Photo of 14th green at Merion

[Rick Sides]

Does anyone have a picture of the 14th green at Merion?  I love the mound it has in the middle of the green.

[Adam Clayman]

Rick, Do you mean the mound to the left of the middle of the green? If so, I too thought it was an interesting feature, allowing for creative shots played to all sorts pins. My understanding is that mound use to be a bunker.

[Sean_A]

Rick

You must be a righteous man/


Ciao

[Chip Gaskins]

another view from the fairway...

[Rick Sides]

That mound is exactly what I was talking about.  I think it used to be a bunker?  It is a great feature. The day I played it, a mna in my group found himself on the wrong side of the mound and had to putt over it to a pin on the other side.  He hit the putt  and it came off the mound  with a lot of speed and the caddy said to me, "watch this it will slow down right before the hole." and sure enough it stopped within a foot. Great feature!!!

[Dan Herrmann]

Rick,
I really don't like the mound because I think it feels out of place at Merion.    There's nothing like it anywhere else on the course.

[Rick Sides]

Dan,
That's a great point.  Most of Merion's green have subtle breaks and this green is a bit different.  If Merion had a lot of unusual greens this would fit nicely.  I think originally it was not suppose to be part of the green. Does anyone know when it was added?

[James Bennett]

from near the green.  Note the considerable amount of short grass nearby.  Not in play as much as the mound on TOC #4, and not as severe, but the same short grass.  A shot played to the wrong side of the mound would (I expect) finish quite a distance away.



James B

[David_Elvins]

Rick,
I really don't like the mound because I think it feels out of place at Merion.    There's nothing like it anywhere else on the course.

There are several interesting features at Merion that seem out of place with the rest of the course - the berm at the back of 16 green, the grass bunkers on 17 (and maybe the two tier green on 17) are a couple of features and I am sure there might be a couple more that I am forgetting.  To me it is almost a case that there are so many out of character features that they are in character.

[Sean_A]

Rick,
I really don't like the mound because I think it feels out of place at Merion.    There's nothing like it anywhere else on the course.

There are several interesting features at Merion that seem out of place with the rest of the course - the berm at the back of 16 green, the grass bunkers on 17 (and maybe the two tier green on 17) are a couple of features and I am sure there might be a couple more that I am forgetting.  To me it is almost a case that there are so many out of character features that they are in character.

David

I think you are right.  I was knocked out by the centreline fairway bunker on #5.  It was the only bunker I can recall not entrenched by rough.


The 15th tee flowing into the 16th fairway is truly unique.


One can't say the 4th green complex isn't just downright bizarre.


Out of nowhere, a flashed bunker.


The virtually apronless 3rd.


If Merion is anything, it is a collection of little oddities which work well together.  I bet folks miss half the odd visual stuff going on there.

Ciao

[Dan Herrmann]

Sean,
Do you think 14 would be better with a bunker or with the mound you see today?

And, is safety of the nearby Gold House Road a factor?  (I don't think so, since it's a very lightly traveled road with a low speed limit, but I'm (totally) guessing it was a factor in the mound construction.)

Say - when WAS that mound built?

[Chip Gaskins]

Here is maybe a better picture:



Though I have been burned at the stake for my views on Merion, #14 is probably my favorite hole there.  It is a bit of a Cape hole (at least strategically) on how much to try and bite off on the left and the approach (if playing firm) is the best on the course.  I agree with the folks that say the mound is potentially out of place with the rest of the greens but I personally think it makes the entire hole.  My British buddy who putts from anywhere inside 100 yards ended up way left for a way right pin.  It was fun to watch him try to pull it off.  I just love this hole!

[D_Malley]

the left fairway bunker on #16 in pic above. amazing how far into the rough it is.  it looks out of place in that photo.  i do know that it sits several feet below the fairway level.

[Matt OBrien]

15 flowing into 16 is the ladies aid and also for the shorter hitters who dont want thier ball to end up in the quarry.

[Mike_Cirba]

the left fairway bunker on #16 in pic above. amazing how far into the rough it is.  it looks out of place in that photo.  i do know that it sits several feet below the fairway level.

The left side is a bit much.

If one ends up there, as I did recently, you really need to just punch out to the fairway, unfortunately.

The large tree standing between you and the green is sort of the golf equivalent of Manute Bol, especially from a lie in the rough.

However, if it were maintained as fairway out to the bunker, it would be a much more "attemptable" approach shot, which would ultimately yield much more interesting and exciting results.

