5 things you didn't know about the US Open site
What Augusta National is to the Masters and the Old Course in St. Andrews to the Open Championship, Shinnecock Hills Golf Club will be the US Open.
Shinnecock Hills, an exclusive course on Long Island, is one of five charter clubs in the United States Golf Association and, although it has not hosted the most US Opens in history (that distinction belongs to Oakmont), Shinnecock Hills is considered by many to be the best US Open venue.
That fact is debatable, but there is no doubt that William Flynn's masterpiece between the Atlantic Ocean and Peconic Bay is one of the jewels of American golf.
It has hosted nine USGA events, including five US Opens, and will host its sixth US Open and 10th USGA event this week when the world's best descend on Long Island for the 2026 US Open.
Here are a few things you might not know about this week's popular US Open site.
Five things you probably didn't know about Shinnecock Hills
US Open history
Shinnecock Hills is the only course in history to host the US Open on three separate occasions. The winners at Shinnecock so far are:
1896: James Foulis (152)
1986: Raymond Floyd (279)
1995: Corey Pavin (280)
2004: Retief Goosen (276)
2018: Brooks Koepka (281)
After hosting the US Open for the second time in 1896, Shinnecock Hills did not host another major for 90 years, although it did host the 1977 Walker Cup. But now it will have held four in 31 years after this week. In the last four US Opens at Shinnecock Hills, only three players have finished the tournament under par. Raymond Floyd and Retief Goosen took home the trophy, while Phil Mickelson lost to Goosen by two shots. When Floyd won the 1986 title at Shinnecock, he became the oldest US Open champion in history at 43 years, nine months and 11 days. That mark stood until Hale Irwin won the 1990 US Open in 45.
In the 1896 US Open, William Dunn, one of the original designers of Shinnecock Hills, led after the first round, but Foulis shot a 74 in the second round, played the same day, to take the title. Foulis shot a two-round score of 152 in 1896. After 100 years, that mark was better than the two-day number posted by Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia, Shane Lowry, Jon Rahm and Keegan Bradley in 2018, all of whom missed the cut.
US Open junior prize
Foulis' 1896 win didn't come with Brinks' truckload of cash. When Koepka survived Shinnecock Hills in 2018, he took home $2.16 million. But in 1896, Foulis' prize was $200, adjusted for inflation just short of $8,000 in 2026. According to the New York Times, the president of Shinnecock Hills also received a $200 gift from the USGA that week.
Combined Shinnecock
Golf does not have an inclusive and progressive history, but Shinnecock Hills is no exception.
Shinnecock Hills was America's first women's course and has done so since opening its doors. The club opened a nine-hole women's course in 1893, and Shinnecock member Lucy Barnes Brown won the first US Women's Amateur in 1895.
The 1896 US Open, won by Foulis, gave Shinnecock Hills its first opportunity to highlight its involvement. Before the tournament began, a group of international players protested the presence of a black player, John Shippen Jr., and a native American, Oscar Bunn. Those players pledged not to play if Shippen and Bunn were allowed on the field, but USGA president Theodore Havemeyer shut down the protest, saying the tournament would continue even if Shippen and Bunn were the only two players on the field. Shinnecock, a young man who lived on the nearby Shinnecock Native American reservation, was paid an entrance fee by several members who had seen his skills. He ended up tied for fifth place.
Some architectural confusion cleared up
The beginnings of Shinnecock Hills are somewhat intertwined with inconsistent historiography and competing narratives.
A group of New York businessmen commissioned William Dunn and William Davis to design and build a course on the 80 acres they had purchased. The original 12-hole course was built by hand over Native American burial grounds in the 1890s. Whether Davis or Dunn built that original 12-hole course has been a source of confusion over time. Dunn charged in a 1934 article on Golf Illustrated that he built the first building. That account was later supported in an account by Samuel Parrish, one of the group's founders. However, Parrish's account was written about 30 years after Shinnecock was built and appeared to tie Dunn and Davis together at points. To John Kerr The Golf Book of East Lothian, published in 1896, states that Dunn left England to become champion at Shinnecock in 1893, two years after the original song was composed. on Long Island.
In a 1981 book The Golf Course by Geoffrey Cornish and golf historian Ron Whitten, William Dunn is credited with the original design. But in 2004, Whitten wrote a piece Golf Digest where he set the record straight, noting that William Davis created the first 12-hole design in 1891 and that Dunn was making 18 holes when he arrived in 1895. This is the official history now presented by the golf club.
The course was then redesigned in 1916 by Seth Raynor and CB Macdonald. William Flynn reorganized the course in 1931 into what it is known as today.
A famous clubhouse with a dark story
Shinnecock's clubhouse is the oldest in the country. It was designed by the famous architect Stanford White, who also designed the Washington Square Arch and the second Madison Square Garden. It was in that version of Madison Square Garden (the NBA champion Knicks are playing in the fourth version) that White was shot and killed by Harry Thaw, a man whose wife White had sexually abused years ago.
This led to what was called the “Trial of the Century,” in which Thaw was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
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