26 Lahinch (Old) County Clare, Ireland Tom Morris, Alister MacKenzie, Martin Hawtree, 1894 “Lahinch is quirky perfection, beautifully restored and maintained,” says David Krause. “The Martin Hawtree remodel of Lahinch is the only case I know where a classic old links has been significantly improved by modern intervention,” says David Jones. Sunningdale (Old) Surrey, England Willie Park Jr, Harry Colt, 1901 The Old course at Sunningdale, laid out by Willie Park Jr, is the highest ranked English course in our Top 100. Club secretary Harry Colt’s redesigned holes were warmly received, and the experience inspired him to develop his career as a golf course designer. Merion (East) Pennsylvania, USA Hugh Wilson, 1912 Architects Tom Fazio and Tom Marzolf helped prepare the Merion for the 2013 US Open, demonstrating that there is still a place for historic courses with quirk, character and charm, and without excessive length, at major championships. Architects’ Choice Top 100 Golf Courses One of America’s icons No course has hosted more USGA championships than Merion East. The venue for Bobby Jones’s unmatched Grand Slam, and Ben Hogan’s spectacular return from life-threatening injury to win the 1950 US Open, Hugh Wilson’s design remains, as the recent Open showed, one of America’s iconic venues. But what truly makes Merion iconic is its routing. Perhaps no other course on earth squeezes as much golf into so small and constrained a space, or extracts as much interest from property that is relatively low on natural features. Surrounded now by suburban housing, Merion no longer has holes playing across Ardmore Avenue as the original course did, but it is still a pocket handkerchief of a site compared to many of the expansive properties elsewhere in this listing. As well as the routing, Merion’s greens are dramatic: putting on these heavily tilted surfaces is a true challenge. Architects Tom Marzolf and Tom Fazio have consulted at the course for almost fifteen years, stretching the 6,500 yards faced by David Graham in the 1981 US Open to nearly 7,000 yards today. But Merion remains the poster boy for the argument that good courses and long courses are not synonymous. ARCHITECTS’ CHOICE #21 ARCHITECTS’ CHOICE #23 ARCHITECTS’ CHOICE #22 ARCHITECTS’ CHOICE #21 ARCHITECTS’ CHOICE #23 ARCHITECTS’ CHOICE #22 ARCHITECTS’ CHOICE #19
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