Merion
I’ve had the good fortune to be able to play Merion quite a few times. Above is a time I played with our buddie Kleckie, cousin Bill and Kleckie’s buddy, our host. Kleckie is a golf pro and we’ve played at my member guest. I had a 20-handicap on my home course so for any tournament I was getting a whole lot of candy from our flight. Now Kleckie is pretty easy to play with and will help you through your round so our first nine this one tournament I am playing lights out, kill our opponents because I hit a sub-40 nine. Second nine, again, I play lights out, we’re killing the field now. Third round I chunk my second shot into a bunker, leave it in there on the first try out and Kleckie is like, “C’mon buddy, let’s go.” I simply replied, “What part of my 20 handicap don’t you understand? You got all you’re gonna get from me buddy.” But I digress. Back to Merion.
Merion is amazingly shoe-horned into the smallest property of any top rated golf course in the country. It’s smack in the middle of a posh Main Line Philadelphia suburb. So the issue you have here is the dreaded “out of bounds.” There are literally instances where it goes fairway, second cut, out of bounds. Fifteen comes to mind. For the 2013 US Open, this is where Sergio carded a ten after yanking three OB. Here’s what he said about the first two, “I only hit one bad shot today and I made 10. My first shot was into the wind and it went out of bounds. My second one, I thought it was even better and it went out of bounds by five inches.” For a bogey golfer, this is frustrating. You can flat out miss the ball and be in better shape than if you hit a good shot, it moves a little left and boom you’re OB. There’s probably six or seven holes here where either your drive or approach or both flirt with OB on even a good shot and if you aim away from the trouble there are devilish bunkers to deal. That is a hallmark of good course design, I get it, but it does get frustrating.
The first tee here is great. For righties, you’re literally mooning the patrons on the deck behind you. No exaggeration, the tee is not even five feet from the veranda. And the eerie thing is, you hear the slight buzz and ding of glasses until you are at your final address and it goes silent. For lefties, everyone on the veranda winces as the golfer on the tee makes connection hoping he or she doesn’t toe it into their snapper soup.
I could honestly walk through every hole at Merion with you. Beyond playing it nearly ten times or so and having it on the Links game, I know it very well and each time I play it, I like it more and more. Despite the proximity of the homes and Ardmore Ave., there are spots on the course where you really forget where you are and it’s just you and the golf course. The conditioning, history, wicker baskets instead of flags, exclusivity, PGA/majors pedigree, awe factor, all make it a top 20 course.
My favorite holes are one, four, the green on five seems like it is a right triangle sloping into the creek, ten, all the par threes, 16 through 18. Yeah I have a lot of favorites here. The veranda is great and they’ll give you a frosted pewter mug for your post-round Miller Lite. This is a no-nonsense club though. My usual on-course shenanigans would get my host a letter or two so we keep it civil.
If you’re from out of the area and planning a golf trip to Philly, like in LA, it pays to be connected. The public options are limited, distant, or bad. Glen Mills is nice, AC Country Club is an hour away, and they are redoing Cobbs Creek which has potential. For now though, you need to navigate used syringes and empty Colt 45 quarts through the round. If you do have the connections, the private options in Philly are second to none. Merion, Aronimink, Philly Cricket (Wissahickon), Manufacturer’s, LLanerch to name a few that are really close in to the city. Pine Valley or Galloway at the shore are on the Jersey side.
If you want to do the cheesesteak thing, go down to South Philly to 9th and Passyunk and have half the group go to Pat’s and the other half to Geno’s. Right between them is the South Philly Bar and Grill. Grab a table and some beers, split the sandwiches and do the taste test. That is if our numbskull governor and mayor ever allow restaurants to re-open or haven’t bankrupted them all by then.
In the city, Butcher and Singer is my favorite steakhouse, the Saloon is a great vibe and does everything well, DelFrisco’s has a great franchise here, as does Capital Grille. Honestly, Philly has so many great options that depending on your flavor, you can get it here. That is if our Mayor and Governor don’t destroy it all first. Send a message if you’re going and I’ll steer you right.
For photos, this is a hodgepodge from different visits. I added a photo from the 2013 Open practice round in here as well.
Golf Scrapbook 