris Mavros, www.Golfadelphia.com
6,126 yards, 144 slope, from the Middle Tees
Course: In Ardmore, PA, just 20 minutes southwest of Philadelphia proper is the esteemed Merion Golf Club. Merion was established in 1896 and consists of two courses, the East and West, both designed by Hugh Wilson. The East opened in 1912 while the West opened in 1914. The East is the more well known and regarded course, hosting a number of major championships and is known as one of the best courses in the world. Currently ranked 12th on Golf Magazine’s best courses in the world, Merion typifies what a strategic course should be and is the gold standard for the mantra that length is not necessarily vital for a course to be challenging. Moreover, at a scant 126 acres, Merion is almost miraculous at maximizing the land upon which it is set; at no point in time does the course feel cramped, short or contrived. By intricate routing and using the hills, ridges, and creek as adroitly as possible, each hole comes as naturally as the next without interference from the others. The majority of the par 5’s are over 500 yards, the par 3’s range from 115 to 205 yards (from the Middle tees) and there were a number of par 4’s I was hitting a longer iron, hybrid or fairway wood on the second shot. The variety of shots, the sequence of holes, the strategy required for each shot; all of it’s a remarkable accomplishment when you have all the land you can imagine, let alone a little more than 120 acres.
Merion is steeped in history. Through the decades, it’s been the scene of legendary golf moments, including when Bobby Jones completed the Grand Slam here in 1930; Ben Hogan hit his historical 1 iron on the Eighteenth in the final round of the 1950 U.S. Open, ultimately going on to win (the iconic photograph of that 1 iron shot is one of the most famous in any sport) after his against-all-odds recovery from a serious car wreck that nearly crippled him; and the playoff between Trevino and Nicklaus in the 1971 U.S. Open, where Trevino famously tossed a rubber snake at Nicklaus before they teed off. Bobby Jones won his first major here and his last competitive round (he retired after winning the Grand Slam). Most recently, it hosted the 2013 U.S. Open and the Walker Cup in 2009. For the 2013 Open, Merion showed that it could remain challenging for the tour pros despite the advances in technology and distance. In fact, while it seemed that Phil Mickelson would finally win a U.S. Open going into the final round, it was the shortest hole on the course that was his undoing, the short par 3 Thirteenth. Indeed, Merion is and continues to be a hallmark of golf in the United States, a beacon of golf as it should be.
Adding to the fascination of the course is that Hugh Wilson designed it. Wilson had never designed a course before, so when he was asked by the club to construct the course, he dove into research, consulted with stalwarts such as C.B. MacDonald, and took what he remembered from his trips across the pond in his design. Wilson’s work clearly shows that he had an intuitive understanding of the principles of links golf. There are very few blind shots at Merion, only OB on the perimeters of the course and a wide open layout relying on the natural terrain for its challenge and strategy. Adding to Wilson’s aura is the fact he only designed a handful of courses; Merion East and West, Cobbs Creek Olde, Seaview Bay and the nine hole course at Phoenixville Country Club. Donald Ross finished construction of Seaview, so really there are just a few courses of his, all in the Philadelphia area. I have played all but Merion West and while there are consistent themes in all of them, there are some very notable differences. After playing these others numerous times, I was impressed with the remarkable differences, and some similarities, of Merion East with them. While there’s a small sample out there, Wilson’s designs are some of my favorite to play.
Personally, Merion is the course I know best without ever playing it. I live very close and my jogs (back when I was in some semblance of shape) would take me along the course on Ardmore Ave. and Clubhouse Rd., where I’d see the famous wicker flagsticks that don’t reveal what the wind is doing and the “white faces of Merion,” which are the bunkers for their flashing nature and sporadic groupings of grass in them, giving the appearance of a face. I was there for the Walker Cup and I volunteered for the US Open in 2013, walking the course the entire week and watching how the tour pros played it. In fact, I was up late one night watching the Golf Channel and they were running a retrospective on the 2013 U.S. Open. One of the turning points of the tournament was Mickelson birdieing the Seventeenth during the third round, which vaulted him into the lead. They showed that birdie and sure enough, in the stands, cheering like a madman, is yours truly. I had never heard a crowd cheer so loud at any sporting event ever after that putt rolled in, not even in 2008 when the Phils won the World Series. For extra torture, I would drive by it on my way to work and back home for a number of years, seeing group after group on the course and even seeing how the course was prepared for the Open. A serious case of being so close, yet so far away from actually playing it.
