What Sucked about Merion This Week?

[JNC Lyon]

So obviously I enjoyed the U.S. Open immensely, and I thought Merion was a great venue for it.  But, I'd like for GCA to be more than Merion lovefest from the City of Brotherly Love.  So I ask honestly of you: what sucked about Merion this week?  How could this have been more a more interesting tournament?  Should they have widened the fairways?  Should they shortened things up so guys could take a run at Lee Mackey Jr.'s record?  Should they have played the West Course instead?  Unleash your best (and worst) on the venue that was MERION.

[Eric Smith]

John,

I think it would be interesting to see what the outcome would've been had all of the greens been cut to the same height as at the 5th.

[Wade Whitehead]

Fans couldn't spectate on the 11th green or 17th tee (and lots of other places, but those two real bummers).  There was no way to get close to the tenth green, either (save for the USGA staff that frequently stood behind the putting surface blocking the view for folks trying to see from #2).

All were unavoidable thanks to the routing, but I'm just trying to answer your question.

WW

[Mark McKeever]

The shots that missed the fairway by a foot were still finding an okay lie.  

[BHoover]

I would have liked the course to play firm and fast, but with wider fairways and more playable from the rough. I would have liked to hav seen how shots from the rough reacted on firm greens.

[Bill Brightly]

Jon, it was an awesome US Open, one of the best sites I can recall. Other than the rain, what "sucked" was the amount of fairway shifting they had to do set the course up, but that mostly was an imposition on the members for a 2-3 year period (including putting everything back.) The "best" is that it showed how great green complexes make great golf courses.

[John McCarthy]

Not GCa but much yelling after a shot.  

Who does that?  You da man etc ...

[Jim_Kennedy]

I can't think of anything, it was a near-perfect example of trench warfare. Poke your head up, gain a little ground, get shot down, fall back, put your head up again, gain a little more ground, get shot down again, repeat for four days. Add in the occasional hero who leaps from the trench and tries to break through the lines (ala Dufner this afternoon) only to be knocked senseless, and you have the makings of a great once-a-season event.  

[Mike_Young]

Not GCA  but the odor of the wet walk paths was pretty bad.....really bad...really really bad...

[Ed Brzezowski]

Personally I have played all those hole locations before, some are fair and some not so fair.

 I was surprised at the slow response to the rain as far as spectator movement. Yes those paths smelled like a damn barnyard, I just wonder why it  took hours for the ground crew to respond properly. Were the guests a priority.

I was also surprised at the attitude of the USGA to the volunteers and their well being. I think being chastised for drinking a six cent bottle of water was wrong. Some of these folks are in their 70's and a bottle of water will not kill their profit levels. Hell charge the volunteers and extra five bucks and keep them hydrated.

Now widen out those fairways a touch please.

[John Kirk]

Shifting the 2nd and 15th fairways right next to the roads (Ardmore Ave. and Golf House Dr., respectively) was aesthetically displeasing and also contributed to some of the highest single hole scores.

[Bill_McBride]

I would like to have seen a set up where the winner was -8 instead of +1.  Lower cut of rough, wider fairs cut out to the fairway bunkers.   The green speed was fine, I never had the feeling while watching that the Stimp was 13-13.5.  Uphill putts were slow, downhill putts were slick. It looked more like 10-11.   

I guess I think the USGA felt there was blowout potential so they event into four corners defense.  It turned out to be not necessary. 

All the half par holes at Merion make it so interesting.   The set up of #2 was just unnecessary. 

[mike_malone]

 I think the left side of 7 needed more fairway. I felt that way when I played there and it was confirmed when I worked it this week. That area is still sloped and might encourage more club. I think 11 is the same
 Merion was great this week, particularly the green complexes.  I still think 7 through 13 knocks the course down below the top tier

[John Ezekowitz]

Shifting the 2nd and 15th fairways right next to the roads (Ardmore Ave. and Golf House Dr., respectively) was aesthetically displeasing and also contributed to some of the highest single hole scores.

Agree with you on the 2nd, but not on the 15th. Players were always going to aim away from those bunkers, and the majority of the tee balls I saw go out of bounds on 15 did not land in the fairway and roll out; rather they were big hooks well out of bounds.

[Matthew Rose]

Agreed absolutely with 2 and 15.... fairway being 6 inches from the OB line was silly.

I think #9 was probably too long... I liked that they had topped the par-threes out at 250-260 but three of them seemed like overkill. I think 3 and 17 were fine but #9 at 245 with the little pond in front seemed ridiculous.

I'd hoped #13 would play more difficult than it did. I'd hoped to see more train-wrecks there than we did. Although you could argue that Mickelson essentially lost the tournament there.

