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A view at sunset from behind the green he 600 yard par 5, 4th hole on the East Course at Merion Golf Club, on September 22, 2005 in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, United States (Getty Images)
Hole-by-hole guide to Merion Golf Club, where the 113th US Open will be played June 13-16:
1 – 350 yards, par four: A short dogleg right. Numerous bunkers dot both sides of the fairway with trees guarding both sides. A short-iron approach to a green that slopes from back to front and right to left.
2 – 556 yards, par five: A long, uphill hole that bends slightly left thanks to lengthening in recent years. Out of bounds looms right after a fairway shift. Two solid shots could set up a wedge to a 35-yard green flanked on both sides by four bunkers with a cross bunker short of the green, so long hitters must think twice about going for it in two.
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3 – 256 yards, par three: Uphill hole presents a tough shot to reach the green. Proper club selection vital. Green bends hard left to right and back to front at the second longest par-3 hole in US Open history.
4 – 628 yards, par five: Trees guard the right side of the middle fairway with two sand pits protecting the left side. A right-to-left tilting fairway will send balls to the left rough to trouble even layup shots. The hole plays downward to the green, enticing big hitters to go for the green in two, but it’s a blind second shot to a green fronted by a creek and protected by five deep bunkers. Layups offer a side hill or distances of 80 to 100 yards. Green slopes severely back-to-front.
5 – 504 yards, par four: New tee adds 60 to 80 yards to a hole that bends left. Fairway slopes right to left toward a stream that flanks left side to the green. Tricky green near the stream slopes right to left.
6 – 487 yards, par four: Out of bounds right and bunkers left mandate accuracy off the tee. Green offset at an angle and pin placements tricky with three large bunkers around the false-fronted green. Don’t go long.
7 – 360 yards, par four: Elevated tee onto narrow fairway with out-of-bounds right, trees and sand left. Narrow but deep green with two tiers sloping back to front.
8 – 359 yards, par four: Large bunkers right and deep rough left and one of the course’s smallest greens, 21 paces deep with back to front slope. A huge front bunker awaits the errant.
9 – 236 yards, par three: Long downhill hole offers a pond and stream fronting a long kidney-shaped green with five bunkers protectng it.
10 – 303 yards, par four: Dogleg left with an elevated tee and a chute of trees to fire through. Good draw could set up second shot to green, but out of bounds lurks only a few feet from the green. Dense rough and sand provide protection for a small and narrow green that slopes back-to-front with a ridge in the middle.
11 – 367 yards, par four: Where Bobby Jones sealed his 1930 sweep of US and British Opens and Amateurs, the fairway was shifted left, nearer a stream, so a narrow and blind shot to the fairway sets up an approach to a green protected in the front, back and right by Cobb’s Creek and a deep bunker left. Green runs back to front.
12 – 403 yards, par four: A dogleg right stressing first two shots. Tee is deep with chute of trees and a fade over a creek 220 yards away with bunkers down left side of a fairway that slants left-to-right toward deep woods. Uphill second shot to long, narrow green with bunkers on both sides. Lightning-fast green tilts left to right and back to front.
13 – 115 yards, par three: Huge front bunker with others left and beyond the green, which is 20 yards deep and sloped. Missing the tiny putting area will be costly.
14 – 464 yards, par four: Dogleg left uphill requires power and accuracy off the tee. Deep rough left of fairway and bunkers to the right of a narrow landing area. Uphill and semi-blind approach to green has bunkers on both sides with a huge slope left. Green has hollow in the center with back to front slope.
15 – 411 yards, par four: Dogleg right requires a fade off the tee that carries three large bunkers at the corner of the bend, the last of which was moved closer to the fairway. Out of bounds lurks left of tight landing area. Then it’s uphill to green that slopes severely back left to front right. Back right pins nasty, front pins require staying below hole. A big test.
16 – 430 yards, par four: Downhill tee shot to narrow fairway with bunkers flanking landing area. Uphill to a 43-yard, multi-level green mandating a carry over a quarry of sand and scrub brush.
17 – 246 yards, par three: Over a quarry off the tee to deep, narrow green with three tiers. Six bunkers and deep rough if you don’t find the green.
18 – 521 yards, par four: Third-longest par-4 in US Open history offers a blind uphill tee shot that must carry 240 yards over a quarry to an undulating fairway. An elevated, domed green slopes right to left. Short shots will roll back to fairway. Long ones can bounce over the green.
