[Peter Pallotta]

Answers may be hard to come by, as 1986 was too long ago for the average golf fans among us and maybe too recent for the historians, but:

One golf-related thing led to another this afternoon and I found myself watching the final round at Shinnecock. I so very much liked everything about it -- the course/architecture, the 'set up', and the way the game was played. And that in turn led me to finding out that '86 was the first time in 90 years (!) that Shinnecock had hosted the US Open.

Does anyone remember the background to that story/decision, and the reaction to the course? Who was the driving force behind Shinnecock landing the tournament? And, did they/the USGA change or renovate or restore the course beforehand? If so, who was architect involved (if any)?

PS - to this untrained eye and possibly faulty memory, in terms of later championships the '86 (and '95) US Opens at Shinnecock 'felt' so very different than either the 2004 or 2018 editions; and so different too, in terms of looking back, to say the 1974 US Open at Winged Foot.

[Pete_Pittock]

Not much from a  quick and free internet search, but gleaned Shinnecock hosted the 1977 Walker Cup and that was how the love train left the station.

[David Whitmer]

I remember reading John Feinstein’s book “Open” ( I’m not in a position to grab it and confirm), and he talks about the 1986 US Open quite a bit. I think one of the big proponents of taking the event to Shinnecock was Frank Hannigan.


He had someone at the USGA do quite a bit of work to determine if the USGA would make money on the event if they did everything themselves, and simply paid the club a rental fee. Prior to the 1986 event, the host club did the large majority of the heavy lifting to put on the event. The host pro did all the merchandising! It was necessary in 1986 because Shinnecock was a seasonal club, and its members were not around all year to do the necessary preparation. Turns out the USGA made money, and they changed their philosophy right then and there.


I remember the USGA had to work very closely, sometimes going toe-to-toe, with the county government (Nassau? Suffolk? I don’t remember). Specifically had to deal with parking and getting spectators over the major road by the course. It was really interesting to read about how it came to be played there.

[BHoover]

I recently watched the final round of the 1986 US Open on the USGA streaming app. What a story it would have been had Trevino won that US Open. To follow Nicklaus at the Masters with Trevino would have been a great story.

[jeffwarne]

Random thoughts
Shinnecock was a very, very seasonal club at that time, and lacked volunteers, a major hurdle for the USGA.
It was the first Open run primarily by USGA staff, and changed the course of history for running the Open and merchandising concessions.


The '77 Walker Cup was held there-Despite that, two years later in 1979,my next door neighbor growing up in Augusta joined by answering an ad in the local Southampton paper-for $1500-which included Southampton Bathing Club and Southampton Tennis club.


In the first round, Jack Nicklaus lost his first ball ever on Tour, on #10 I believe.
Greg Norman completed the second leg of his 1986 3rd round slam, leading all four majors after three rounds(think of the career he could've had on Champions Tour;)

[Tom_Doak]

I remember reading John Feinstein’s book “Open” ( I’m not in a position to grab it and confirm), and he talks about the 1986 US Open quite a bit. I think one of the big proponents of taking the event to Shinnecock was Frank Hannigan.


He had someone at the USGA do quite a bit of work to determine if the USGA would make money on the event if they did everything themselves, and simply paid the club a rental fee. Prior to the 1986 event, the host club did the large majority of the heavy lifting to put on the event. The host pro did all the merchandising! It was necessary in 1986 because Shinnecock was a seasonal club, and its members were not around all year to do the necessary preparation. Turns out the USGA made money, and they changed their philosophy right then and there.

It was more complicated than that.


The mid 80's were when $$$ started pouring into golf and golf merchandising.  At the old line clubs, the club professionals still owned the golf shop and merchandising rights (!), and in the US Opens in '85 and '87 the club pros had to lawyer up to preserve their position theough the Open, after which they retired and the clubs made a different arrangement with their successors.


The USGA hadn't thought that through when they signed the contract with Shinnecock - as Jeff says, they felt they had to run things because the club couldn't support them with committees of volunteers.  They also installed Karl Olson (then with the Green Section) to oversee getting the course up to championship maintenance standard.  But the profitability of the event was unexpected, and indeed changed their thinking on how to do business going forward.

[Kevin_Reilly]

Deleted.

[JohnVDB]

The mid 80's were when $$$ started pouring into golf and golf merchandising.  At the old line clubs, the club professionals still owned the golf shop and merchandising rights (!), and in the US Opens in '85 and '87 the club pros had to lawyer up to preserve their position theough the Open, after which they retired and the clubs made a different arrangement with their successors.

The joke around Pittsburgh was that the leading money winner from the 1983 US Open at Oakmont was Bob Ford who understood merchandising and took out ads in the national golf magazines selling US Open gear. This was another part of the impetus for the USGA to take control of things.

