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Alex Elias  Monroe Invitational Designed by Golden Age architect Donald Ross, Gil Hanse oversaw the restoration of Monroe Golf Club in 2008. Recently, Hanse said, "With this history, tradition, and a chance to study some of the finest golf course architecture on the planet, The Monroe Invitational is an an opportunity that no amateur golfer should pass up." Ahead of The Monroe Invitational, Monroe Golf Club Head Golf Professional Joe Merlin said, "The Invitational means a lot to me both professional and personally. Personally, I love the purity of the amateur game and having an opportunity to share some time with the world’s best amateurs is just so exciting. I love getting to know each of them as best I can because they all come from different backgrounds with different stories, but they all have something I share with them, a passion for the game and competing at the highest level. Professionally, I just love to give back and to provide memories for people through the game of golf so working at a club that opens its doors sharing its unique culture, championship level course, and first-class membership with a group of this caliber on an annual basis is something I’m very proud of. Few clubs host an event of this magnitude on an annual basis and I feel very fortunate to play a small role in perpetuating this great tradition that Monroe has celebrated since 1937!" As The Monroe Invitational has a historic history, with notable champions such as Fred Ridley (1976), Dustin Johnson (2007), Thomas Pieters (2012), and many more, it has also affected countless others. As for just one example, Dedham Country & Polo Club Director of Golf Brad McCluski said, "The Monroe was huge in my golf life. We used to house college players from schools like SMU & Georgia every year for probably 7/8 years and had two champions. Just being around them taught me so much about competitive golf. I always played better after the week with them and trying to be just like them. One of my best memories is playing with the 3 kids we housed from Georgia one year after they just one the national championship and I was in high school and playing in the tournament too." McCluski continued, with a laugh, "We played a practice round together in which I shot 66 and beat all of them. Didn’t go that way in the event though." As The Monroe Invitational continues to earn immense recognition, Monroe Golf Club does as well, and rightfully so. Celebrating it's 100th anniversary, Tom Doak said, "It's the best piece of ground for golf in Rochester." Subsequently, Brian Silva said, "[Monroe] is surely one of the greatest Ross courses I have ever seen."
Speaking to Ross' superb design and stern test, Merlin said, "The beauty of Monroe is that you get this sense of safety off the tee with generous fairways, but with our sandy loam soil the course generally plays super firm and fast so it’s easy to find yourself out of position off the tee leaving you a difficult angle into our traditional Ross green complexes. Having a poor angle or the wrong distance into the tricky pins that players will face will lead to short sides misses. Being short sided to a tucked Ross pin out of thick rough or sand will leave these guys struggling to get up and down." Boasting one of the strongest fields in amateur golf, Merlin said, "I’ve been lucky enough to be around players of this level on a regular basis since 2015 and early on it was just simply one thing, how far these guys hit it. However, over the last 8 years, the mindset to me is becoming the most important factor they share. The players build a summer schedule for themselves that is very similar to what they will see on the PGA or Korn Ferry Tours and they treat this schedule just the same. These guys work out, train, practice, maintain routines, and carry themselves just like the guys on tour do, and after doing this for a number of years through high school or college, they are walk out on tour with a mindset that they can win. I saw it first hand with Collin Morikawa when he won the Northeast Amateur in 2017, but now every top tier guy that comes through Monroe has a similar mindset where they don’t just hope to be on tour, they expect to be there. Not only do they expect to be there, they expect to win. It’s that mindset that allows them to remain positive and are always one swing away from turning it on. Most amateurs see the trouble on the course and become consumed by it, these guys are able to see the trouble, deal with it, and move forward so they can hit each shot with confidence."
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