Preview: 2013 US Open at Merion Golf Club

Recently, we featured the site of the 2015 US Open, Chambers Bay in Tacoma, Washington. We were fortunate to play Chambers Bay on May 19th and it was definitely the toughest test of golf we have ever experienced! But before we get ahead of ourselves, the 2013 US Open is just a mere 11 days away and it will be hosted at the historic Merion Golf Club!

There is a lot of history at Merion Golf Club as stated in the preview video above. However, Merion also plays short as it is only 6,996 yards. By modern day standards, some could argue that the course is outdated and with the golf course sitting on approximately 110-acres of land, USGA executive director, Mike Davis, stated that this is going to be a “boutique US Open” as it is going to a challenge operationally. With the length of the course being the primary concern, will Merion be a breeze for the Tour Pros or will it Merion play like a beast because well, it’s the US Open! Golf.com takes an interesting look at this topic!

Tiger Woods visited Merion a few days ago in preparation of the 113th US open and Merion’s assistant golf pro Sean Palmer was absolutely star-struck! Sean was playing tour guide for Tiger when he visited and according to Sean, Tiger “turned around at the greens to look at the hole and how to play it. He studied the layout of the course and asked some detailed questions about the wind, the fairway shifts, the grain of the greens. He thought the par 3s were incredibly tough.” That goes to show the amount of detail that Tour pros go into when preparing for a Major championship!

After shooting a 79 and a career worse nine-hole score as a professional when he shot an 8-over 44, Tiger appears to a lot more preparation to do! And with the par 3s playing 256, 236 and 246 yards at the respective 3rd, 9th and 17th holes at Merion, we don’t doubt Tiger that the par 3s are incredibly tough! Below are the USGA’s hole by hole preview of Merion Golf Club! Take a look! T-Minus 11 days!

Hole 1