[Peter Pallotta]

Thanks, gents.
I have fairly distinct memories of Frank Hannigan, both from his  writings and from his tv/rules work -- not a stuffed shirt, and sometimes irreverent; but about Karl Olson, I know nothing other than that he was the super at NGLA. I'll have to go look him up and learn more -- because if he was responsible for getting Shinnecock ready for that US Open he sure got it right, in an understated and unpretentious way, ie to my eyes, it didn't *look* restored or set up at all, it only *played* that way.

[Tom_Doak]

Karl spent his year in the Hamptons getting to know people, and quit the USGA to take the head job at National right after the US Open next door.


His in-house restoration of The National was mostly a matter of clearing back the brush and establishing irrigation over the full original extent of the course - because no one had ever torn the place up, they just let it get overgrown.


As for Frank Hannigan, he was a true guardian of the game, and he is sorely missed.

[JESII]

I don't have much to add on the decision making front but that 1986 US Open was sort of a marker post in my golf life.


I was 11 that summer and just getting into golf some and my grandparents volunteered as marshals during the tournament and received a pretty cool video from the USGA as the gift. I'm not sure it was much more than the final day broadcast, but I must have watched it 150 times over the next 10 years.


Jack Whitaker and Jim McCay and Dave Marr sure painted a different picture than Jim Nantz, Nick Faldo and David Feherty...

[Eric LeFante]

http://metgolferdigitalarchive.com/metgolferdigitalarchive.com/mgdarchive/httpdocs/metgolfer/MetGolfer_April_May2014.html#page=12


John Feinstein wrote about Frank getting the US Open to Shinnecock shortly after he passed away.


This is quite an issue; the cover is a follow up of a 1993 Tom Doak article stating the NY metro area is the best golf section in the U.S., there is an article about the restoration of Maidstone, and the obituary section honors Hannigan and George Bahto.


The 1986 US Open was absolutely one of the best. There were 10 guys within one shot of the lead at the start of the back nine on Sunday. I've watched Floyd's back nine several times and he was incredible, did not miss a shot.


When people argue that Tiger's competition was better than Jack's I really think they are insulting someone like Floyd. The fields were deeper for Tiger than Jack but Floyd was about as good as anyone Tiger every played against and Floyd probably is only the 5th best player Jack faced.

[Paul Rudovsky]

A few thoughts/points:


1.  JWN absolutely did lose a ball on #10...he blew his drive dead right and there were dozens and dozens of spectators reaching for it to no avail


2.  I had the great fortune of playing Shinnecock a number of times from the mid 70's through the late 80's and the conditioning was very very very very different from today.  The fairways were so cut so high, you hit flyers consistently from the center of the fairway.  The greens were horribly slow even for back then...I was a member of Quaker whose greens were probably 1-2 feet on the stimp (assuming one used one then) slower than Winged Foot's...and Shinnie's were always much much slower than QR's.  But the superb "bones" were always there


3.  There were a good number of trees, shrubs, hedges etc around the course that stayed through the '77 Walker Cup, but frankly I do not recall if they came out before or after the 1986 Open.  But I am almost sure they got eliminated the same season/year at Shinnie and NGLA.  I remember there was a row of hedges around a few tees...as I recall including 7, 10 and 14...and either hedges or shrubs galore between the 10th green and 11th tee.  Looking back, the elimination of that stuff, whether it was before or after '86 was probably the first time I can recall trees and shrubs being taken out of a US course...absolutely well before Oakmont's work (but of course Shinnie never had  even 5% of the trees that Oakmont did)


4.  As I recall, you could not see the 2nd hole from the fairway of the first hole.


Shinnecock was totally different then in many ways.  The pro shop was almost like a shack and basically sold golf essentials.  Before the Open the range was not much more than an open field.  The membership was more South Fork old $$ than NYC businessmen.  The CEO types were much more prevalent at NGLA than Shinnie.  It was a quiet, simple in country club...not a "family club" but much less of a "golf club" as I recall.  That all changed big time after June 1986.


One last story...about 3-4 years before the Open I was out at Shinnie right when the '86 Open announcement was made by the USGA.  Right on the spot I decided I would spend the week of the Open out there if I could.  There was motel on Route 27 about a half mile east of the course and I went there to leave a deposit and book a room 3-4 years in the future for the week of the Open.  The women behind the desk replied "sorry, we are already full booked...ABC Sports had booked the entire motel prior to the announcement.  Taught me a lesson (but I later was able to rent a house for the week \even closer to the course...


Fun memories!

[Steve Salmen]

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1986-06-22-8602150158-story.html


This is the best I could do to find out.

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