I liked Morgan Hill, you should too (now supercharged w/ pictures!)

[Kyle Harris]

Two weeks ago I had the priviledge of playing Morgan Hill in Easton, PA. Our own Kelly Blake Moran on the drawing table for it.

The course was a load of fun, even in the biting wind of the 40 degree day.

A note on the walkability: The site isn't walkable and the golf course is what it is because of the site. I didn't mind the lack of walkability as the golf presented on the routing was superb.

Some highlights:

The bunkering: I like the Raynor/Banks pastiche feel on a lot of the holes, and as I've noted in my latest blog entry, they were a directional hazard in nature and playing from them forced a decision as to just how much of the bunker lip you were willing to challenge to "fight for the angle" on the next shot.

I am also fond of the "cat scratch" look of a lot of the bunkers (the middle of the 5th hole comes to mind).

The greens: Extremely avante garde by some of the more subtle greens in the Philadelphia area, but they featured zones and nooks and crannies that an effective shot could nustle up next to a tucked pin to give you that warm feeling of a potential birdie. I was also particularly fond of several of the approach, especially on the par 3s - like the third. I was able to hit a low 3 iron to the collar on this 240 yard hole. This use of feature to give the wily golfer a shot using trajectory over brute force is appealing.

The balance: KBM gives you the shots here, you just need to make them. I was able to deck driver on the two par 5s on the back nine and get short chip shots into the greens. The par 4s range from drive and pitch to long brutes of elevation.

The lack of dilineation: In what may be my most amusing golf faux pau of the year so far, I was apparently aiming down the 1st hole on the 18th tee until Cory corrected me. To think, I was wondering why someone would put the hole sign in the line of play!

That's it, I'll go further into depth with more comments or to give the thread some life.

[Mike_Cirba]

Kyle,

I walked it last summer.

God I need to get back in shape.  

[Matt_Ward]

Kyle:

Morgan Hill, IMHO, goes beyond what Kelly achieved at Hawk Pointe. Given the utter severity of the land -- Moran was able to interplay a wide variety of holes that blend well. That's never easy when you have such a severe site to handle.

Some of my highlights --

*The unique shape and protection of mounds at the 1st. Long hitters can routinely get their in two but staying on the green is at best problematic. Miss left to avoid the off-set bunker near the green and the resulting pitch requires a Mickelson type touch.

*The split fairway at the 2nd is well done -- ditto the diagonally placed bunker.

*The 3rd is a gem of a long par-3 and the shape of the green makes a strong statement for accuracy.

*I really enjoyed the chain reaction bunker the dog-leg right uphill par-5 5th. The tee shot is everything on the hole. Get too far left or in the rough and the resulting carry over the fairway bunker becomes an issue. The green is also well done. A great example that a par-5 doesn't have to be a give-away type hole.

There are a number of other examples -- the only glaring weaknesses of the course -- the redundancy of the drop-shot par-3 -- you have two of them but only the first at the 7th really works. The 12th is simply a transition point hole from the top portion of the property to the botton.

You also have a very weak finishing hole. It simply is nothing more than pedestrian in my book.

Nonetheless, Morgan Hill is a definite must play for anyone venturing through the I-78 corridor between Pennsy and Jersey. No doubt the walkability issue is not present but the golf holes, routing and variety are all present.

Kudos to Moran for handling such a tough assignment with such design skill.

[Kyle Harris]

Matt,

You highlighted two things that I encountered during my round.

I attempted to reach the first in two and was just short... You're right, the resulting chip was exceptionally difficult.

The diagonal bunker on 2 also gobbled up my tee shot (still bewildered as to how it didn't feed down the hill, I hit a draw). I was upset (in a good way) that the bunker lip forced me to play out to the left in order to advance the ball to anywhere near the green. That sort of "forcing the golfer's hand" is something that's been lacking in golf in my experience.

[Matt_Ward]

Kyle:

One of the more underrated holes at Morgan Hill is the short par-4 8th. The guys in my group are quite strong off the tee and with a helping wind the hole can be driven -- however -- the slightest pull to the left and the resulting pitch to the green is as demanding, if not more demanding, than what you encounter with another gem of a short hole -- the par-4 6th at Pac Dunes.

Just like that hole -- the 8th at Morgan Hill places a huge premium on being away from the left side. The green is also quite deep so simply landing on it is no automatic two-putt for birdie should one actually drive it.

One other thing -- I know people have different takes on the downhill par-4 17th -- but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The longer hitter must deal with the bottleneck that pinches in with the water on the left and the close quarters you get on the right.

The green is also well done as it bends in so many ways. Too bad the finishing hole could not have added to the momentum of greatness you see with the 17th.

[Kyle Harris]

I liked 17... and the holes leading up to it. Being an ardent leftist player, I found more room down the left side than I thought was there, but the angle is awful. The areas around that green are very intriguing and should make for a much better replay. Once through is not enough and it's the first course in awhile that I wanted to walk straight to the first tee upon walking off 18.

18 was a good hole, too... more like a hole you'd see on a "flatter" course and, to me it didn't fit in with the rest of the second nine in that regard. Still a good finish though... on the flattest part of the property. Like I mentioned, I liked that lack of delineation off the tee as to the line of play.

[ed_getka]

Kyle and Matt,
   Thanks for the thread. I missed out golfing there with Kelly in the fall when he had a last minute meeting. Next trip I want to see it. Just out of curiosity what would you give the course on the Doak scale?

[Kyle Harris]

In my limited experience with the Doak Scale, it's a 5 or 6.

Whichever one is the "worth driving 100 miles to play" one.

[ed_getka]

Kyle,
   That is interesting. Driving 100 miles to play is a pretty serious course, and given the severe site, Kelly must have done something quite brilliant there. I look forward to seeing it.

