Shinnecock Golf Club
By Chris Mavros, www.Golfadelphia.com
6,530 yards, 134 slope from the Green tees
It was the kind of cold that you didn’t realize just how cold until the warm comfort of inside began to lightly defrost you. As we finished up and came into the clubhouse, a quiet fire lapping away in the corner, it dawned on me it was amusingly cold. Just enough to feel accomplished when outside for some spell of time. We sat down at a table by the windows and were waited on. It was quiet, only a couple tables occupied. So quiet that you could hear the charming croak of wood as those walked from this room to that. While we began to talk about our foray that morning, my gaze was drawn to the distance of the horizon. The sounds of those speaking faded away. The auburn fescue dancing delightfully amongst the rich green and beachy sand while National Golf Links came into view, then the bay behind. Then the sky with its vast foamy clouds floating with purpose to who knows where. The beauty was intoxicating, has been this way for centuries, millenniums really. My mind began to wander as my brief moment with such splendor went on. Those that came before, those custodians, ensuring all of this remains for us and those after us. The fescue danced on as my thoughts drifted to the brilliance beyond.
The Shinnecock Indian Nation long ago inhabited the hills that sit just inland, beset on either side by Peconic Bay to the North and (the now named) Shinnecock Bay to the South. The hills provided shelter from the wind that would run through and over the area while the bays and tidal pools were an ample food source. The “people of the stony shore” realized the value this land held back then, as well as the waterways. Many of them were sailors and fishermen. Some, heroes. In 1876, ten of the Shinnecock died while trying to save a sinking ship off East Hampton.
The Nation helped build this golf course and in tribute, it is named after them while its emblem is that of a Shinnecock Chief.
The course initially opened in 1891 as twelve holes designed by Willie Davis, who was the club professional from Royal Montreal at that time. Davis convinced the founders that the land in the hills away from the sea was better for links as opposed to that closer to the water. The Shinnecock Indian Nation helped build it and within a few months, the course was completed. Much different than what we see today, it was rigidly geometric and utilitarian with its holes. It was heralded as innovative at the time for how it was built and its features. Interestingly, a windmill was placed just beside the line of play at the First.
Much of the history of the course here is from “The Nature Faker,” which is a very well written and comprehensive look at William Flynn and his work by Wayne Morrison. The book shows just how influential Flynn was and far-reaching his work became and I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone interested in golf course design for its wealth of insight.
1892 was also when the clubhouse was designed by Stanford White. It still stands today and is the oldest clubhouse in the United States. In 1893, a nine-hole women’s golf course was built, which was the first in America. Women have always been welcome at the club.
In 1894, Willie Dunn added six more holes to Davis’ twelve to round it out to eighteen. Dunn was an English professional golfer responsible for courses such as Springdale (Princeton’s course but his iteration is NLE), Apawamis, Royal Montreal, Philadelphia Country Club and the Shinnecock Ladies Course. Dunn then went on to win the first but unofficial U.S. Open at the newly completed course that he helped renovate the very same year he did this work. Dunn followed the style started by Davis, which stood in stark contrast to the surrounding terrain. In 1896, the first official U.S. Open events were held here; the Open and Amateur. Among the competitors of the Amateur was John Shippen, the first player of color to compete in a U.S. Open event, who finished Fifth. His mother was a Shinnecock Indian. Shippen is also believed to be the first U.S. born golf professional. The lower scores of these events prompted the membership to decide on wholesale changes to the course to make it more challenging. These changes, which included lengthening, were completed in 1897.
The club is one of the five founding members of the USGA. It is the only club to host a U.S. Open in each century since the Nineteenth (1896, 1986, 1995, 2004, 2018).
