SOUTHAMPTON, NY – Isn’t it great when something, anything lives up to the hype?
Happily, this week at the U.S. Open, no one will have to worry ancient and venerable Shinnecock Hills won’t stand up to the formidable talents of the world's greatest golfers, nor live up to the hype.
No, this will be a throwback to the glory days of the Open, when level-par 280 takes home the trophy, but the golf course wins the Open.
Shinnecock deserves to be enshrined in the metaphoric Pantheon of the America’s greatest golf courses, full stop. It’s golf architecture features quintessential Golden Age strategy. It’s drop dead gorgeous; it glimmers like an emerald in a sea of amber and hard by the edge of Peconic Bay, nestled cozily between National Golf Links of America and Sebonack. It’s one of the five founding clubs of the USGA. But it also belongs on the short list of the toughest major championship venues as well, along with Oakmont, Winged Foot, The Olympic Club and Carnoustie.
In the modern era, the winning scores at Shinnecock Hills have seen 4 under, 1 under, even par and 1 over. That’s right; brawny, brutish Brooks Koepka failed to break par the last time the storied course hosted the Open in 2018, and he still walked away as the champion with a winning score of 1-over 281. Only two Shinnecock Hills US Open champions have broken par: Retief Goosen (4 under) in 2004 and Raymond Floyd (1 under) in 1986.
Opened 1891 as a 12-hole golf course designed by Willie Dunn, who returned four years later to expand the layout to 18. Then in 1916, Charles Blair Macdonald, notorious rakehell, but a fine player and golf architect, with the help of Seth Raynor, updated that course. However, plans for a new road running through several of Macdonald’s holes south of the clubhouse were announced in 1927, and so Shinnecock Hills purchased 108 acres of land to the north and east. This led to a full redesign of the course by William Flynn, completed in 1931.
Architects Bill Coorse and Ben Crenshaw completed a full restoration-renovation in 2013. According to the USGA, “Flynn created a trio of routing triangles that expose a variety of wind directions. Today, Shinnecock’s setup remains true to Flynn’s original design from 1931.This will be the first U.S. Open played at Shinnecock without modifications to Flynn’s 1931 design.”
“I personally love this place because I grew up at Cherry Hills, and that's a William Flynn course. So is Shinnecock. There's little connections that way. Already before I came here, I was already excited to play it just because of that connection,” noted 2023 U.S. Open Champion Wyndham Clark, who is rounding into form well heading into the Open. He won The CJ Cup Byron Nelson tournament just a few weeks ago after closing with a sizzling, final-round 60.
“Shinnecock is [also] known for being very windy, and it can be breezy,” added defending champion J.J. Spaun, who triumphed at Oakmont last year. “So, I’ve worked a lot on my technique on flighting my shots and understanding what it feels I've got to feel when I need to flight certain clubs, and what shape that takes to hit, like, a flighted draw.”
Spaun is talking about “hold” shots, those moments in a crosswind where you have to hit it into the teeth of the wind and let the howling current push it safely back to the fairway. Those triangles of routing that the USGA was talking about mean that golfers will face every different wind direction during the round, much like the final six holes at England’s Royal Lytham, where the zig-zag of the closing holes means the wind changes from shot to shot. And that happens just as often at Shinnecock, where the Long Island sound is often just as windy as the Irish Sea.
“Carry numbers are going to be the most critical figures then…. just really worked hard on how to get comfortable with a template as far as how to execute those shots,” Spaun concluded.
With wind being a factor, and the course both looking and playing like a U.K. links, the advantage clearly shifts to golfers who play well on links course and on Golden Age courses. That puts England’s Matt Fitzpatrick, winner of the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club in Massachusetts firmly in the mix.
“I think you've obviously got to be in control of your ball flight, that's the biggest thing. When the wind is this strong in pretty much every direction, as well, with the holes that you're facing, you've got to be able to have a lot of shots in your armory. It allows for shot making.,” Fitzpatrick stated.
“When I think of U.S. Opens, that's what I think of. You think of these historic golf courses that have got such great memories of great championships and great past winners and whatnot. To me, that's what a U.S. Open is. You go to these historic golf courses, and they're set up a certain way. You grew up watching U.S. Opens. It was tough. It was tight off the tee. It was firm. It was really hot. I feel like Shinnecock summarizes that very well.”
Finally, you can’t write off a five-time major winner and a former champion at Shinnecock. Brooks Koepka has the brawn to power through the rough, has critical experience at Shinnecock, and is powering into competitive form at the right time. He has no head and no heart, so that means he has no nerves to get jangled in the crucible of the final holes. HE should play well this week.
The course sits directly between National Golf Links of America on one side – the first design of Charkes Blair Macdonald and indisputably the font from which all great American Golden Age design flows – and Sebonack, a modern masterpiece by Tom Doak and Jack Nicklaus on the other.
Everyone loves Shinnecock and so will the millions of television viewers this week. Gorgeous, historic, dramatic, ancient, iconic, wondrous – it is impossible to overstate the importance and impact of Shinnecock Hills on American golf. And it’s only fitting that the National Open return to where the second Open ever contested was held. If only those folks could see us now. What a wonder the game has become in those 125 years.
NEWS, NOTES, AND QUOTES
By the way, you notice how no one is picking Aaron Rai to win this week? That’s because of the “First Major Hangover,” you get after you win your first, and also because Shinnecock is far, FAR less forgiving than Aronimink. It’s also much prettier.
