Greetings from Merion

[MilfordHusky]

Your Man in London is now in the historic area where we declared our independence from Britain. Independence Hall, just 3 blocks from my hotel, is the site of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It is also where the U.S. Constitution was debated and approved. The collection of Founding Fathers included a starting lineup of Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin. Plaques in front of the building note that Abraham Lincoln and John Kennedy spoke there. I personally heard President Ford speak there on July 4, 1976.

There is another historic spot about 15 miles to the West: The site of the only Grand Slam in golf, by Bobby Jones in 1930; the course where the legendary Ben Hogan came back from a nearly fatal car crash to win yet another U.S. Open; the location where Lee Trevino threw a rubber snake at/to Jack Nicklaus before beating the great Golden bear in a U.S. Open playoff; the venue for the 2013 U.S. Open.

Because of its history and course design, Merion is a truly special place and one of the oldest clubs in the nation, along Philadelphia's Main Line. The uniqueness is obvious just from driving by down Ardmore Avenue, which bisects the course, when you see not flagsticks, but sticks with wicker baskets atop them. (They look almost like beehives.) They are intended to keep players from discerning wind velocity and direction. The white-faced bunkers with large tufts of grass in them are also signatures of this grand old course. And bronze plaques mark Jones' Grand Slam on the 11th tee and Hogan's famous 1-iron from the fairway on the 72nd hole.

Merion East also hosted the 1981 Open, won by David Graham, who incredibly hit all 18 greens in regulation in the final round. It has been 32 years, largely because most people thought that modern equipment had rendered Merion too easy because of its lack of length. The course is set among old multi-million dollar homes, so finding land to lengthen the course was nearly impossible. Somehow, by moving tees on certain holes, including the famous 18th, Merion has upped the yardage from about 6,500 to 6,900 plus. While this is still short by today's standards, the last Open venue under 7,000 yards was Shinnecock Hills, which bedeviled the best players in the world in 2004. The ultra-soft conditions from several inches of rain in the last week may make Merion play easier than hoped, but look for the teeth of the great course, combined with USGA measures, to make it an excellent test of golf by the time that four rounds are completed.

The USGA has just announced a planned resumption of play after a 3+ hour rain delay, so I'm heading out to the Main Line again. Don't be misled by low scores early. The last 5 holes are brutal. The last 2 are a 247-yard par 3 and a 521-yard finishing par 4. Both traverse the famous Merion quarry (16 is known as the Quarry Hole). Any loose shots on the closing holes likely will lead to bogey or worse.

More later....

 

[RadyLady]

thank you for this!

 

[arty155]

Broke my glasses this morning. So I’ll be quick. This is worse than I thought. Real sorry to read you got sent up to Marion. I still don’t think organizing that ticket scalping ring was such a bad idea. Just next time you decide to sell em right in front of a dog mascot, for gawd sake, make sure it isn’t McGruff. Tell us where we can mail cigarettes. Don’t tell em nothin.

 

[Blakeon18]

As an 'olde-timer' I find this incredibly cool. An announcer said that one of the players [forgotten his name] is the great nephew....or just plain nephew
of Jay Silverheels. Jay played the role of Tonto in the TV series The Lone Ranger.

Milford: great stuff....keep it coming.

 

[calpedaler]

Meghan Gardler ‏@MeghanGardler 1h
Heading to the Open- this no phone rule is for the birds

 

[cohenzone]

As an 'olde-timer' I find this incredibly cool. An announcer said that one of the players [forgotten his name] is the great nephew....or just plain nephew
of Jay Silverheels. Jay played the role of Tonto in the TV series The Lone Ranger.

Milford: great stuff....keep it coming.

First off, to Milford, great report.

Second, many a time on a backed up course have I longed to see at least one lone ranger, masked or otherwise, push the mob along. In a pinch, Tonto would do. As an aside, I was in NYC last weekend and visited the Paley TV and Radio museum where I listened to the 20th anniversary Lone Ranger radio show where the masked man kills the founder of the Cavendish gang. I'm not so old that I remember the radio show, but I'll bet I didn't miss an episode of the Sat. morning TV show.

 

[MilfordHusky]

I was on the course the last 3 days, but am taking a break today, as my son's friend's friend is using my tickets. I also was at the 1981 Open here (my first of 12 so far).

Some thought the course would play too easy because of the lack of length and the soft greens, but the lead is -3 and only 6 players are under par, so it's just about right for an Open. And it probably will get harder, especially if the USGA wants it to. The 110-yard 13th looked like a true birdie hole yesterday--but a bogey hole if you missed the green. The 350-yard opening hole was much harder than it looked, as Tiger and a bunch of other highly ranked players made bogeys. The 370-yard 11th was also much harder than it looked. From what I saw--12 players, 5 bogeys, 7 pars, 0 birdies--it was clearly a bogey hole for anyone who missed the fairway. The 320-yard 10th was not as easy as it looked, though I saw only one bogey. Despite most players having approaches of less than 80 yards, I saw very few made birdies until the last group I watched (all 3 players recorded threes). The 480-yard 6th was brutal, from what I saw--5 bogeys from the first 6 players, none of whom hit the green in regulation. Two players only reached the crosswalk from the rough on their 2nd shots from the rough. If you say Lee Westwood airmail his approach into the grandstands, I was 4 people to the viewer's right of the young guy who caught it in the air. Lee gave him an autographed ball after finishing the hole. The crowd was urging Lee to give him a club--or a Rolex.

In short, almost every hole is a potential bogey hole. A shot loosely played creates a big problem and invariably leads to bogey--or worse. The graduated rough along the fairways is not deep enough for my taste, but farther in or around the greens, it is at least 5" and growing at 1/2" per day. In spots, the fescue is over 2' deep. There are mounds about 4' in height along the 16th fairway. Add fescue of another 4', and it would be possible to lose your caddie in there. Good golf shots will be rewarded. Mediocre shots will be penalized. As it should be.