Melrose Country Club

I played here on a Saturday afternoon. This course used to be private years ago, but I heard that in recent years they have gone public, and I thought I'd give it a try. It seems to keep a low profile as not many people I know have heard of it.

The layout is fairly short by modern standards (around 6,000 yards from the tips) but very interesting. Many of the par 4 and 5 holes do not require length off the tee, but accurate iron play with the small-ish well guarded greens. There are two long par 3's (#8 and #17) that are probably some of the most difficult in the area, requiring extremely accurate tee shots to have a chance at par. #5 through #9 are on the other side of the road, accessed through a tunnel. #5 is a tough hole where you have to decide whether to carry the wide creek or lay up to a small "pod", followed by an uphill shot to a narrow green complex.

Course conditions were excellent, especially for this location and the price paid. The only thing I could fault it for is that a couple of the bunkers had poor drainage and had mud spots, but this was only a few of them. The greens are not lightening fast, but this is necessitated by the fact that these are old style small greens with bold contouring; any faster and they might be extremely difficult to putt.

Course was busy but not packed, mostly twosomes and threesomes, I was finished in less than 3.5 hours. I showed up as a single, a foursome was teeing off right then and the cart guy (Dave, very helpful) suggested I tee off on #4 to get ahead of them. This worked out great, I later ended up pairing up with a twosome I caught up with, and the overall pace was good even when we caught up with larger groups. Then came around to play #1-3 and the front nine was empty.
I did not check out the food and beverage offerings but they did seem to have sort of a halfway house you could stop at after #9 along with some water jugs on the course.

Not sure what the walking policy is, but everyone I saw was riding, and a cart was included in the $45 fee I paid so I rode. I'm guessing they don't want people walking in the tunnel underneath the road, and it is a bit of a hike from #4 green to #5 tee and from #9 green to #10 tee.

All in all, a great round, I hope to return to this hidden gem soon.

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!