[Ben Sims]

The USGA setup committee (Mike Davis and others) should all get a swift kick to the junk due to the hole location on Sunday. Other than that, as I posted on another thread, mea culpa. I was wrong. Merion played great.

[Scott Warren]

Maybe because I wasn't raised in the US North-East and taught to revere Merion, maybe because I haven't played the course (have visited, though), maybe for other reasons of my own shortcoming, but...

I thought the course in this Open setup was boring to watch as a spectator. So penal and prescribed that pretty much everyone played pretty much every hole in pretty much identical fashion, little to no recovery shot excitement, very few meaningful angles to be created or exploited by a smart player.

I just don't get why so many people whose opinions I respect (and this is why I suspect I'm missing something...) are so charged up about what just happened. I see it as a regrettable week for golf, not a cause for celebration.

It wouldn't depress me so much if what happened in pro golf, especially at the majors, didn't have such an effect on what most people think makes for good golf, and what developers and committees decided was a good thing for their own course.

I understand the USGA wanting their Open to be an exhaustive test of the world's best players. I guess I'd just prefer that exhaustive test to resemble a creative writing task more than a maths exam.

[Richard Choi]

Why does USGA insist on great golf course architecture for US Open if they are just going to bastardize it, and minimize the architectural element? Was there a single bunker that was not preferable to the rough? Why bother?

[Sean_A]

Maybe because I wasn't raised in the US North-East and taught to revere Merion, maybe because I haven't played the course (have visited, though), maybe for other reasons of my own shortcoming, but...

I thought the course in this Open setup was boring to watch as a spectator. So penal and prescribed that pretty much everyone played pretty much every hole in pretty much identical fashion, little to no recovery shot excitement, very few meaningful angles to be created or exploited by a smart player.

I just don't get why so many people whose opinions I respect (and this is why I suspect I'm missing something...) are so charged up about what just happened. I see it as a regrettable week for golf, not a cause for celebration.

It wouldn't depress me so much if what happened in pro golf, especially at the majors, didn't have such an effect on what most people think makes for good golf, and what developers and committees decided was a good thing for their own course.

I understand the USGA wanting their Open to be an exhaustive test of the world's best players. I guess I'd just prefer that exhaustive test to resemble a creative writing task more than a maths exam.

I couldn't stomach the idea of accentuating Merion's worst features; namely narrow fairways and harsh rough, so I didn't bother attempting to watch a shot (I don't have SKY).  I predicted tons of hack outs, hugh difficulty in posting anything close to a comeback score and slow, miserable death for the entire field barr the last man standing who will be happy regardless.  Looking at the scores I can see the slow death and no comeback scores was dead on.  The only guys who made any sort of move on Sunday was Dufner and Matsuyama, but both were so far back that the best scores of the week were still well short of making an impact.  To me, this tourny stunk of the typical 80s-90s US Open rough fest in which golfers are over the moon to shoot par.  I know about this sort of championship having seen a few at Oakland Hills.  I get it that many golf fans like to see carnage once or twice a year, but it doesn't take any brains to select and set-up a course for this sort of championship.  If there is to be carnage, I would rather see weather and great prep cause the damage rather than a steroid version of a classic course be the culprit.  

If this week's tourny was held at Oakland Hills there would be a bash fest going in right now.  Yet, despite the exact sort of golf being played as if this were the 80s-90s (that has been roundly lambasted) because the course dictated it to be so, there are very few dissenting opinions.  I wonder why this is the case?

Ciao

[Rich Goodale]

Nothing.

The best player over the 4 days won.

[Ben Stephens]

Nothing.

The best player over the 4 days won.

I agree with Rich re: best player - Rose played 18 brilliantly in a Hogan 'esque' way.

It was different and pleasing to see the course foliage rather than a horde of spectators at the back of the green like on 10.

Merion is one of those rare courses where you really have to think where to place the ball on the green to get close to the flag rather than just bomb at the flag. Rose had a very good game plan especially playing irons off the tee on 15 and 16. The drive on 18 was full of fist pumping for us in Blighty!

The US Open is the US Open where par or thereabouts is the winning score and players know this. Merion was the winner this week. Moving the fairways on 2 and 15 made it more exciting irrelevant of what purists say - I have never seen Stricker go OOB and then shank on the same hole!

This was the best US Open I have seen for years rather than have par, par, par we had birdie, bogey, par, double bogey, eagle the whole lot and not one hole in one on 13 but so many dramatic near misses.

The Philly fans made 25000 sound like 50000! Imagine what it would be like if the Ryder Cup was at Merion!

Rose made the fewest mistakes yesterday and I would not be surprised if he wins another major.

Cheers
Ben

[Ben Stephens]

Nothing.

The best player over the 4 days won.