The course remained in the limelight through the turn of the century. Towards the close of the first decade of that new century, however, the greens and fairways of the National Golf Links of America began to take form, which opened in 1908. No longer the only kid on the block, it only took a few years for membership to hire C.B. Macdonald to impart substantial changes to the course, with Seth Raynor implementing his engineering expertise. Macdonald was a member of Shinnecock Hills anyways, so was involved in the club’s internal discussions and evaluations of where the work should take them. This included obtaining new land and abandoning existing holes near some railroad tracks. Ultimately, five of the original holes were retained while Macdonald designed thirteen new ones. The work was completed in 1916, opening for play in 1917.
The Macdonald iteration of the course included several template holes including the Short, Biarritz, Eden, Redan, Cape and Road holes. This iteration remained for about ten years until it was learned that a new highway was being constructed in conflict with the course. Additional land was purchased in anticipation of the highway while the design firm of Toomey & Flynn was retained to undergo yet another substantial re-design of the course.
It’s worth noting at this point how many completely different versions this course had undergone even in its first twenty years of existence. On different parcels of land, with different designers and in different styles. It’s really a remarkable journey that shows how significant design evolution can be, and some times how necessary it can be to move on from original design intent.
One of the conditions of the project was that eighteen holes would always be open for play during construction. That meant Flynn would work on the holes in clusters. He started with twelve new holes on the new land, which include the current existing back nine. Ensuring there was a fusion of new and existing holes in play, Flynn then started in on his re-design of Macdonald’s holes, which included most on the front nine as well as the Eighteenth. It’s interesting to note that the club had Flynn’s re-design plans evaluated by Charles Hugh Alison to achieve an endorsement of sorts. The written evaluation is fascinating for its straightforward analysis, unencumbered by any concerns usually reserved for writings published to the public. Alison ultimately concluded that Flynn’s plans, “are as good as can be made on this site and that the proposed course will prove to the of the first order.”
Flynn’s design is what perseveres today. His use of the land and its elements was meticulous and nothing short of brilliant. That land, which was mesmerizing me at lunch, consists of varied hills each with their own identity with assorted knolls and slopes transitioning the higher areas with the low. The sandy terrain has been shaped this way by those winds, which have rushed about these lands for thousands of years. Flynn recognized the prevalence of the wind and assured that the holes were set in varying directions against it by triangulation, which grouped the holes in sets of three. The triangulated holes faced the prevailing wind in different configurations so that it would affect each hole in the group in a particular way. While Seth Raynor would eventually include triangulation in his designs and land restrictions may have limited him here, this design concept was introduced by Flynn during his work here. Flynn also emphasized bolder dog legs by creating risk reward decisions off the tee and in some instances sharpened the turn and/or moved the tees more to one side or the other. The turns also added more variety to the wind directions of each individual hole and essentially ensures the golfer needs to evaluate it at each shot. As it related to tee shots, Flynn implemented a variety of scenarios off the tee, from elevated down to the low lying floor below, to those gently climbing back up one or more of the hills. A design accounting for all of the area’s natural elements; the wind, the hills, the rolling land – was finally in place.
The course features undulating fairways of fescue that have the ball running about and emphasize the importance of placing the shot off the tee. There are no trees really, which adds to the links style and subjects each shot to the whims of the wind. What stood out is how many ways the golfer can play each hole, whether by air or ground and in a multitude of lines and angles. The wind ensures a vast array of shots and clubs are needed to negotiate the hills and slopes. The front nine is mainly set on the lower lying land, which is more subtle and only the more experienced will know where the strength of movement is on the fairways and greens. The back nine contrasts nicely in the hills, where a higher degree of exaltation and despair await, with more decisions and temptation to take on hazards and angles the golfer should perhaps reconsider. It exuded links but with the hills and terrain, was refined in its own distinct style as great courses are wont to do. Ben Hogan said of Shinnecock, “Each hole is different and requires a general amount of skill to play properly. You know exactly where to shoot and the distance is easy to read. All in all, I think Shinnecock is one of the finest courses I have played.”
