Merion Golf Club (East)

Hugh Wilson's compact 1912 layout on 126 acres of the Main Line, with white-faced bunkers, wicker-basket pins and five U.S. Opens.

Merion members chose Hugh Wilson, a 32-year-old club player with no design experience, to build a new course. He spent seven months studying courses in Scotland and England, and the East opened in September 1912. Its bunkers, later named the 'white faces of Merion,' and its use of very little land (about 126 acres) still set it apart. The East mixes short, angled par 4s with brutal long holes and a 128-yard 13th. Holes cross and recross the property in tight confines, and the rough is thick. Instead of flags, the pins carry red and orange wicker baskets, which tell players nothing about the wind.

Merion has hosted more USGA championships than any other club, including Bobby Jones's 1930 Grand Slam-clinching U.S. Amateur and Ben Hogan's 1950 U.S. Open, where his 1-iron to the 72nd green is marked by a plaque. After land was added and the course lengthened, it returned to the U.S. Open in 2013 and hosted the 2026 U.S. Amateur, its seventh, with more U.S. Opens scheduled through 2050.

Holes to know

11

Par 4 · 358 yd

Where Bobby Jones closed out his 8 & 7 win in the 1930 U.S. Amateur to complete the Grand Slam.

13

Par 3 · 128 yd

A wedge-length par 3, the shortest hole on the course, in the middle of a difficult back nine.

17

Par 3 · 241 yd

A long par 3 with a pronounced false front, which Wilson attributed to the Valley of Sin at St Andrews.

18

Par 4 · 502 yd

A plaque in the fairway marks where Ben Hogan hit his 1-iron to force a playoff in the 1950 U.S. Open.

Championships

• U.S. Open 1934, 1950, 1971, 1981, 2013
• U.S. Amateur 1916, 1924, 1930, 1966, 1989, 2005, 2026
• U.S. Women's Amateur 1926, 1949
• Walker Cup 2009
• Curtis Cup 1954, 2022
• Eisenhower Trophy 1960

Design history

• After 1981: Nearby land acquired and the East lengthened to nearly 7,000 yards
• 2014: Gil Hanse restoration