Merion in 1916 (and now 1930 too!)

[Joe Bausch]

In the past I've posted on here the diagram from the Daily Eagle that contained all 18 holes drawings by Flynn right before the 1916 National Amateur (and places like the Philadelphia Inquirer published them as well).  Recently I've come upon larger and better quality versions of the diagrams in the Daily Eagle, and in addition, hole descriptions as well.  The series of hole diagrams begins with an overview on the course, which is below.  In the following post I'll show all the hole diagrams and descriptions.

(click on the figure to expand if your browser doesn't automatically do so!)

[Joe Bausch]

The hole diagrams and descriptions.

(click on a diagram to expand it if your browser doesn't automatically do so!)

[Jed Peters]

Didn't Mackenzie design Merion?

[Mike Cirba]

Jed,

Nah...I think it was the dude who did Cobbs Creek.

[Jed Peters]

Jed,

Nah...I think it was the dude who did Cobbs Creek.

Ohhhh....that's the guy.

[Dan Herrmann]

Joe - You're amazing!

A bit off-topic, but don't these articles make you long for excellent golf coverage in local newspapers?

[Joe Bausch]

A bit off-topic, but don't these articles make you long for excellent golf coverage in local newspapers?

I would love for a similar type coverage now.  Say a nice group of drawings of Pebble with written descriptions... that would be fun for the US Open coming up.

[Mark McKeever]

Joe,

I really enjoy seeing how some of these holes have evolved.  Great information as always. 

I would love to play that original 13th...

Mark

[Sean_A]

Joe, I know its been said before, but it can't be said enough; yer a star.

Now, at the risk (and I hope it is very slight) of this blowing up in my face, can someone outline the basic hole changes after 1916; when and by whom?  I am sure that info is buried somewhere in the "archives", but it GCA.com is now a kinder, friendlier place and I was thinking it would be lovely if someone could top off Joe's post.

Ciao

[Mike Cirba]

Sean,

I don't have nearly as much knowledge of the specifics down to bunkers, etc. of Merion's changes over the years as do Wayne Morrison and Tom Paul, but I can give you my general understanding over the next couple of days as time permits if you're interested..

I'll try to use some contemporaneous news stories that describe some of the changes, as well.

I think we need to start with the understanding that even the 1916 course was quite a bit different than the 1912 course.   Four new complete greens had been rebuilt by that time, and most of the bunkering had been added after it opened in September 1912, much of it in 1915/16 after being awarded the US Amateur tournament in an attempt to "stiffen" the test for top players.

[TEPaul]

"Now, at the risk (and I hope it is very slight) of this blowing up in my face, can someone outline the basic hole changes after 1916; when and by whom?  I am sure that info is buried somewhere in the "archives", but it GCA.com is now a kinder, friendlier place and I was thinking it would be lovely if someone could top off Joe's post."


Sean:

Depending on what kind of hole by hole detail of changes made to Merion East between 1916 and 1934 one is interested in that would be a pretty big job to do on here.

The entire architectural or design evolution of Merion East was done by Wayne Morrison for the Flynn book. Just the section on the design evolution of Merion East in the Flynn book probably runs over a hundred pages complete with all the drawings and detailed explanations of major and minor changes over the years.

Basically the changes made to the course from 1916 to 1934 were by Hugh Wilson (until he died in 1925) and then carried on by William Flynn with the assistance of Merion's long time and very prominent greenkeeper Joe Valentine. Fortunately Merion has all the architectural drawings done by Flynn throughout that time span.

I have the whole thing on my computer and would be happy to answer any of your questions about specific hole changes and details but I cannot post the historic material on here so that's not going to happen. However if you have some selective questions I would be happy to consider answering some of them for you.

But as a basic sketch of say the greens, there are app seven of them that are pretty much as they were originally with 2-3 more that had some minor modifications of one kind or another. The rest underwent changes in placement and/or design to some larger degree.