I was not ready for the sophistication of the challenge, how subtle it was amidst some very forthright visuals of the hills and bunkers. A strong wind met us the entire round and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Very much a links play in classic American prose, the club reached that deeper shade of soul that makes me sleep better from here on. There will be times when the golfer is at his ball on what seems like a harmless enough area and lie, or even on a spot of the green, only to realize they are completely dead as their ball lands and darts away, getting lost forever in the hills. I mentioned above it’s American links in the finest sense and the push and pull between direct presentation with complex undertones was nothing short of moving.
Without outright commanding you to do so, Shinnecock requires the best of you. The golfer learns a lot about himself out there as he begins to understand there will be times he either hits the shot at hand or he will suffer defeat. Never by intimidation or fear; that would be too direct and really, uncivil. I was able to rise to the occasion when needed, a culmination of my journey finally seizing upon the opportunity for glory. Some of the best shots I ever hit in fact. And if those shots were not hit, disaster was likely the alternative, which certainly greeted me a couple times during the round for good measure. The presentation of the challenge is something I’ve never encountered before. Instead of sheer intensity and perspicuous terms, the course strings you along, so as the golfer reaches his own conclusions, avoiding any untoward imposition on the matter.
The vibrancy of the hills, the contrast between fairway and auburn fescue, the splendid clubhouse lulling with comfort, resting on the hill in peaceful refinement, with the genius of the course every where; it was the highlight of the season and certainly a moment of spiritual zenith in my golfing crusade.
We were the first tee time of the morning so it was early as I drove over to the course. Finally on the road that ultimately led to Flynn’s re-design, there was a surprising amount of traffic on it as the line of cars behind me were all waiting to go much faster than I was. This caused me to miss the turn for the club and drive down the hill, where the course is on either side. I was almost glad for this glimpse of the hills as I finally turned around and made my way back up the hill. It seemed to make its own introduction, as if to say “cannot wait to make your acquaintance.” A while later on the First tee with the course stretched out below I silently acknowledged back, “me as well.” I then topped my tee shot... Continue Reading Here
6,530 yards, 134 slope from the Green tees
It was the kind of cold that you didn’t realize just how cold until the warm comfort of inside began to lightly defrost you. As we finished up and came into the clubhouse, a quiet fire lapping away in the corner, it dawned on me it was amusingly cold. Just enough to feel accomplished when outside for some spell of time. We sat down at a table by the windows and were waited on. It was quiet, only a couple tables occupied. So quiet that you could hear the charming croak of wood as those walked from this room to that. While we began to talk about our foray that morning, my gaze was drawn to the distance of the horizon. The sounds of those speaking faded away. The auburn fescue dancing delightfully amongst the rich green and beachy sand while National Golf Links came into view, then the bay behind. Then the sky with its vast foamy clouds floating with purpose to who knows where. The beauty was intoxicating, has been this way for centuries, millenniums really. My mind began to wander as my brief moment with such splendor went on. Those that came before, those custodians, ensuring all of this remains for us and those after us. The fescue danced on as my thoughts drifted to the brilliance beyond.
The Shinnecock Indian Nation long ago inhabited the hills that sit just inland, beset on either side by Peconic Bay to the North and (the now named) Shinnecock Bay to the South. The hills provided shelter from the wind that would run through and over the area while the bays and tidal pools were an ample food source. The “people of the stony shore” realized the value this land held back then, as well as the waterways. Many of them were sailors and fishermen. Some, heroes. In 1876, ten of the Shinnecock died while trying to save a sinking ship off East Hampton.
The Nation helped build this golf course and in tribute, it is named after them while its emblem is that of a Shinnecock Chief.
The course initially opened in 1891 as twelve holes designed by Willie Davis, who was the club professional from Royal Montreal at that time. Davis convinced the founders that the land in the hills away from the sea was better for links as opposed to that closer to the water. The Shinnecock Indian Nation helped build it and within a few months, the course was completed. Much different than what we see today, it was rigidly geometric and utilitarian with its holes. It was heralded as innovative at the time for how it was built and its features. Interestingly, a windmill was placed just beside the line of play at the First.
