Sports
Main Line Golf Course Among Nation's Top 10: Golf Digest
Shot options, challenge, layout variety, aesthetics, conditioning, and character were all considered in Golf Digests list top courses.
![A view of the eighth hole on the East Course at Merion Golf Club on April 22, 2013 in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. Merion Golf Club is the site for the 2013 U.S. Open that will be played June 13-16.](https://patch.com/img/cdn20/getty/22896833/20230510/104956/styles/patch_image/public/gettyimages-167209545___10104752762.jpg)
ARDMORE, PA — One of the nation's best golf courses is right here on the Main Line, according to the eminent golf publication.
Golf Digest recently published "America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses."
The list looked at six pieces of criteria: shot options, challenge, layout variety, aesthetics, conditioning, and character.
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"We are proud to say this year's edition is the most scientific ever—with our 1,800 panelists submitting more than 85,000 evaluations over our 10-year scoring criteria," Derek Duncan and Stephen Hennessey wrote for the publication.
Among the top 100 was Merion Golf Club: East.
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Not only did the Main Line course make the top 100, it made the top 10, coming in at No. 6 on the list.
Here's what Golf Digest has to say about Merion Golf Club: East.
Merion East has long been considered the best course on the tightest acreage in America, and when it hosted the U.S. Open in 2013, its first since 1981, the present generation of big hitters couldn’t conquer this clever little course. They couldn’t consistently hit its twisting fairways, which are edged by creeks, hodge-podge rough and OB stakes and couldn’t consistently hold its canted greens, edged by bunkers that stare back. Justin Rose won with a 72-hole total of one-over-par, two ahead of Jason Day and Phil Mickelson. With Gil Hanse's extensive two-year renovation making even more improvements at Merion's East Course, the design should be even more polished when the Open returns again in 2030.
The honor should come at no surprise to area golfers.
Golf Digest in the past has named Merion Golf Club: East among the nation's best courses.
And Forbes also included it on a list of the country's best places to play a round.
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