Shinnecock Hills Golf Club (A Personal Reflection and Photo Tour)

[Benjamin Litman]

Shinnecock Hills Golf Club (Southampton, NY)



When you pair arguably the best course in the world with arguably the best clubhouse in the world, you get Shinnecock Hills.
 
In 1898, seven years after Shinnecock Hills Golf Club opened but well before its current site was fully developed, the New York journalist Hugh Fitzpatrick penned this timeless sentence in the popular magazine Outing: "Shinnecock Hills must still be judged the most typical of our seaside links, for its sand dunes, as that devoted golfer, Honorable Henry E. Howland, has said, 'since the resolution of matter from chaos, have been waiting for the spiked shoe of the golfer.'"
 
Shinnecock means so many different things to so many people that I'm inclined to limit this review to describing my personal affinity for the place. Although I won't (I have too many specific things to say about the course, and this is an architecture site at the end of the day), that is where I'll begin. (Ran's superb profile is available here: http://golfclubatlas.com/courses-by-country/usa/shinnecock-hills-golf-club-ny-usa/, and a quick search reveals that this discussion board is filled with posts about all aspects of the club and course, including its fascinating history.)
 

Shinnecock's naturally sandy soil animates a windswept landscape--seen here in the layered bunkering at the 3rd--that is at once rugged and beautiful. Writing for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in July 1935, Ralph Trost observed that "Shinnecock Hills was constructed by the same hands that built famed Pine Valley. In bunkerings and hole designs there is much of Pine Valley suggested in Shinnecock's holes. But Shinnecock is as open as Pine Valley is sheltered, as treeless as the New Jersey course if flanked by pines."
 
For many professionals, Shinnecock is the greatest course in the world, the one Ben Hogan prized as "one of the finest I have ever played" for each hole's "complete definition," where "[y]ou know exactly where to shoot and the distance is easy to read," and the one Tom Lehman heralded as "without question my favorite course in all the world" for representing "true golf, a fair, tough test from one through eighteen, a golf links that ultimately stimulates all the senses." For many reviewers, it is the Muirfield of the United States, the ultimate championship venue blessed with generally accepted characteristics of fairness: straightforwardness and an absence of quirk. For architecture buffs, it is the perfect routing, albeit one with a few too many elevated greens. For historians, it is a pioneer club, not only the oldest organized golf club in the United States but the very first to admit women. For local politicians, it is at the heart of the longstanding dispute--regularly aired in the courts--over the apportionment of land rights between descendants of the English colonists and the Native American tribe after which the club is named.
 

The perfect clubhouse.
 
For me, Shinnecock has been something entirely different. At first, before I played golf, Shinnecock was the rugged, entrancing landscape down the road from The Lobster Inn, a casual seafood joint on Montauk Highway where plastic lobster bibs and a serve-yourself salad bar endlessly delighted me as a child (and, through the tinted lens of nostalgia, still do as an adult). I could drive right through it and admire its beauty, if not the game played on it, but the since-removed white "PRIVATE Members Only" sign on the drive up to the clubhouse reminded me that it was a national park to which I did not have access. When my love for golf grew to match my love for nature, the temptation of Shinnecock often proved hard to resist. Where I once stopped my car to take pictures, I traded my camera for a spare wedge. There was the early spring evening when I dropped an imaginary ball off Tuckahoe Road at the end of the 12th fairway and brushed the impeccable grass--the first swing, if not shot, I had ever taken on a world-class golf course. Years later, I stood next to the gate guarding the gap in the shrubbery behind the 6th green and imagined trying my luck on the famed Redan in the distance, haunted by the images I had seen on TV during the summer of 2004. In my mind's eye, my 7-iron at dusk in the dead of winter was pure, but a foot short. Still, I opened my eyes and smiled: Simulated golf was as close as I was going to get, but standing two feet from the real thing made it much easier to accept.




Shinnecock is the rare course that plays as good as it looks, presenting the perfect meld of conditions--at once flawless on the short grass and rugged outside of it. Keeping it that way, even on a course so natural, requires a lot of work, and Jonathan Jennings, the club's amazing superintendent, and his staff have done that work better than most.


My friends got wind of my fascination with the course, too. The next year, one found two items of Shinnecock paraphernalia for sale online: a hat with a simple, if blocky, "S," and a pullover with the full logo. That they were both fully burgundy--and therefore likely not official Shinnecock merchandise--didn't stop me from wearing them whenever I could. To this day, the former remains in my golf-hat rota. More recently, another friend arranged a lesson with the head professional as a birthday present; in addition to hitting balls on the range, I would finally have the chance to legitimately play at least a few holes. Or so I managed, without any basis but my dreams, to convince myself. From the back of the range, we made our way instead to the practice bunker by the pro shop. Several shots later, including one thinned somewhere in the direction of the tree-hidden maintenance complex, I was on my way home. I had learned multiple game-changing tips that I continue to use to this day, but I was no holes richer.
 

Shinnecock's 16th, with its surrounding fields of gold, is rightfully on the short list of best and most beautiful par-5s on the planet.
 
For me, in short, Shinnecock has long been a forbidden fruit. I had nibbled the rind, but never tasted the fleshy inside. That all changed this summer, when the stars aligned and I finally had the opportunity to play my holy golfing grail, to experience my white whale. "Worth it" doesn't even begin to describe my 35-year wait's true value.