Much of the history of the course here is from “The Nature Faker,” which is a very well written and comprehensive look at William Flynn and his work by Wayne Morrison. The book shows just how influential Flynn was and far-reaching his work became and I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone interested in golf course design for its wealth of insight.
1892 was also when the clubhouse was designed by Stanford White. It still stands today and is the oldest clubhouse in the United States. In 1893, a nine-hole women’s golf course was built, which was the first in America. Women have always been welcome at the club.
In 1894, Willie Dunn added six more holes to Davis’ twelve to round it out to eighteen. Dunn was an English professional golfer responsible for courses such as Springdale (Princeton’s course but his iteration is NLE), Apawamis, Royal Montreal, Philadelphia Country Club and the Shinnecock Ladies Course. Dunn then went on to win the first but unofficial U.S. Open at the newly completed course that he helped renovate the very same year he did this work. Dunn followed the style started by Davis, which stood in stark contrast to the surrounding terrain. In 1896, the first official U.S. Open events were held here; the Open and Amateur. Among the competitors of the Amateur was John Shippen, the first player of color to compete in a U.S. Open event, who finished Fifth. His mother was a Shinnecock Indian. Shippen is also believed to be the first U.S. born golf professional. The lower scores of these events prompted the membership to decide on wholesale changes to the course to make it more challenging. These changes, which included lengthening, were completed in 1897.
The club is one of the five founding members of the USGA. It is the only club to host a U.S. Open in each century since the Nineteenth (1896, 1986, 1995, 2004, 2018).
The course remained in the limelight through the turn of the century. Towards the close of the first decade of that new century, however, the greens and fairways of the National Golf Links of America began to take form, which opened in 1908. No longer the only kid on the block, it only took a few years for membership to hire C.B. Macdonald to impart substantial changes to the course, with Seth Raynor implementing his engineering expertise. Macdonald was a member of Shinnecock Hills anyways, so was involved in the club’s internal discussions and evaluations of where the work should take them. This included obtaining new land and abandoning existing holes near some railroad tracks. Ultimately, five of the original holes were retained while Macdonald designed thirteen new ones. The work was completed in 1916, opening for play in 1917.
The Macdonald iteration of the course included several template holes including the Short, Biarritz, Eden, Redan, Cape and Road holes. This iteration remained for about ten years until it was learned that a new highway was being constructed in conflict with the course. Additional land was purchased in anticipation of the highway while the design firm of Toomey & Flynn was retained to undergo yet another substantial re-design of the course.
It’s worth noting at this point how many completely different versions this course had undergone even in its first twenty years of existence. On different parcels of land, with different designers and in different styles. It’s really a remarkable journey that shows how significant design evolution can be, and some times how necessary it can be to move on from original design intent.
One of the conditions of the project was that eighteen holes would always be open for play during construction. That meant Flynn would work on the holes in clusters. He started with twelve new holes on the new land, which include the current existing back nine. Ensuring there was a fusion of new and existing holes in play, Flynn then started in on his re-design of Macdonald’s holes, which included most on the front nine as well as the Eighteenth. It’s interesting to note that the club had Flynn’s re-design plans evaluated by Charles Hugh Alison to achieve an endorsement of sorts. The written evaluation is fascinating for its straightforward analysis, unencumbered by any concerns usually reserved for writings published to the public. Alison ultimately concluded that Flynn’s plans, “are as good as can be made on this site and that the proposed course will prove to the of the first order.”
