Shinnecock Hills Gears Up For the 2026 U.S. Open

Although the first tee shot is still eight months away, preparations for one of the most prestigious and important events in all of professional golf are already in full swing at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.

The only club to have hosted the U.S. Open in three different centuries, Shinnecock Hills is gearing up for its sixth Open and its 10th USGA Championship overall. The 126th U.S. Open is set for June 18-21, 2026.

You’d be hard pressed to find an American course more steeped in golf history than Shinnecock.

In 1896, the course was the site of the second-ever U.S. Open, which saw James Foulis best a field of 35 players and win the tournament by three strokes over Horace Rawlins. A year earlier, Rawlins had won the inaugural Open at Newport Golf Club in Rhode Island.

Rawlins was awarded 150 bucks in prize money on that day in 1895. Compare that figure to the tidy $4.3 million payday the American J.J. Spaun took home earlier this year, as he rode some otherworldly putts and shot-making to a 1st-place finish at the 2025 Open in Oakmont, Pennsylvania.

Founded in 1891, Shinnecock is the oldest incorporated golf club in America and was one of the five founding member clubs of the USGA. The Clubhouse, built in 1892 by the architectural firm McKim, Mead and White, remains substantially the same as it was a century ago, though it has seen several expansions and renovations in the intervening decades, including a major restoration in 2016.

Originally designed as a 12-hole course by Willie Davis in 1891, six new holes were added to Shinecock in 1895 to complete the 18-hole layout. The course was completely redesigned by William Flynn in 1931. Flynn created a more strategic layout that took advantage of the site’s natural features and created a series of routing triangles that expose a variety of wind directions.

Almost a century later, Shinnecock’s setup remains true to Flynn’s 1931 specs for the course. In fact, the USGA’s press notes for next June’s tournament point out that the 2026 U.S. Open will be the first Open played at the course without modifications to Flynn’s original design.

“One of the brilliant things about this course is that no matter what wind prevails on a given day, you’re going to get so much variety,” said Brent Paladino, the USGA’s Director of Championship Administration.

It was a stunning late-summer day and a small contingent of media types had been invited onto Shinnecock’s exclusive links for an early preview of what to expect from the course next June.

“So many different questions are going to be asked of the golfer,” Paladino continued. “You’re going to play holes into the wind, downwind, crosswind – and that’s just one of the unique elements of how William Flynn designed this golf course.”

Every hole at Shinnecock comes with its own set of challenges. Take the 7th hole, for example. At only 185 yards, it’s a deceptively treacherous Par 3. The 7th is a classic “Redan” hole, meaning that the green is offset at a relatively steep angle that flows from right to left and is guarded by a large, deep bunker.

“Imagine you’re standing back on the tee,” said Scott Langley, the USGA’s Director of Player Relations and a golfer who has competed in four U.S. Opens. “The only way you’re going to be able to hit a shot that stays close to the hole is if you play a shot with a left-to-right curve. So for a right-handed player that’s a ‘fade,’ and for a left-handed player that’s a ‘draw.’ Given how the wind can shift around in June on Long Island, players are going to hit anywhere from an 8-iron to maybe a 5- or 6-iron depending on the direction of that wind and the strength of it. So this hole will be really exciting to watch, and it’ll require a lot of shot-making and creativity.”

No tour of Shinnecock would be complete without a nod to what is probably the most legendary single golf shot in the course’s history. In fact, the shot is so well known that there’s actually a small white dot painted on the grass marking the spot where it all happened three decades ago.

It was 1995 and Shinnecock was hosting the U.S. Open’s 100th anniversary championship. Corey Pavin approached the 18th and final hole with a one-shot lead over Greg Norman, the charismatic Aussie. After his first drive, Pavin found himself 228 yards away from the pin, which sat defiantly above him on a tiny, unforgiving green.

Pavin, who had never won the Open, had a brief discussion with his caddy, Eric Schwarz. Pavin was initially inclined to attack the hole with a 2-iron, but Schwarz advised him to use a 4-wood instead.

Pavin swung the 4-wood and after a couple of perfect bounces, he landed the most important shot of his professional life about five feet from the hole. He knew he’d hit a great ball, but given the angle of the shot and the height of the green, he actually had to run a few yards to see where it stopped rolling.

When he knew for certain that he’d nailed it, he raised his hands in the air and exulted, then dropped to his knees, said a little prayer and composed himself for his next shot.

“I let my emotions get loose,” he told the press at the time. “I had to get them back inside me.”

The tournament wasn’t quite over. Pavin ended up two-putting the hole and had to wait for Norman to finish his round before he was officially crowned the 1995 U.S. Open Champion.

From a spectator’s perspective, one of the most compelling things about professional sports is the possibility that on any given day, you might see something historic. As the U.S. Open rolls into Shinnecock for the 6th time next June, the world’s best players will be trying to create a moment just as electric as Pavin’s shot 31 years ago.

For its part, the USGA is doing everything it can to set the stage for more dramatic moments at next year’s championship while honoring Shinnecock’s illustrious history.

“We cut the 18th-hole to be pretty much exactly where it was in 1995,” Paladino said. “This hole is pretty wide for the U.S. Open, but we’re not planning on narrowing any of the fairways.”