Forums

Merion #5 Approach

• BPeterson8256 2,940 Posts

  Mon, May 22 2017 6:05 AM

  My day started at Merion with 6 birdies in the first 7 holes, but a bogey on 6 that derailed my round. Does anyone have tips on getting close to the flag there? It seems like the farther right I aim, the farther left I end up. lol I can usually make par by staying short of the green, but I want a "good" chance at birdie more often. Any tips would be appreciated. 

  Thanks, BP

• flatstick96 229 Posts

  Mon, May 22 2017 10:48 AM

  Do you mean the 5th? The 5th is the one with the REALLY stupid green.

• BPeterson8256 2,940 Posts

  Mon, May 22 2017 4:10 PM

  flatstick96:

  Do you mean the 5th? The 5th is the one with the REALLY stupid green.

  Yes, my bad. I should be more familiar with this course by now. I just glanced at my scorecard before asking the question. I actually sunk a 40' for bird on this hole this morning, and had my bogey on the next hole. I blame my bad memory on being old. lol

• PhilEStein 1,269 Posts

  Mon, May 22 2017 8:31 PM

  There are certain holes where the best advice is to take your Par and get onto the next tee and that's possibly one of them. Happens IRL, even to many pros. Pushing the envelope and getting greedy leads to difficulties.

• JFidanza 1,676 Posts

  Mon, May 22 2017 9:08 PM

  I have notes that take forum suggestions about #5 and they are here:

  forum:

  Merion #5 front pin land it WAY right and let it trickle down around the pin..I can only tell you how to get within 35 ft on the back pin as I have never been close to it

  Play to land short, right in the fairway adjacent to the green. Hole high is too far. Trust it because it rolls after that and feeds to the hole. The trick is finding how far right and low to land the shot-just make sure you land on the fairway.  :-)

  forum:  a way to birdie 5 merion at the back is to miss the green left. Can be VERY AGGRESSIVE with that pitch shot

   

  (Thanks to those who gave those ideas, I'm sorry I didn't have the names)

• borntobesting 9,751 Posts

  Mon, May 22 2017 11:16 PM

  BPeterson8256:

  My day started at Merion with 6 birdies in the first 7 holes, but a bogey on 6 that derailed my round. Does anyone have tips on getting close to the flag there? It seems like the farther right I aim, the farther left I end up. lol I can usually make par by staying short of the green, but I want a "good" chance at birdie more often. Any tips would be appreciated. 

  Thanks, BP

  Being greedy on that hole can kill a round. Play it short and take your par. Every once in awhile you might get lucky and pitch it in for a birdie.

• K7JBQ 1,469 Posts

  Mon, May 22 2017 11:56 PM

  Yep, my goal on both 5 and 6 at Merion, starting on the tee, is to make par. Even thinking about birdies can cause bogeys.

• Jimbog1964 8,378 Posts

  Tue, May 23 2017 1:47 AM

  First of all well done for having a real go of the real tees:

  Pin Front

  Long iron in the irons you have lack that slight drop and stop to attack it, and attacking it is fraught with danger anyway at the best of times.  

  Best advice already given.  Stay short and take the odd pitch in - Very possible once can pitch.  Something to look at if an issue.

  IMO with a L90 set and chest feeling puffed slightly right with full BS and set up not to go past will give you a bit more to play with - less roll to control.

  Pin Back

  Right hand side and let it roll around and down OR stay below and take a long bird chance.

• Robert1893 7,729 Posts

  Tue, May 23 2017 6:35 AM

  Just adding my 2 cents. I agree with the conventional wisdom of just playing for par. I've only birdied the hole twice (that I can recall).
  
  The first time happened when I did land it before the green and to the right. As others have described, the ball rolled on to the green, and settled about a foot from the hole. The problem is that I've never been able to repeat that shot. I usually end up just short of the green. And from the right side, I think that's a much more difficult pitch than from the left.
  
  The other time I birdied the whole is when I ended up on the green but way left of the pin. I had a putt of about 30 feet with about 6 feet of break. I just happened to hole the putt. It was a fluke. For me, that was a 1 in 100 putt.

  So now, I play to the left of the pin, just off the green. From there, that's a fairly easy pitch. While par is never guaranteed on that hole, I rarely make a bogey from there.
  
  I think that we sometimes forget that, for some holes, par is a very good score.

• BPeterson8256 2,940 Posts

  Tue, May 23 2017 4:45 PM

  Thank you all for comments and tips. I know it is smart to play for par on many holes. I want to be able to compete though, and in the parking lot that is the legend tier, there are too many great players, and hundreds more like myself that can get hot for a few holes. Par won't win tournaments. I may never be able to compete consistently, but I refuse to settle for less than trying to win. 

  JFidanza:

  Merion #5 front pin land it WAY right and let it trickle down around the pin.

  Wherever that originally came from, the tip is sound. Thank you. My first attempt at playing it even farther right than I would normally dare was successful. It trickled down 8.1' left of the hole and an inch above. I am not a great putter, but I am a decent lag putter. I managed to drop it dead center for bird, with no speed left on it. Now if I can duplicate that when I have a better round going... lol

  Jimbog1964:

  Long iron in the irons you have lack that slight drop and stop to attack it, and attacking it is fraught with danger anyway at the best of times.  

  I really appreciate your saying that. I assumed 4.5 spin irons would make a lot of difference, but at the same time, I never want to blame my equipment. There are plenty of players kicking my trash with worse equipment. Hopefully my play will improve enough to take advantage of the better sticks when I get to level 97. I tried the RSi2, but couldn't handle the meter speed.