… Through my golf architecture sources I had heard it was taking place, but nobody could get any useful information -- a total clamp-down.

Then one afternoon I happened to be youtubing and up popped a new 15-minute video BY MERION GOLF CLUB which looked to be a "promo" for the opening of the new work! It included drone and ground shots both during and post construction.

The new work looked EXCITING, and the bunkers weren't at all what we were used to, especially during the 70s/80s/90s with all the overgrown "eyebrows". I had heard what Hanse was trying to do was take everything back to 1935 conditions/appearance, but with appropriate modern infrastructure.

By the time I got off the video and tried to get back into it, the video had been pulled off YouTube "by the user". Evidently this was supposed to be an "in-house" production which was inadvertently posted in the non-private section of YouTube. I bet heads rolled for that one!

Anyway, I rounded up some 1930s aerials of Merion and sure enough, 1935-ish is what it looked like. The day I got to go there was maybe 4 weeks after the re-opening. Even though all the eyebrows are gone, the bunkering looked great! They didn't play so great for me though -- the White Faces of Merion got me.

On 13 I hit what I thought was a perfect, towering 9-iron. Problem is it went above the tree level where the wind could grab it. Ended up in the big front bunker a foot or two below the lip. I could still see the ball, so I figured l can get a club on that and just hack it out to the middle of the green.

Uh, nope. It wasn't until I stepped into the bottom of the bunker that I realized my ball was sitting at eye level and I had to climb a 40-degree slope of sand just to get to it! No stance at all, I was "standing" on my left knee, with my right shoe buried in the sand. No way a hacker such as myself is pulling that off. It took me four to get out of that bunker.

But my putting was great all day!