Merion Golf Club
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| Club information | |
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| Location | Haverford Township, near Ardmore, Pennsylvania |
| Established | 1912 - East Course 1914 - West Course |
| Type | Private |
| Total holes | 36 |
| Website | Merion Golf Club |
| East Course | |
| Designed by | Hugh Irvine Wilson |
| Par | 70 |
| Length | 6,846 yards (6,260 m) |
| Course rating | 73.5 |
| Slope rating | 149 |
| West Course | |
| Designed by | Hugh Irvine Wilson |
| Par | 70 |
| Length | 5,989 yards (5,476 m) |
| Course rating | 69.2 |
| Slope rating | 122 |
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Merion Golf Club, East and West Courses
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| Location | Ardmore, Pennsylvania |
| Coordinates | 40°00′04″N 75°18′43″W / 40.001°N 75.312°WCoordinates: 40°00′04″N 75°18′43″W / 40.001°N 75.312°W |
| Built | 1912 |
| Architect | Hugh Irvine Wilson |
| Architectural style | Colonial Revival |
| NRHP Reference # | 89002085 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | December 21, 1989 |
| Designated NHLD | April 27, 1992 |
Merion Golf Club is a private golf club located in Haverford Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, a suburb northwest of Philadelphia. The club has two courses: the East Course, and the West Course. The East Course has been consistently rated in the top 10, #5 in 2015, by Golf Digest in the annual "America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses", and it has hosted five U.S. Opens, most recently in 2013.
The Merion Golf Club dates from 1896, when members of the Merion Cricket Club (founded in 1865) opened a golf course in Haverford Township, Pennsylvania.
In 1910, the membership decided to build a new course and chose 32-year-old club member Hugh Wilson, a Princeton University graduate, and fine player, to design it. Merion East opened in September 1912, and the original course was closed. The West Course, also designed by Wilson, opened in May 1914. The Merion Golf Club did not officially separate from the Merion Cricket Club until 1941.
Hugh Wilson had never designed a golf course, so he went on a seven-month trip to Scotland and England to study British courses. Several features of Merion East are derived from famous British courses, not the least of which are Merion's distinctive Scottish-style bunkers, which are now known as the "white faces of Merion" (named by top amateur player Chick Evans). Wilson's layout covers only 126 acres (0.51 km2) of land, a very small area for a golf course. It was ranked 5th in Golf Digest's "America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses" in 2015, and Jack Nicklaus has said of Merion East, "Acre for acre, it may be the best test of golf in the world."
Merion has held 18 United States Golf Association (USGA) championship tournaments, more than any other course. The first two, the 1904 and 1909 U.S. Women's Amateurs, were held at the original Haverford course. The first USGA men's tournament held at the East Course was the 1916 U.S. Amateur, won by Chick Evans. This was also the first time Bobby Jones appeared in a national championship; he was 14 years old. Jones would win his first U.S. Amateur in 1924, also held at Merion.
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