In August [2009] I had the good fortune to play Merchantville CC, a nifty little 9-hole course near Cherry Hill, NJ. I believe it is one of the older clubs in the country, starting in 1892. Curiously, the architectural history of the course is not well known. If I was a betting man, I wouldn't be surprised if Alex Findlay was involved at some point.
On the Golf Association of Philadelphia web page is this fun read of some of the history of MCC:
When the papers of incorporation were signed on October 13,1892, what is now the Merchantville Country Club was the Merchantville Field Club. John B. Morton was the moving force behind the formation of the Field Club. Working with him in gaining the support of the townsfolk were Frederick W. Klein and John P. Burleigh.
The original clubhouse is today the Merchantville Community Center, and the lawn in front of it, at Greenleigh Court and Somerset Street, was the club’s first playing field. On it were a baseball diamond, a football gridiron, and a cricket pitch. And if there may have been some overlapping of the three, the baseball diamond, complete with a large grandstand and changing rooms for the players, was considered among the finest in South Jersey at that time.
Golf didn’t get its start at Merchantville until 1897, and then, as at Moorestown, it was greeted with apathy. Perhaps the rudimentary nature of the "course"—tin cans sunk in holes at the extreme ends of the field—had something to do with this. But William Craig and William Stelwagon, the town’s first golfers, urged their clubmates to give it a try. Soon the game began to catch on. When additional land was acquired just after the turn of the century and a full nine holes routed over it, golf was on its way to becoming the principal diversion at Merchantville.
The club earned some national attention in 1910, when Philadelphia-born-and-bred Johnny McDermott, Merchantville’s golf professional, came to the fore in the U.S. Open. Very like 50 years later, another professional, Al Besselink, who learned the game on this old nine, would make his mark on the PGA Tour. It is said that 16 golf professionals, among them two Besselinks and five Midiris, acquired their knowledge of the game and their affection for it while growing up in this tiny township, which covers just one square mile.
Over the years the course would be improved and toughened. Though generally spoken of as a nine-hole layout, Merchantville actually would come to have 11 greens, and the second time around the course is not a simple repetition of the first. For instance, the 3rd and the 12th are completely different holes. And though the 4th and 13th, both short par 4s, share a common fairway, the approach shots are played to separate greens. Laid out on some 55 acres, the course measures just over 6,000 yards from the regular tees, 6,231 yards from the blue tees; par is 72. Chiefly because of the drainage ditches on every hole, the slope is a stiff 138.
Despite not being permitted to serve alcoholic beverages—Merchantville has remained a dry township—the club managed to hold its own through the difficult days of the Depression and World War II. But after the name had been changed to Merchantville Country Club, in the mid-50s a decision was made to build a new clubhouse and locate it on the other side of the course, in Cherry Hill. Here a liquor license was obtained. Merchantville thus provides what must be a very rare instance of a club changing both its name and its location (or, at the very least, its address) while continuing to play the same golf holes.The most recent rating of the course has it playing 71.2/135 at a yardage of 6204. Here is the routing:
#1. MCC opens with a par 5 (505 yards) that bigger hitters will be tempted to reach in two. However, the FW is narrow and tree-lined, and just before the green is a creek, then two large fronting bunkers.
#2. The No 1 handicap hole on the course, and perhaps my favorite, is this 575 yard par 5. The same creek is in play for the duffer off the tee, then for everybody about 175 yards short of the green. There is OB left, and a fun two-tiered green.
#3. At this par 3 there are two different greens. The left green plays around 140 yards:
And here is the view from behind of the green to the right, playing about 130 yards:
#4. This par 4 also has two greens. Here is the view from the tee, where the left green is visible, the right green is not:
A well-placed tee shot to the right part of the FW is ideal to get at the left green. The right green is visible here too, but the place to be in the FW is farther left as there is a big tree the causes access problems.
The left green is small and guarded with bunkers and mounding:
The right green requires a precise shot:
A view from long and right of the right green:
#5. A short par 4 with bends a little left. Big hitters might try to knock it on (325 yards).
#6. A longish par 3 (203 yards) to a small green:
#7. A short par 4 (289 yards) where a lay-up shot off the tee is the prudent play as that pesky creek crosses just short of the green.
#8. This slight dogleg right par 4 (354 yards) has perhaps the most difficult tee shot as there is OB left and the FW cants to the right where the creek runs, separating the 8th and 9th fairways:
#9: a slight dogleg right par 4 (403 yards) where the tee shot feels the most open on the course. The creek bends a little to the right so a good line is right over the bridge:
Looking back to the tees, this FW leans pretty hard to the creek too:
A good drive leaves a look like this for a short iron in, with the relatively new clubhouse in the background:
The Philly area is fortunate to have a few wonderful 9 hole courses. I look forward to playing Merchantville again, perhaps in the McDermott Cup, an event on the drawing board to start next golf season. The supe should be commended at MCC as the conditioning is excellent, in particular the greens.
The same day I played Merchantville, I also played the nearby Moorestown Field Club, another fun 9-holer that KBM has been doing some work on for the last couple of years. I'll try to start a separate photo tour thread on Moorestown next week.
EDIT: an updated album from my round last Sunday is here:
http://xchem.villanova.edu/~bausch/images/albums/Merchantville/