.....looks like it's pretty close to ideal for a major national championship right now a little more than three months before the US Amateur. The way that course is playing looks to me like it will create a real spread or wide spectrum in qualifying scores. It will take a very experienced and talented amateur to score well on that course, in my opinion. How about two par 4s that are over 500 yards each? If the greens are the way they are now---and I'm sure they will be a bit more so in the Amateur it will be pretty hard to make a lot of birdie putts, in my opinion. If anyone wants to putt aggressively on that course they'll pretty much have to stay below or on a level with all the cups.

And I sure hope Merion will show well in the 2005 US Amateur, and it looks like it will, because if it does it'll probably get the US Open again.

Pat -
Although I'll let TEPaul give you the latest and greatest, i know they've been taking out the fairway lines, with the most notable being on #5 and 14. The fairway on 5 now encompasses the approach bunker, and the fairway on 14 has been taking out to the bunkers. Shaffer's doing gangbuster work down there. He's a regular Giusseppe Valentini

Some fairways have been slightly expanded, the most notable being along the entire right side of #5. Some along the right of #2 and the left of #6. Where the fairway has been expanded on various holes is still very identifiable as the expansion areas are still noticeably darker. Many of the fairway expansions cut much closer into the bunkering.

redanman:

Would the difficultly of the course be the same for the US amateur contestants from 6300yds vs almost 7000yds? I think you can probably figure that one out without any help from me. The hole that will be a lot harder, in my opinion, is the par 4 #5 from the new back tee at 504 yards. It's a pretty awesome looking hole from 75 yards farther back and a tee that's quite a bit higher.

Patrick:

It would be very interesting to see how Merion would play if the club added about 50% more fairway area which would take the fairway acreage back out to where it once may've been. That would certainly not make the course play as difficult for out of angle shots as it does from out of the rough that's now in some of those old flanking areas. It would be very interesting to see how holes #8, #10, #11, #14, #16 and #18 would play if their fairway area was virtually doubled!

TEP

Wouldn't widening out #5 to the right make the hole easier?

PS--Of course, "easier" is a relative term, and my experience of the hole is limited, although remembered fondly.

This is the one major potential drawback of all fairway width discussions isn't it? There was some talk on here after the Masters about how the second cut keeps balls "in play" therefore making the course easier because the player now has a clear shot to the green from very light rough. I've not been to Augusta to comment specifically but in virtually every instance playing out of the rough will be more difficult than playing from the fairway.

Re: #5 at Merion, This sounds like a beneficial move on a hole that offers such a high degree of challenge for every caliber of player. For a US Am type player, this will certainly give them a bit more room to drive the ball, but the approach from this angle is extremely difficult to get on the green due to the slope of both the fairway and green. The closer you are to the creek on the left, the more receptive the green is. For club players this should just give them a bit more room to drive the ball (which is always a good thing IMO) without comprimising the integrity of the hole in the least.

I guess my answer to your question is Yes, and it also probably improves the hole as well.

redanman,

Just out of curiosity, which hole at Merion might play easier when approached from a substantially longer distance?

Are there any holes anywhere that fit that criteria?

Played Merion yesterday; greens are FAST!!; rough is THICK although ball is find-able therein; bunkers are dfficult (the way Hugh Wilson intended); wider fairways on #'s 2,5,14 & 18 don't give away much as 1) the adjacent rough is VERY deep, 2) the slightly firmer fairways create somewhat more sideways roll towards the rough (see below) and 3) the length of the approach from those reclaimed fairway areas is now being hit to VERY fast greens - #5 being the poster child.

Course is still not really "firm and fast" except on the greens themselves (aerial game still required on virtually all approaches) but it is very noticeably less soft than in the last 40+ years.  Also, drives do roll off the fairway (and into the rough) more frequently where there is any pitch to the ground (e.g. #'s 4 (left), 5 (left), 7 (right), 10 (long and right), 12 (long/left - uphill, too!), 14 (right), and 18 (left).  This, of course, demands more precision than before.

Chipping around the greens is quite difficult (deep rough) - this is not a Pinehurst #2 set-up.

Bring your "A" game.

Chip,

Sorry we missed each other yesterday.  I was at Merion with Bill Dow, Tom Paul and a friend of Bill's from Maryland.  Tom mostly walked and putted; he's too stubborn and lazy to rehab his shoulder.  He did hit a beautiful approach to 4 feet on eight,  winced in pain and lit another cigarette.  

Hope all is well and we see each other sometime soon.

Those greens were fast!  I love the way the course is set up.  The grass in the rough will be a lot tougher later in the year.  For now, the new spring grasses cause the ball to sit down but it isn't quite so difficult to get out just yet.  It sure will be for the Amateur.  Those guys better bring a sharp game and a sharp mind.  They'll definitely need both!

I'm still not in complete accord with you on bunker depth, but hey...there's too much agreement to dwell on the one matter.
Best regards,
Wayne

"TEP
Wouldn't widening out #5 to the right make the hole easier?"