[Kyle Harris]

Ed,

My field is quite limited. Though, this has some great stuff on it and it's in my top ten to date.

[redanman]

My love for this course is well documented, most recently played about two weeks ago.

I also have posted a slew of pictures.

I'm about 5 or 6 plays now, maybe 7.  Like it more each time .... rare for me.





(Hmmmmm Kyle, you and I should have talked.  HOwever, I played on a warmer day than you did and there were about a dozen people on a monday or wednesday, so I don't think we passed in the proverbial night.)

[Kyle Harris]

Cory Lewis and I played two Tuesdays ago.

[ed_getka]

Kyle et al,
   Is there a disparity between the two nines in how well the design worked out?

[John Foley]

Count me as another big fan of Morgan Hill.

The Par 3 3rd & 14th are incredibly strong. I love how on 3 you think the green is canted wrong. You want to say that if you oriented the green 90 degrees from where it is it would be a better hole, but it's not. I don't have a problem w/ 7 & 12 being similar. I also liked #9 which I think others have panned here before.

I enjoyed #10 alot. trying to figure which way to play it was fantastic and I also love how you see it on the drive in and your trying to fiure oiut what they hell that hole is!!

Love the side of the world feeling of 15. Looks like that playing field of a fairway goes on forever.

I hope to get out there in the next month while driving through the area.

Here is an aerial of the course for those who have not seen it. We need more bold, public access courses! Great Job Kelly!

[Mike_Cirba]

It's a course with no less than 3 GREAT par fives.  

How many courses can make that claim.

As you can see in John's aerial, holes 5, 13, and 15 are a center bunker lover's nirvana.

The first ain't bad either.

[Mike_Cirba]

btw, anyone who said it was "unwalkable" is obviously talking much more about the elevation changes than the intimacy of the routing, as you can clearly see.

[Kyle Harris]

Mike,

That first bunker on the right side of 13 has since been removed. Having never played it with the bunker, I can't say for sure, but I think removing that bunker opened up more options.

Ed Getka,

The disparity in the nines is mainly in the severity of the terrain, and in that case, it's really more of a "Front 10, Back 8." As you can see in the aerial, the tenth is the hole that returns somewhat close to the clubhouse. Holes 11-17 comprise the most severe part of the terrain and holes 1-3, 18 and 13-16 are on opposite sides of the ridge with the peak being 17th tee.

John Foley,

Thanks for the aerial!

[ed_getka]

John,
   Thanks for the aerial work, very helpful in seeing what is going on.

What is the deal with the bunkers parallel to the line of play? I've never seen that before. Has anyone talked to Kelly about it?

[Kyle Harris]

Ed,

They're actually very interesting. Their depth and direction compound the shot and forces a line that may or may not be less than ideal.

The bunkers on 5, 11 and 13 especially have this affect. It's an interesting "hazard within a hazard."

[Tom_Doak]

John Foley:  I second the thank you for the aerial.  I've read several threads about this course and yet (other than the fact it's hilly) gotten little impression about what made it noteworthy.  The photo makes it clear that it is indeed something different.

Kyle:  Tell me a bit more about those bunkers that look like claw marks.  Are they set into a slope so you see into them, or on relatively flat ground?  How deep are they, and how high are the ridges which separate them?  One thing they clearly do is force you to lay well back if you're uncertain of carrying them, which a narrow strip bunker perpendicular to play does not.

[ed_getka]

Thats a good point about the carry I hadn't thought of. My first thought was wondering how much they affect going for the green since they seem to point at the green in general.

[Kyle Harris]

John Foley:  I second the thank you for the aerial.  I've read several threads about this course and yet (other than the fact it's hilly) gotten little impression about what made it noteworthy.  The photo makes it clear that it is indeed something different.

Kyle:  Tell me a bit more about those bunkers that look like claw marks.  Are they set into a slope so you see into them, or on relatively flat ground?  How deep are they, and how high are the ridges which separate them?  One thing they clearly do is force you to lay well back if you're uncertain of carrying them, which a narrow strip bunker perpendicular to play does not.

Tom, most are waist-shoulder deep. You can definitely see out of them. Seemed just deep enough to give me pause at hitting anything lower than a 6-iron but that depended on my position within the bunker itself - as I mentioned, the had the tendency to force your hand if you got overly aggressive. The ridges between them, for the most part, are at grade with the rest of the fairway. As for your first question, it depends. You can see the whole complex from back in the fifth fairway. From the 11th tee, you can see snippets of the bunker but the first timer would be hard pressed to realize they were all contiguous. On 13, since I went for the green in two, I wasn't paying attention to their presentation from the fairway but based on my memory, they weren't visible from where my tee shot was (just above the first fairway bunker that isn't there anymore).

[Dan Herrmann]

We should have an outing there sometime this summer.  

[Craig_Rokke]

I think the course gives you a lot to like. It's on a pretty
wild and wooly piece of mountainous property. The views
are great, and the course is quite good. The driving range--well that's another story.

A couple of you guys mentioned the par 3 3rd hole. We had a rather unusual experience happen with that one. All four
of us hit shots with different flight paths and trajectories.
Yet when we got the the green, all 4 had funneled down to the same area on the putting surface. You could have thrown a Queen-size comforter down and covered all 4 balls. We all
faced very undulating putts in the 20-30' range, and unfortunately, I believe all four of us ended up with bogeys.
Is this "funneling effect" on the 3rd green the norm?

[Mike_Sweeney]

I would be curious to hear what
people thought of 18 green. Is it
too much or clever? We played the back
9 in the rain, so by the time we got
there we were ready for a beer.

I am sure that some here would not
like # 10 due to the earth movement,
but I thought it was a great
hole with great strategy.