I agree with Rich re: best player - Rose played 18 brilliantly in a Hogan 'esque' way.

It was different and pleasing to see the course foliage rather than a horde of spectators at the back of the green like on 10.

Merion is one of those rare courses where you really have to think where to place the ball on the green to get close to the flag rather than just bomb at the flag. Rose had a very good game plan especially playing irons off the tee on 15 and 16. The drive on 18 was full of fist pumping for us in Blighty!

The US Open is the US Open where par or thereabouts is the winning score and players know this. Merion was the winner this week. Moving the fairways on 2 and 15 made it more exciting irrelevant of what purists say - I have never seen Stricker go OOB and then shank on the same hole!

This was the best US Open I have seen for years rather than have par, par, par we had birdie, bogey, par, double bogey, eagle the whole lot and not one hole in one on 13 but so many dramatic near misses.

The Philly fans made 25000 sound like 50000! Imagine what it would be like if the Ryder Cup was at Merion!

Rose made the fewest mistakes yesterday and I would not be surprised if he wins another major.

Cheers
Ben

What sucked most is Colin Montgomerie's punditry on Sky Sports this week cor he is so boring, grumpy and repetitive!! He is awful.

Butch Harmon is awesome and I would make time to just see his comments.

[Martin Toal]

I couldn't stomach the idea of accentuating Merion's worst features; namely narrow fairways and harsh rough, so I didn't bother attempting to watch a shot (I don't have SKY).  I predicted tons of hack outs, hugh difficulty in posting anything close to a comeback score and slow, miserable death for the entire field barr the last man standing who will be happy regardless.  Looking at the scores I can see the slow death and no comeback scores was dead on.  The only guys who made any sort of move on Sunday was Dufner and Matsuyama, but both were so far back that the best scores of the week were still well short of making an impact.  To me, this tourny stunk of the typical 80s-90s US Open rough fest in which golfers are over the moon to shoot par.  I know about this sort of championship having seen a few at Oakland Hills.  I get it that many golf fans like to see carnage once or twice a year, but it doesn't take any brains to select and set-up a course for this sort of championship.  If there is to be carnage, I would rather see weather and great prep cause the damage rather than a steroid version of a classic course be the culprit.  

If this week's tourny was held at Oakland Hills there would be a bash fest going in right now.  Yet, despite the exact sort of golf being played as if this were the 80s-90s (that has been roundly lambasted) because the course dictated it to be so, there are very few dissenting opinions.  I wonder why this is the case?

Ciao

I have Sky (UK satellite) and watched much of the golf this weekend and it did not remind me of some of the tiresome slogfests of the 80s and 90s. For me, the worst sort of US Open was always one of those where players were hitting 2 irons off the tee and hacking out of the rough back to the fairway. If Hale Irwin loved it, I hated it. This event was not one of those.

Sure, the course was hideously difficult, but it allowed space for an interesting variety of players to make a run. It was great to see players as different as Donald and Colsaerts make a run. It is also refreshing to see a course with par 3s which played driver and sand wedge respectively.

I am sure that from a commercial perspective, this event was not a great success, but from a fan watching on TV, I thought it was great.

[Tom_Doak]

It sucked that I had to be in China for most of it.

Shifting the 2nd and 15th fairways right next to the roads (Ardmore Ave. and Golf House Dr., respectively) was aesthetically displeasing and also contributed to some of the highest single hole scores.

Agree with you on the 2nd, but not on the 15th. Players were always going to aim away from those bunkers, and the majority of the tee balls I saw go out of bounds on 15 did not land in the fairway and roll out; rather they were big hooks well out of bounds.

Don't understand your logic here, John.  If the players were hitting big hooks off the tee, then shifting the tee over toward the boundary had no effect; they could have just left it over to the right another 10 yards.

[Philip Gawith]

I agree that whatever was not to like about the tournament relates to the US Open ethic rather than to Merion. I found it pretty compelling viewing and did not feel i was watching especially tricked up/one dimensional golf. It was a pretty high quality group that made it to the top of the leaderboard and, as Martin points out, they were also a pretty varied group.

I agree with Scott that maybe the set-up did not encourage great strategic variety in the way some holes were played but I am not sure that Merion was so different in this respect from, say, Augusta? I also liked the rhythm of the course with its mix of opportunity and attrition which destroyed some (Schwartzel) but where others showed great mental strength (Stricker and Donald).

If you stand back you might argue that the tournament honoured the oldest received wisdom in the book - namely that those who putt best  go furthest Within the first 90 minutes you had a sense that only two people were holing putts - Rose and Day - and Mickelson was not.

Rose was a very worthy winner but I am not sure he has the short game/creativity to win an Open championship where pure ball striking is maybe less of a premium than at the US Open.