Shinnecock Hills Is Ready to Beguile Best Golfers in the World at 2026 U.S. Open

The only venue in the United States to have hosted an Open in three different centuries, the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club is a majestic place, steeped in the traditions of the game. It’s also an absolute bear of a golf course for anyone who has tried to navigate its unforgiving terrain and ever-shifting winds.

In fact, a lot of casual golf fans have no touchstone for understanding the degree to which Shinnecock can punish even the world’s best shotmakers.

“There are just golf demons around this place – and they come up out of these putting greens in a devilish, wonderful, charming way,” said John Bodenhamer, Chief Championships Officer of the United States Golf Association.

Originally designed by Willie Davis in 1891 as a 12-hole course, six holes were added in 1895. The following year, Shinnecock hosted its first U.S. Open. In 1931, the legendary William Flynn was commissioned to completely redesign the course. Today’s course still plays very much like the way Flynn laid it out almost a century ago.

In fact, the fairway widths are exactly the same as they were in 1931. “We’re leaving the golf course the way William Flynn intended,” Bodenhamer noted. “This is not something the USGA is doing to the course – it’s what has always been here.”

Just how difficult is it to play four rounds at Shinnecock when the course is set for championship play? Consider this: Only the crème de la crème, the finest golfers in the world, get to compete in the U.S. Open. Beginning in the second week of June, Shinnecock will be hosting its sixth Open. (The first was in 1896, the most recent in 2018.) Over the course of five previous championships, a grand total of three golfers (three!) have managed to complete 72 holes under par. Raymond Floyd shot 1-under to win the 1986 Open at Shinnecock. And in 2004, Retief Goosen won the tournament while shooting 4-under. That same year, runner up Phil Mickelson (who was 2-under) was the only other player below par.

Compare those numbers to recent tournaments at other courses. In the seven U.S. Opens held since Shinnecock Hills last hosted the event in 2018, a total of 80 golfers have finished under par after 72 holes. Think about that in relation to the three players who managed to crack par at Shinnecock in tournament play.

No matter how you slice it, Shinnecock is a beast. And while those who are responsible for this year’s tournament conditions have no plans to try to tame it, they are making some tweaks.

Referring to the previous two Opens at Shinnecock, Bodenhamer acknowledged the course’s difficulty. “I’d say in 2004, certainly, and maybe in 2018, the course was a little crispy, a little tough,” he noted. “I think even those of us at the USGA would say that maybe it was a little too tough.”

So what’s different this time?

For one thing, Bodenhamer explained that the USGA’s goal this year is to give the players a more accurate representation of actual tournament conditions for their practice rounds.

“In 2018, we would set up the golf course beginning on Sunday or Monday before the players arrived, so that they would experience U.S open conditions for the entire week,” he said.

But given the ever-changing winds and dynamic conditions that make Shinnecock so challenging, it was difficult to maintain the course’s integrity over the entire week after setting it up so early

“When the weather changed, things could get away from us,” Bodenhamer said. “Now we ease into things like firmness and green speed and rough heights. So by Wednesday or Thursday, the players are seeing the teeth of the U.S Open.”

Once all the tweaks have been made, everything shifts – as it should – to the talent and creativity of the players. And there’s certainly a lot at stake for the best golfers on the planet. In last year’s Open at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania, J.J. Spaun pocketed a cool $4.3 million for winning the tournament. Putting like a Jedi Knight when it mattered most, Spaun rolled in a 65-foot birdie putt on the final hole to edge Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre by two strokes.

The 34-year-old Californian, who had never won a major and had only one PGA Tour victory to his name before last year’s Open, saw his life change forever as his ball found the bottom of the cup on his 279th – and last – shot of the week.

Beginning this June 18, fans will be rooting for their favorite players, of course. But Shinnecock the Venue will loom plenty large in its own right.

Bodenhamer closed his remarks at a pre-Open press conference in May by quoting words of golf wisdom from “Andrew,” a greens roller at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina, which hosted the 2024 U.S. Open.

“I love the U.S. Open,” Andrew said, “Because it’s the one week of the year where you get to root for the golf course.”