[Mike_Cirba]

I'd also be remiss not to mention without offending anyone's sensibilities that the tumorous pimple growing out of the left-hand side of the 14th green has as much to do with Merion's wonderfully historic and classic architecture as....oh...nevermind!   

[Adam Clayman]

Mike, Considering there are few opportunities to play ground game shots around the many of the greens, the pimple adds a variety which accentuates the whole. It may not be an original feature but could easily be viewed as a an improvement. It's simple and elegant. Surely, the changes Flynn made to the course over his years, had little to do with it's history until they were made. I'm not saying he made this change, I do not know, but I know my first reaction upon seeing it was a positive one. There's only so many bunkers one can take before the sequencing can become repetitive.

[Mike_Cirba]

Adam,

Although I don't necessarily agree, you do bring up an interesting point about Merion.

In essence, there are only a handful of holes where one could logically putt or bump-and run from an appreciable distance onto a green, and then, almost always (except for left of 14) from the very front angle.

Those include 1, 2, 5, 6, 10 (from the preferred right-hand angle), 12 (if you are deranged and troubled), 14, and 18.

[Adam Clayman]

Mike, I wasn't thinking about appreciable distances. More like green side misses or features that are usable to feed one's ball.

I happen to hit a high right drive out into the browned out rough. While I perused the hole walking to my ball is when I first saw the knob. It literally brought a smile to my face because I am biased to ground game features and I knew I could then play a nice fade into that  knob and have a chance to be on the green. As I was arriving to my ball I was still carrying my driver and my caddy was waiting for me. About 15 yards away I asked him "what are we 210?" He said "sounds about right" I said " What do you think about driver off the deck here?" he said " I don't" I said, "I didn't think so" and proceeded to step immediately up to the ball still with the driver, took a swagger and hit a 210 yard fade to the middle of the green. Now I don't know if the knob affected my shot, but having it there sure did make the shot in my mind's eye workable and likely gave me the confidence to pull it off. Wayne and Craig struggled up the left side the whole hole and when we finally met back up at the green Ol Wayno started opining about the feature. I just shook my head and chalked it up to personal preferences because I thought it cool and reminiscent of the knob on the 13th at Pacific Grove and a bygone era where gc architecture was less complicated and less dictated.

[Sean_A]

Sean,
Do you think 14 would be better with a bunker or with the mound you see today?

And, is safety of the nearby Gold House Road a factor?  (I don't think so, since it's a very lightly traveled road with a low speed limit, but I'm (totally) guessing it was a factor in the mound construction.)

Say - when WAS that mound built?

Dan

I can't believe you asked me that question.  When a course has as many bunkers as Merion does, especially with so many stranded out in the soup, there is not a snowball's chance in hell I am going to vote for another bunker.  I don't mind the hump at all.  My only concern was if balls can karoom off that thing into the road.

Matt 

15 flowing into 16 is the ladies aid and also for the shorter hitters who dont want thier ball to end up in the quarry.

I can recall asking Wayne the Grayne Morrison if folks use that funky fairway up toward the tee.  Its another feature which grabs the eye. 

The more I look at the pix the more I lament the state of the rough.  I think the course could be so much more fun if the fairways were brought out to the bunkering.  Its a real shame.

Ciao

[Dan Herrmann]

You know, I always thought of the #14 pimple as a "Mini-Me" version of #8's BIG mound at Augusta National.

[Dan Boerger]

What always gets me about Merion, as these pictures show, is the same thing that gets me about Pine Valley. Unless you are a professional (or close to it), it's near impossible to make par if your tee shot finds the rough. It is the most consistently kept penal rough I have encountered. As has been pointed out on this website many times, it also a course that requires just about every type of shot and near perfect concentration. I recall once walking to the 14th tee 6 over par and then carding an 88 for the round -- that's how penal those last 5 holes can be.

[Gary Gruber]

During a recent round at Merion I was led to believe that this mound may be removed.

[Rory Connaughton]

Has anyone seen green side mounds employed in a similar manner by Flynn?
The fifth at Lancaster has one though it is much smaller and the hole is otherwise dis-similar to 14 at Merion.

[JESII]

There is a mound to the right side of the 8th on the C-Nine at Huntingdon Valley that may be a bit smaller then the one at Merion, but not too much.

The one at Merion is up into the green a bit...almost protecting the back left pin more than built as a kicker onto the green...not that it cannot kick balls onto the green.

I must admit, I preferred the bunker to this mound...there are probably 50 bunkers I could take out at Merion, but I think the removal of this one did not help the hole.