Wicker woven in tradition at Merion

MOST GOLF CLUBS use flags on their greens to give players a target. Merion uses wicker baskets atop its golf poles.

The baskets started showing up on the course some time after the club moved from its Haverford location to its present place in Ardmore. In the summer of 1915, Merion superintendent William Flynn received a patent for his wicker basket design and they were used during the 1916 U.S. Amateur.

"[Merion] was written up nationally and internationally as the prototype for a championship course," said John Capers, club historian. "But there was not a single mention of baskets, which was unusual. We do have pictures of other courses that have used baskets, including one in the area, Huntingdon Valley. They had baskets at one point. The Greenbriar down in West Virginia and Sea Island in Georgia still uses them. There also a couple in England that still have them."

The baskets have been used at 17 of the 18 USGA events held at Merion, including this year. The exception was the 1950 U.S. Open, won famously by Ben Hogan in a playoff.

The story goes that at the 1949 U.S. Amateur a woman hit the basket on an approach shot which resulted in an unfavorable deflection - similar to a Tiger Woods shot at the Masters in April. Tiger's misfortune was never a factor in Merion's decision to use baskets this year.

"It was not a discussion," Capers said. "We were using it for the 2013 U.S. Open."

While there is a unique charm to the wicker sticks, NBC analyst Gary Koch, who missed the cut playing the 1981 U.S. Open at Merion, pointed out a common complaint.

"You can't tell the wind direction at the green," Koch said, "because there aren't any flags on top of the flagsticks."

THE DAILY NEWS COVERS THE OPEN: Check out PhillyDailyNews.com's U.S. Open page for our guide to the tournament at Merion.