Melrose Country Club

I heard a lot of JCM before I played it. A few years ago I was living in the area (it was private at the time) and people told me it was a great option for the greater Philly area. No semi-private (or full public, hard to tell) I decided to take a flyer and check it out.
First of all the facilities are interesting to say the least. The large, modern clubhouse seemed completely empty as did the halfway house, the proshop was basucally run out of the cart barn. Also the range is small but totally fine for a warm up.
The absolute best part of JCM is the design. You always hear about golf course this "good bones" well this is one for sure. While not long (I'd say it played sub 6000 from the back tees the day I played), JCM is tight and requires precision throughout thanks to elevation changes and blind shots. The 2nd hole, a hard dog leg left reachable par 5, is one of the highlights of the round and a hole that screams Alister MacKenzie. If you were looking for JCM's closest link to other MacKenzie designs #2 is it with its rolling fairway and tilted green. I also loved the par 4 5th. A design that really doesn't exist in modern golf, #5 features a blind tee shot to a split fairway. To hit one of the fairway options a shot of either 150 yards or no more then 220 must be hit. The landing area (like everything at JCM) is narrow but essential to hit considering the severely uphill blind approach to a very tiny green. On the back 17 and 18 are a great closing duo, a long uphill par 3 and a downhill par 4 with a hazard down the right to a blind approach finish the round in style.
Now JCM isn't without flaws. First of all the course is very overgrown, making some holes insanely tight and kind of unplayable. On the 6th I smashed a FW down the left side of the fairway only to be blocked from the green by an overgrown tree. The 8th hole, a very tough long par 3 (kind of a half par hole from the back tees) had the flag tucked front and right. Unfortunately overhanging branches make the right side of the green inaccessible for the most part. My biggest gripe is the bunker condition at JCM. Bunkers had little to no sand in them and were absolutely rock hard. Many of the fairway bunkers than don't provide much protection against modern golf tech were clearly left for dead and starting to grown in a bit.
Bottom line this is one of the best little gems around Philly. It's short enough to be a lot of a fun for most golfers yet challenging enough (at points) for better players to have to hit some really quality shots to score. The greens are solid, very subtle, and tough to judge from the fairway considering the amount of blind approaches on the course (maybe 12 shots are blind or partially blind into the green). My hope is by going semi-private JCM can drum up some funding to clean up the rough edges that are holding the design back from being one of the coolest, quirkiest loops in the area.

While the club looks like it has seen better days, it is hard to find a better course in the area for the price. For a golfer in the 90’s-100’s, you will find it approachable and the conditions acceptable. If you hold yourself to a higher standard of golf, Melrose might not be for you.

Really affordable and fun track to play deeper into the spring, summer and fall. Course was in brutal condition to start the season in end of March. Awful tee boxes, greens uncured, bumpy and not well taken care of. Very much hoping they’re looking to improve the course conditions and rapidly because currently I would not go back. Would have better luck chipping onto the parking lot than the greens currently.

Played many years but now no energy maintenance crew works hard and are trying

Melrose doesn’t have the length but the angles off the tee and hills are enough. The greens need some help and the whole course is marked with parches of burnt grass

The decline of this course is stunning. I understand that there is new ownership , but this is nothing short of a rathole. I wouldn't play this course again if it was free.

Course is in its early Spring start. It will get better soon.

this is my home course, staff is extremely helpful and friendly. course is well maintained and a great value for the price. best course for this price in the philadelphia area by far.

I don’t know if I would play this course again if they let you play for free. They really let the course go it’s a shame. Great layout terrible conditions. Poor tee boxes greens and awful bunkers, just mud covered with dirt. For the price it would never be worth playing here again. Only positive is it’s not crowded which makes sense for the conditions

This is certainly the best course within city limits. It has great bones from a challenging design but a few of the tee boxes are basically sand boxes (specifically #3), some of the fairways seem to be eternally under construction, and the cart paths feel like a dirt bike track in a few places. Greens are challenging but well kept. If you play all the courses around Philly, this one is worth the trip for the price alone. You can get an sense of what it was like in its hey day and besides- this was Allister McKenzie's appetizer before he made Augusta, ever heard of it?

The tee boxes are pretty beat up on many holes. Greens were good for most part. I thought they did a pretty good job of blowing off the fall leaves on most holes.
Interesting and challenging layout. Good value for the money!