Merion golf club (East) - 18 points

It’s funny how you can have an idea of what a golf course is going to look and feel like, just to be completely contradicted as soon as you get there. Merion would be a perfect example of that for me. In my mind I had this as a heavily tree-lined, slightly claustrophobic, incredibly tight course. It is tight, because of the lush rough, but it is actually one of the most open properties that I have ever played. On much of the way around you can pretty much see the whole course and it really does have an ‘open’ feel to it.

I was luck to play here just a few months after the renovation by Gil Hanse and this is clearly a really quality golf course that is at the top of its game. The conditioning was just superb, with the greens running very true and just beautiful to play on. While the conditioning was spot on, it’s worth saying that the rough was fairly brutal. It was very thick, meaning sometimes it was hard to find the ball, and always difficult to move it forward. Having played a lot of golf in a short period of time prior to arriving at Merion, it would be fair to say I wasn’t firing on all cylinders and as such spent far too long looking balls in the thick stuff!

If you look at the scorecard for Merion it looks like this should be a course you can score on - from the members’ tees we played it was about a 6,200 yard par 70. While that may look inviting, believe me it plays so much harder. Anyone who keeps to handicap around here is worth a good 2 or 3 shots when they go somewhere else.

If you are a fan of quirks then Merion is right up your alley. One such example if that there are only 2 par 5s on the property, and they both come in the first 4 holes!

The course has a distinctive rhythm to it - with the thirds often referred to as Drama, Comedy and Tragedy. The first six holes certainly ask some tough questions. After the dogleg first you find a par 5 with beguiling OOB on the right and then the long par 3 third where you need to fly the ball all the way to the green to avoid punishing rough and bunkers. However, by the 7th things definitely calm down and you then have a bunch of short par 4s and a couple of great par 3s - one long and one short. While this may tempt you into thinking you can attack the course a little don’t be fooled, be off line and the punishment will be just as bad as on the first 6 holes. This stretch of holes has some of the most of interesting and most fun holes you will find anywhere, with some wonderful, memorable nuances.

The finish at Merion is tremendous - one of the very best you will find anywhere. The 16th is a par 4 where, for your second shot, you are forced to play over a quarry which Hanse has now restored with wonderful bunkering. There is a path around the right if you don’t fancy the carry. I went for the heroic route and failed.

The 17th is a long par 3 - over 240 yards from the championship tees - which plays downhill to a huge (by Merion standards) green with a lot of movement in it.

And then to the 18th, where Hogan famously hit his approach shot in the US Open all those years ago. From the championship tees it is a tough task. It’s a blind tee shot and then a long iron in to this green with a huge false front meaning that par here is a really great score. It really is a stunning finish.

Looking back, I wish I had planned my trip to Philadelphia slightly differently. We played Pine Valley twice before making the trip to Merion and maybe it would have been better to have it the other way. Pine Valley is so ridiculously magnificent in every way, Merion was always going to be hard-pushed to match it.

Don’t get me wrong - this is a very fine course. Pretty much every hole asked a good question - how best to survive or how best to take advantage of what you have in front of you. The course looks wonderful. By all accounts Hanse has elevated it to a new level and the test is strong.

However, something stopped me quite falling in love with this course. Much is made of how the routing works so well on a pretty small piece of land. Of course, that’s true, but Kingston Heath knocks it out of the park with the same challenge. The rough here is a little too brutal, and the punishment for missing the greens too great, to make this course a really fun one to play.

Having said that all of that, of course if you get the chance to tee it up here you should jump at it. It’s championship golf of the highest order and a course that any fan of the history of the game would want to see.

Booking the course

OK, you can’t exactly call up Merion to book a tee time but it isn’t quite in Pine Valley’s league. Having said that, at some courses, like Shinnecock, you can play without a member being on the property with you. Not at Merion - here you need to be hosted at all times. The good news is that there are a lot of members and many of them play here quite regularly and are keen to show off the course. If you haven’t got a friendly member on speed dial then set up a Google alert for Merion charity auctions. Members quite often auction off the chance to play with them and there are also a few charity days. It’s not cheap, but it is possible.

TOUR TIPS

Merion is one of the great old courses in the USA and it would be a shame not to factor in plenty of time to explore the club. One of the most famous features here is the terrace that sits next to the first tee where members will be having their lunch while you tee off. In fact, when we played, the members tees were set slightly forward from the throng and it didn’t feel like we had too many eyes on us as we teed off.

This didn’t feel as ‘old school’ a club as Shinnecock or NGLA. We were there on a Sunday afternoon and there were a lot of women around as well as a bunch of kids and it had a little more of a ‘country club’ atmosphere to it. Having said that they were sticklers for etiquette and there is no doubt that golf is the focus here.

The pro shop is really well stocked and it’s hard to leave without a few items adorned with the wicker basket logo. The locker rooms were as traditional as they come and the showers had water pressure that even Muirfield would be happy with. We were heading off for a transatlantic flight straight after the round so had a good shower, but the lack of curtains did give off a certain ‘1950s British Boys’ School’ ambience which I think could have been done without!

CONTACT DETAILS

Merion Golf Club
450 Ardmore Avenue
Ardmore
PA 19003
USA

Phone: +1 610.642.5600
Web: www.meriongolfclub.com/

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