And then there is the matter of the evolutionary bunkering of Merion East. I would say that one of the most important confirmations about the evolutionary design of Merion East that came about on GOLFCLUBATLAS by the inclusion of old newspaper reports is the fact that Wilson's trip abroad was not done in preparation for the routing of the course but done more for ideas on sort of the evolutionary "designing up" of the course with the inclusion of bunkering types and patterns that happened after the course was first "laid out" and grassed in the fall of 1911.

[TEPaul]

Sean:

I also have come to believe that the particular bunker style of Merion East, particularly the fairway bunker style, might be of some huge significance in the evolution of American architecture (on hard clay loam inland sites as oppose to sandy soil sites).

A good many years ago architect Ron Prichard told me that he believes Merion's bunker style just might be "the prototype for the generic American bunker style."

That right there is a very big and significant statement if one really thinks the whole thing through given the type of site and soil structure Merion is and the age of Merion.

And then, even though we have had it for years, we've begun to really analyze the meaning of the specifics of the only written statement we have from Hugh Wilson on architecture. It happens to be on bunkers and ironically it was never published----eg he actually crossed it out of the chapter he was doing on Merion East at the time because the subject was supposed to be only on the agronomic evolution of Merion from 1911 to 1916.

That written statement may be particularly appropriate to this particular thread since Wilson wrote that statement right around the end of 1915 or the beginning of 1916.

[Mike Cirba]

Sean/Tom,

I'd add that five of the original 1912 holes (and the 1916 US Amateur course) were almost wholly re-routed (four of them by 1924, and the fifth by 1930), and others like number 2 were slightly re-routed, as well.

I'd say all of those changes, with the loss of the old 13th being a possible exception, were for the better.

[Dan Boerger]

Mike - Do you think 15 today would be a more interesting hole if it had that fairway bunker? (I realize it's more a visual hazard, particularly for the better players, but with OOB left and the right side bunker as it's currently configured, it would tighten things up even more.) -Dan

[Mike Cirba]

Dan,

It looks to me like that bunker was conceptualized to direct play away from the road, which with today's green configuration is the preferred angle, especially to right-hand hole locations.   The way that bunker is angled made for a longer carry the further left one would go, so I'm not sure that the average player would have ever tried that route.

I think based on where it was proposed, the better players in the US Amateur would not have been affected by it either way, only the average club member, which is probably why it never was implemented.

[Sean_A]

Mike & Tom

I am not looking for a laundry list of details and supporting evidence.  Just a general overview of the holes which have radically changed or been replaced, perhaps why - I am assuming some changes necessitated other changes and when.  It looks like quite a bit changed, but its hard to know without comparing maps.  That is one of the problems with this looks of holes out of context of the routing.

I don't want to seem harsh or anything, but if folks can just allow Tom and Mike to get their thoughts down on this thread without some sort of mad dog fight, I would greatly appreciate it. I don't know Merion very well, but it was obvious from my visit that the place is special and I have a keen interest in learning something about its evolution after it became a "championship" course.

Ciao

[TEPaul]

Sean:

The holes that have been fairly radically changed are #1, #10, #11, #12, #13.

#1 and #13 because the club changed the driveway from coming off Club House Rd to coming off Ardmore Ave, and #10, #11 and #12 because they originally played right over Ardmore Ave. Plus the club picked up same additional acreage later that is where the second half of #11 and the first half of #12 is now.

[Joe Bausch]

Sean, here are some nice hole diagrams from 1930 for comparison purposes.  The front nine in this post.

[Joe Bausch]

And the back nine in 1930:

[Mike Cirba]

Sean,

Here is a series of articles between July 1915 and summer 1924 the changes to the golf course during that period, first in preparation for the 1916 US Amateur, and then for the 1924 event.

Hope this helps...

[Mike Cirba]

Here's another one from Joe Bausch, circa 1922 which states Merion and Hugh Wilson wanted to create the original 11 & 12 where they are today but weren't able to get the land at the time of the course's origin.