Review: Merion Golf Club (Part 2)

We're back with the back nine at Merion, go here to see the front.

The tenth hole is a very short par 4, playing just over 300 yards. The tee shot plays from atop a hill across a valley to a fairway that turns about 90 degrees 250 yards out. The green is perpendicular to the tee shot line and is surrounded on all sides but the front by two large bunkers. The play on the tee here is not to go for the green, but to play away, out as far to the right as you can (there are four fairway bunkers protecting the right side). This will leave you a pretty easy pitch and the opportunity to make a birdie.

The tenth hole.

The eleventh hole is 360 yards and occupies a special place in golf history — this is where Bobby Jones closed out the US Amateur in 1930, securing the one and only calendar Grand Slam. The hole itself is a bit of a weird one, and proof that even Golden Age architects could break the rules for playability. This 360-yard par 4 plays downhill to a blind fairway; hitting the fairway is imperative to make the second shot possible. The green here is cut off from the fairway by 75-100 yards, all alone on the far side of Cobbs Creek. It's a small green as well, and with a bunker left and a dropoff long, there really is nowhere to miss here. 

The eleventh hole.

Approaching the eleventh green.

The twelfth hole is 400 yards, though since it's uphill the entire way, it effectively plays a bit longer. The tee shot plays through a chute of trees to a fairway that bends right, squeezed between bunkers left and trees right. As on the tenth hole, it's actually better to be on the outside of the dogleg; this gives you a better angle for the second shot. The green here is narrow, squeezed between bunkers both left and right, and sloped hard from back to front.

The twelfth hole.

The twelfth green.

The thirteenth hole is by far the shortest hole at Merion, playing a thoroughly modest 120 yards. That's a hundred yards shorter than the next-shortest par 3, the 220-yard third. Obviously, such a short hole presents a great opportunity for birdie; but of course to get that birdie you need to hit the green. If you don't, you'll find yourself in one of the many deep bunkers completely surrounding the green. So, either you've got a potential easy birdie or you're working to make bogey.

The thirteenth hole.

The fourteenth hole is 450 yards and marks the beginning of Merion's closing stretch. It's also an example of the ridiculous things golf courses have to do to stay relevant to the modern professional game; the back tee on this hole has come all the way back to the putting green. Anyway, the hole bends left around a road, with the fairway snaking back and forth between bunkers the whole way. Obviously, this tee shot favors a draw, and a good one will leave a shortish iron up the hill to a medium-sized, well-bunkered green.

The fourteenth hole.

The fourteenth green.

The fifteenth hole is 425 yards and presents a very tough challenge on the tee shot. The road from the previous hole is even closer here, coming within just a few feet of the fairway in the landing area. A string of three bunkers right tighten the tee shot even further. Using a driver obviously puts you within wedge or short iron distance, but there is so little room out there. A fairway wood or long iron is a bit more comfortable, but will leave you with a much longer approach. The green is well-protected by sand, and is heavily undulating.

The fifteenth hole.

The sixteenth hole is perhaps the most famous hole at Merion, which is saying something considering the company it keeps. This 430-yard par 4 is notorious enough to be included in the top 18 in The 500 World's Greatest Golf Holes. But on the surface, it's really fairly simple. The drive heads downhill into a valley to a blind fairway, threaded between bunkers and heavy rough on both sides. The approach then heads back up, across a quarry filled with rock, sand, and brush, to a two-tiered green sloped sharply from back to front. Not exactly revolutionary, but when you're on the ground, you do understand why this hole is so well known. That second shot up the hill and over the quarry is absolutely terrifying, even though it really isn't that long a shot. And it's especially tough if you miss the fairway, which is very easy to do. Every shot demands the utmost care, attention, and execution, which really is Merion in a nutshell. 

The sixteenth hole, from the fairway.

The sixteenth green.

Looking back down the sixteenth hole.

The seventeenth hole is a giant 245-yard par 3 where the tee shot plays over the quarry to a tiny-looking green out on the far side. The green is heavily undulating and surrounded by bunkers, but in a small mercy, there is a bit of fairway short that can be used to run the golf ball onto the green. But there's also a false front of sorts front left, so if you don't quite have enough steam, the golf ball will roll back down. Obviously, this is a very demanding hole, but it's the seventeenth hole at Merion, would you expect anything less?

The seventeenth hole.

The eighteenth hole is a long par 4 and a classic in every sense of the word — Ben Hogan capped off his post–bus crash win at the 1950 US Open with a famous 1 iron into this green. The hole is 500 yards and plays across the quarry to a mostly blind fairway that tilts hard from right to left. That tilt only gets more severe the further you go, which means there is some benefit for the professionals (and US Amateur competitors) to using 3 wood on this tee and leaving a longer second shot. Still, this green is tough; it's decently wide but the bunkers front right and left favor a fade, which is difficult to achieve with the ball above your feet. Plus, it also falls away toward the back, which means you need to be precise with your distance to avoid running the approach through the green entirely. 

Crucially though, while this hole is immensely difficult, it remains completely playable. The quarry is easily carried (the gap between tee and fairway is only 150 yards or so), and while trees and OB do lurk far left, there is a plethora of space out to the right. No trees, no bunkers, nothing. If you want to play this hole cautiously and accept a bogey, you are completely free to do so. That's probably the smart thing to do, and would likely win you the hole the majority of the time. But if you've only got the one chance to hit that crisp faded long iron from the Ben Hogan plaque, of course you're going to take it.

The eighteenth hole.

Had to take a picture of the Ben Hogan plaque.

The eighteenth green, from behind.

I have to confess: Before my day out at Merion, I didn't really understand what the hoopla was all about. With many great golf courses, the reason for their greatness is pretty obvious. Yeah, of course Cypress Point is great, just look at it. Merion is a tightly routed parkland course crammed into a Philadelphia suburb, and even on the ground, it's not exactly impressive to look at. There are very few postcard views. And it's no strategic gem either (the fifth is an obvious exception).

So, what does make Merion so great? It's simple; Merion demands focus and execution on every shot. On most golf courses, even the really good ones that I've played, there are times when you simply don't have much to do. An easy tee shot where you're free to hit driver, a dull approach shot to an open green, things like that. Merion has nothing like that. To score at Merion, you need to carefully consider what you're doing at all times, and then you need to hit that shot precisely. It's a battle from start to finish, and if you have a good round here, you know that you've earned that score. Also, Merion is way hillier in person than it looks on TV, and that elevation change really adds a lot of interest.

Is it perfect? No, of course not. The fairways are weirdly mown, a casualty of a game that's grown beyond the course. And while the greens are clearly very good, I don't know if I'd call them great. Some are very good, like the eighth and seventeenth, while some are kind of indifferent (like the first). 

Even so, I left Merion fully confident that it was by a comfortable margin the best golf course I'd ever seen. Courses like Atlantic City, Southern Pines, or George Wright are great, but they're still nowhere close to Merion. It's just a shame that so few people will ever get the chance to play or even see it.