Flynn’s design is what perseveres today. His use of the land and its elements was meticulous and nothing short of brilliant. That land, which was mesmerizing me at lunch, consists of varied hills each with their own identity with assorted knolls and slopes transitioning the higher areas with the low. The sandy terrain has been shaped this way by those winds, which have rushed about these lands for thousands of years. Flynn recognized the prevalence of the wind and assured that the holes were set in varying directions against it by triangulation, which grouped the holes in sets of three. The triangulated holes faced the prevailing wind in different configurations so that it would affect each hole in the group in a particular way. While Seth Raynor would eventually include triangulation in his designs and land restrictions may have limited him here, this design concept was introduced by Flynn during his work here. Flynn also emphasized bolder dog legs by creating risk reward decisions off the tee and in some instances sharpened the turn and/or moved the tees more to one side or the other. The turns also added more variety to the wind directions of each individual hole and essentially ensures the golfer needs to evaluate it at each shot. As it related to tee shots, Flynn implemented a variety of scenarios off the tee, from elevated down to the low lying floor below, to those gently climbing back up one or more of the hills. A design accounting for all of the area’s natural elements; the wind, the hills, the rolling land – was finally in place.
The course features undulating fairways of fescue that have the ball running about and emphasize the importance of placing the shot off the tee. There are no trees really, which adds to the links style and subjects each shot to the whims of the wind. What stood out is how many ways the golfer can play each hole, whether by air or ground and in a multitude of lines and angles. The wind ensures a vast array of shots and clubs are needed to negotiate the hills and slopes. The front nine is mainly set on the lower lying land, which is more subtle and only the more experienced will know where the strength of movement is on the fairways and greens. The back nine contrasts nicely in the hills, where a higher degree of exaltation and despair await, with more decisions and temptation to take on hazards and angles the golfer should perhaps reconsider. It exuded links but with the hills and terrain, was refined in its own distinct style as great courses are wont to do. Ben Hogan said of Shinnecock, “Each hole is different and requires a general amount of skill to play properly. You know exactly where to shoot and the distance is easy to read. All in all, I think Shinnecock is one of the finest courses I have played.”
I was not ready for the sophistication of the challenge, how subtle it was amidst some very forthright visuals of the hills and bunkers. A strong wind met us the entire round and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Very much a links play in classic American prose, the club reached that deeper shade of soul that makes me sleep better from here on. There will be times when the golfer is at his ball on what seems like a harmless enough area and lie, or even on a spot of the green, only to realize they are completely dead as their ball lands and darts away, getting lost forever in the hills. I mentioned above it’s American links in the finest sense and the push and pull between direct presentation with complex undertones was nothing short of moving.
Without outright commanding you to do so, Shinnecock requires the best of you. The golfer learns a lot about himself out there as he begins to understand there will be times he either hits the shot at hand or he will suffer defeat. Never by intimidation or fear; that would be too direct and really, uncivil. I was able to rise to the occasion when needed, a culmination of my journey finally seizing upon the opportunity for glory. Some of the best shots I ever hit in fact. And if those shots were not hit, disaster was likely the alternative, which certainly greeted me a couple times during the round for good measure. The presentation of the challenge is something I’ve never encountered before. Instead of sheer intensity and perspicuous terms, the course strings you along, so as the golfer reaches his own conclusions, avoiding any untoward imposition on the matter.
The vibrancy of the hills, the contrast between fairway and auburn fescue, the splendid clubhouse lulling with comfort, resting on the hill in peaceful refinement, with the genius of the course every where; it was the highlight of the season and certainly a moment of spiritual zenith in my golfing crusade.
We were the first tee time of the morning so it was early as I drove over to the course. Finally on the road that ultimately led to Flynn’s re-design, there was a surprising amount of traffic on it as the line of cars behind me were all waiting to go much faster than I was. This caused me to miss the turn for the club and drive down the hill, where the course is on either side. I was almost glad for this glimpse of the hills as I finally turned around and made my way back up the hill. It seemed to make its own introduction, as if to say “cannot wait to make your acquaintance.” A while later on the First tee with the course stretched out below I silently acknowledged back, “me as well.” I then topped my tee shot... Continue Reading Here
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