Rich:

I think you could probably legitimately say that. But as I think you also said it does make for some increased and interesting options, particularly on the approach shot. You're right, "easier" is a relative term particularly the 5th at Merion East as a par 4 from 504 yards. No matter how much fairway area that hole has it's never going to be remotely "easy" for anyone. I just hope it's not too hard from back there even with the increased fairway area on the right. It probably would be without it though. Raw distance has never been what that hole is all about---that's for sure. Even at 350 yards good players would still have a hard time approaching, recovering to or putting on that green.

Wayne and Tom:

Now I KNOW it's time to make an opthamologist appointment.

I saw Bill Dow and his group on the first tee while I was having lunch but clearly can't see well enough to spot other friends when they're also on the scene.

I'll make the eye doctor call on Monday.

If I can ask some innocent questions, as I don't know much about Merion--

1.  When the course was built, did Wilson and Flynn have set fairway widths, and/or rough heights, and have the fairway widths increased or decreased over the past 85 years or so?  

2.  (Related to #1); I don't know how the course plays, or how good players play it, but in the case of just bringing the fairways in and rough up--ok, it's an automatic pitch-out, especially where the ball sits down.  But, would it provide for more exciting competition if competitors had the option to attempt to advance the ball?  

From what I read about the greens there, they are rather fast, so I'll take an educated guess that a shot from the rough may or may not hold the green.  

3.  I haven't been able to ascertain from this post-are the fairway bunkers in the fairway here, or are they several yards out, in the rough?  

4.  What are the standards for rough height here, for member play and for championships?  What will the primary rough be cut at?  

I'm just curious--thankfully, we'll get to walk it in the Amateur.  

Thanks, all who may answer.  

DRB

SPDB,

The problem that I have with your description is that it would partially defeat the architecture, the design intent of the hole, the risk / reward of the drive, wherein, riskier tee shots hit closer to the left side creek are rewarded with the optimal angle of attack into a green that slopes predominantly right to left.

ANY reduction in fairway width on the left, near the creek would be harmful to the integrity of the design.

A.  By providing a "catch" buffer of rough near the creek.
B.  By forcing tee shots to less then optimal angles of attack.

If what you say is true, then Merion and the USGA don't understand the inherent concept of the hole's design.

Merion's fairways have obviously had their lines reworked some (it's very obvious to see right now because the reworked fairway lines were sodded and those areas are a bit darker). Maybe they did compensate by letting the rough grow in on the other side (that's not possible to see now). I don't know if their total fairway acreage increased or decreased or stayed the same. What I do know is the fairway line reworking was done to bring some bunkering more into play as it will be easier for balls to get in those bunkers. Most bunkers do have a ribbon of rough around them on the incoming sides but it it pretty narrow.

As far as resizing the fairways of Merion East back to the way they once were decades ago or to what some may call the courses "original intent", forget about that for now. In the broad scheme of things today I'd describe Merion's fairways as normal width, not wide and not narrow.

As far as taking them back out to those old "standard" widths of decades ago which were 50-60 yards wide forget about that for something like this US Amateur. Merion has had enough problems with the perception of whether or not it can still stand up to real quality players today. The fairway widths Merion will have for the US Amateur are the widths that the USGA has used for a long time now. This is definitely not the time to recommend that Merion's fairways be expanded back out to 50-60 yards.

If they did that of course a US Amateur field will score better, maybe a whole lot better even if they are way out of angle on a far corner of a fairway.

There's no question at all that the rough that will be in those 15-30 yards areas where fairway once was will effect scoring.

Everyone around Merion now understands this US Amateur is going to be a major-league litmus test for that golf course. Everyone knows the USGA will be watching this tournament scoring outcome like a hawk. If the course perfoms really well in this US Amateur my sense right now is that that will be something like the first step for a future US Open to come back to Merion. If the course does not perform well in this US Amateur that possibly will probably be gone forever.

#5 is probably the biggest net fairway expansion on the course all along the right side and out and AROUND that carry bunker by the green but I can tell you standing back on that new tee at 504 yards as a par 4 that expanded fairway doesn't look so wide anymore!  

#5 just may be one of the truly great real natural landform golf holes in the world. As a golf hole in look and strategy it's just totally sublime!

"Flynn wanted to put in a bunker on the left side, and Tom, Bill and I all thought it was a great idea."

Wayne:

I think either you or I may've told this story about the 14th hole and that left fairway bunker idea before but here it is again anyway because in the broad scheme of things over time it is an interesting twist or turn-about.

In one of the US Opens, probably 1971, Merion, I think Bill Kittleman and the green chairman, Bill Stitt (a guy from Oakmont who is Emil Loeffler's nephew), wanted to put the bunker in there for the Open. Of course, as we know, and Bill Kittleman and Bill Stitt probably know but most others may not, Flynn did propose a bunker fairway left on that hole and we have the drawing to prove it.

But when the USGA heard about Merion thinking of putting a bunker in there the word came down from them to Merion that if Merion did something like that with a great course like Merion East (touch it that way) they (USGA) would not bring the US Open to Merion. So it never happened. I guess few realize today that the USGA was ever that kind of "purist".

But I think a bunker in there would be great. It would be even better if fairway was on all sides around it too---although that is not the way Flynn had it on that drawing.

Wait till Mayday sees this idea. He's say it's a terrible idea because Flynn never actually did it even if he proposed it on a drawing. What are you doing next Friday night, Wayne? Want me to make a reservation for a booth at some local dinner?