For those who have been following along, 2017 has been a season of golf I would never be able to fathom if someone asked me. I’ll get into it a little more in my 2017 review, but my great fortune continued with an opportunity to play Merion. So on a glorious Sunday with stunningly perfect weather for golf, I drove the daunting 3 minutes to the club, pulled into the parking lot I’ve had to drive past millions of times prior, and enjoyed one of the best rounds of my life.... Continue Reading Here
6,126 yards, 144 slope, from the Middle Tees
Course: In Ardmore, PA, just 20 minutes southwest of Philadelphia proper is the esteemed Merion Golf Club. Merion was established in 1896 and consists of two courses, the East and West, both designed by Hugh Wilson. The East opened in 1912 while the West opened in 1914. The East is the more well known and regarded course, hosting a number of major championships and is known as one of the best courses in the world. Currently ranked 12th on Golf Magazine’s best courses in the world, Merion typifies what a strategic course should be and is the gold standard for the mantra that length is not necessarily vital for a course to be challenging. Moreover, at a scant 126 acres, Merion is almost miraculous at maximizing the land upon which it is set; at no point in time does the course feel cramped, short or contrived. By intricate routing and using the hills, ridges, and creek as adroitly as possible, each hole comes as naturally as the next without interference from the others. The majority of the par 5’s are over 500 yards, the par 3’s range from 115 to 205 yards (from the Middle tees) and there were a number of par 4’s I was hitting a longer iron, hybrid or fairway wood on the second shot. The variety of shots, the sequence of holes, the strategy required for each shot; all of it’s a remarkable accomplishment when you have all the land you can imagine, let alone a little more than 120 acres.
Merion is steeped in history. Through the decades, it’s been the scene of legendary golf moments, including when Bobby Jones completed the Grand Slam here in 1930; Ben Hogan hit his historical 1 iron on the Eighteenth in the final round of the 1950 U.S. Open, ultimately going on to win (the iconic photograph of that 1 iron shot is one of the most famous in any sport) after his against-all-odds recovery from a serious car wreck that nearly crippled him; and the playoff between Trevino and Nicklaus in the 1971 U.S. Open, where Trevino famously tossed a rubber snake at Nicklaus before they teed off. Bobby Jones won his first major here and his last competitive round (he retired after winning the Grand Slam). Most recently, it hosted the 2013 U.S. Open and the Walker Cup in 2009. For the 2013 Open, Merion showed that it could remain challenging for the tour pros despite the advances in technology and distance. In fact, while it seemed that Phil Mickelson would finally win a U.S. Open going into the final round, it was the shortest hole on the course that was his undoing, the short par 3 Thirteenth. Indeed, Merion is and continues to be a hallmark of golf in the United States, a beacon of golf as it should be.
Adding to the fascination of the course is that Hugh Wilson designed it. Wilson had never designed a course before, so when he was asked by the club to construct the course, he dove into research, consulted with stalwarts such as C.B. MacDonald, and took what he remembered from his trips across the pond in his design. Wilson’s work clearly shows that he had an intuitive understanding of the principles of links golf. There are very few blind shots at Merion, only OB on the perimeters of the course and a wide open layout relying on the natural terrain for its challenge and strategy. Adding to Wilson’s aura is the fact he only designed a handful of courses; Merion East and West, Cobbs Creek Olde, Seaview Bay and the nine hole course at Phoenixville Country Club. Donald Ross finished construction of Seaview, so really there are just a few courses of his, all in the Philadelphia area. I have played all but Merion West and while there are consistent themes in all of them, there are some very notable differences. After playing these others numerous times, I was impressed with the remarkable differences, and some similarities, of Merion East with them. While there’s a small sample out there, Wilson’s designs are some of my favorite to play.
Personally, Merion is the course I know best without ever playing it. I live very close and my jogs (back when I was in some semblance of shape) would take me along the course on Ardmore Ave. and Clubhouse Rd., where I’d see the famous wicker flagsticks that don’t reveal what the wind is doing and the “white faces of Merion,” which are the bunkers for their flashing nature and sporadic groupings of grass in them, giving the appearance of a face. I was there for the Walker Cup and I volunteered for the US Open in 2013, walking the course the entire week and watching how the tour pros played it. In fact, I was up late one night watching the Golf Channel and they were running a retrospective on the 2013 U.S. Open. One of the turning points of the tournament was Mickelson birdieing the Seventeenth during the third round, which vaulted him into the lead. They showed that birdie and sure enough, in the stands, cheering like a madman, is yours truly. I had never heard a crowd cheer so loud at any sporting event ever after that putt rolled in, not even in 2008 when the Phils won the World Series. For extra torture, I would drive by it on my way to work and back home for a number of years, seeing group after group on the course and even seeing how the course was prepared for the Open. A serious case of being so close, yet so far away from actually playing it.
For those who have been following along, 2017 has been a season of golf I would never be able to fathom if someone asked me. I’ll get into it a little more in my 2017 review, but my great fortune continued with an opportunity to play Merion. So on a glorious Sunday with stunningly perfect weather for golf, I drove the daunting 3 minutes to the club, pulled into the parking lot I’ve had to drive past millions of times prior, and enjoyed one of the best rounds of my life.... Continue Reading Here
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