Can You Play Merion on Awesome Golf? Here’s How

Merion is the course that modern golf forgot to bulldoze. While every other championship venue added length and ripped out bunkers, Merion stayed exactly where it was. The East Course is 6,850 yards of claustrophobic fairways, ankle-deep rough, and greens that David Toms said were “the hardest I have ever putted on a golf course.”

Awesome Golf includes Merion East in the standard library.

How It Plays on Awesome Golf

The narrow fairways are the first thing you notice. Merion’s fairways are the tightest of any U.S. Open venue in the last 40 years. On Awesome Golf, the LIDAR data captures the corridor width. You will hit fairway woods and long irons off tees where you are used to hitting driver. The 5th hole is a 500-yard par 4 that requires a hybrid off the tee because driver brings the creek into play. Awesome Golf’s yardage calculations are accurate, so you will see the creek, respect it, and club accordingly.

The wicker baskets are on the flagsticks. This is Merion’s signature feature. On Awesome Golf, the wicker baskets are rendered. They look odd on a sim screen but they are present. The baskets affect putting strategy because they do not catch the flag in the same way a traditional pin does — a putt that hits the basket can bounce out instead of dropping.

The 18th hole is one of the great finishing holes in championship golf. A 499-yard par 4 that plays uphill to a green guarded by a creek on the left and trees on the right. On Awesome Golf, the hole plays every inch of its length. The drive is into the narrowest part of the fairway. The approach is to a green that requires a precise carry. The same decision that confronted Justin Rose in the 2013 U.S. Open is the decision you face on Awesome Golf.

How to Access It

Open Awesome Golf on your iPad. Select Virtual Golf. Browse the course list for “Merion East Course.” Set conditions to firm. Play from the back tees and pay attention to every fairway — there is not a single hole where you can zone out.

The Value Play

Merion is the kind of course that sim golf was made for. Most people will never play Merion in real life. The membership is exclusive, the waiting list is long, and the course is a historic landmark. Awesome Golf’s version is the closest most people will ever get.

The platform matters here less than the course itself. Merion on an iPad at 12.9 inches is not Merion in 4K on a projector screen. But the routing is correct, the hazards are accurate, and the putting surfaces play the way Merion’s greens play — subtle, firm, and punishing.

For $199 a year, with no per-course fees, Merion on Awesome Golf is the best value way to play this historic course. The visual quality is secondary to the fact that the course is there at all.

For the full list of courses worth playing on Awesome Golf, read The Best Courses on Awesome Golf. Need the full software breakdown? Check the Awesome Golf Review.