The final green sits perfectly within its surrounding landforms, emblematic of the "found" quality of many of Shinnecock's holes.
 
The Clubhouse
 

Even from the locker room, the views are stunning.
 
Few buildings marry function with form as well as Stanford White's clubhouse at Shinnecock. Surrounded on all sides by golf--the practice putting green guards the south face, the 9th green the north face, the 1st tee the west face, and the 10th tee the east face--it is ideally situated. The interior is open, light, and airy, even though air conditioning is not, and never has been, one of the amenities. Apart from the red carpet, everything in the locker room is white, accented only by the history that seeps out of every pore. And, of course, by the views, which are everywhere you look and framed perfectly by the rustic, single-paned, always-open windows. A meal and a drink on the veranda--ideally in that order, the former before the round, the latter after it--removes the framing and previews or reminds of the sensation of being one with golf's most glorious, uncluttered landscape. From the course, the clubhouse functions much like the windmill next door at National Golf Links of America in tying the landscape together--and, as a literal house on a hill, lends an aspirational element to the entire round, as it is in view from each and every hole of the course.


 
Stanford White's low-profile 1892 clubhouse lords, in the most benign way possible, over Shinnecock's hills.
 

The windows, rightly everywhere, are permanent frames of golf's most compelling landscape.
 

Golf surrounds all sides of the clubhouse. The east side affords views of the glorious tee shot at the 10th.
 

Like its windows, the clubhouse's columns provide ready-made frames for pictures.


The (Greatest) Golf Course (in the World)
 




Even from the championship tees (not reflected in the above scorecard, but currently listed at 7,041 yards), Shinnecock is a "short" course by modern standards, proving that length is only one way to challenge the best.
 
Noted architect Dana Fry once said, in words I wholeheartedly espouse, that "Shinnecock Hills simply has no weakness. It is as pure as a routing plan can get and a remarkable golf course in virtually every way." Without ever feeling disjointed, the routing is as varied as you could want, although slightly favoring the left-to-right hitter, as more than twice as many long holes move in that direction. At the routing's core are two hallmarks of William Flynn's work: the two-loops, as opposed to the out-and-back, approach (one of several reasons the Shinnecock-Muirfield comparison often gets made), and the use of triangulation within each loop. Together, these features account for the much-heralded variety in the wind directions encountered during a single round at Shinnecock. The front-nine loop occupies the western half of the property, while the back-nine loop occupies the eastern half--the left and right sides, respectively, of the aerial photograph below. For more on the within-loop triangulation at Shinnecock, see Ran's 2011 feature interview with Wayne Morrison and Tom Paul, who use colorized versions of Flynn's original sketches to discuss the routing at length: http://golfclubatlas.com/feature-interview/wayne-morrison-april-2011-2/.
 

From above, you can see why Shinnecock's routing is considered the best in the world. Credit: Google Earth.
 
Hole 1 ("Westward Ho"): Par 4, 391 yards
 
Long heralded as one of the best opening tee shots in golf, Shinnecock's first--from which each of the front nine's other holes, as well as several on the back, is visible--previews much of what is to come: elevated tees, generous, gently doglegged fairways protected at their corners (typically the inside) by bunkers, and raised, lightning-fast greens with falloffs of varying severity at the back edge. The bunkers along the right side of the opening fairway are representative of their strategic placement throughout the course: Short or long yields ample fairway--refreshingly, the bunkers are not merely hazards in the already-hazardous rough--but because accurate knowledge of one's length off the tee is rare, especially on a layout as exposed to the wind as Shinnecock, the task in avoiding them is not quite so straightforward.
 

A gettable hole, if only the golfer could ignore his nerves and the landscape around him.
 

Like an unmooring, departing the clubhouse from Shinnecock's first tee feels every bit the start of a journey that it is.
 

Recently tweaked by Coore & Crenshaw, the bunkering at Shinnecock has a rugged appeal befitting the terrain.
 

Right from the start, the golfer realizes that long--down one of Shinnecock's severe falloffs--is dead.
 

But the golfer can take some solace in the vastness of the falloffs, as all but a true screamer will remain on the short grass.
 
Hole 2 ("Plateau"): Par 3, 221 yards
 
Shinnecock's longest par-3, the second plays straight uphill to a relatively large green. Although it, too, falls off at the very back, its depth is adequate to reward even low long-iron shots. A set of terraced bunkers, a common occurrence at Shinnecock, guards the green short and left. Their placement is not only beautiful--emblematic of Shinnecock's rugged aesthetic--but strategic, as many a golfer will try to overcome the hole's length by overswinging and, inevitably, pulling the ball.
 

A daunting, if beautiful, view from the tee.
 

Shinnecock's first set of terraced bunkers--to me, a fairer hazard than one large bunker--comes at the second.
 

The shorter the tee shot, the lower you are on the terrace and the steeper and more difficult the approach.
 

Though large, the green has numerous contours and another, albeit more gradual, falloff at the back to keep putters wary.
 
Hole 3 ("Peconic"): Par 4, 447 yards
 
A reminder that Shinnecock, despite its fearsome reputation, is actually quite playable for the average golfer, the third hole plays from another elevated tee to a massive fairway. Another set of terraced bunkers menacingly guards the fairway's beginning, although they are less actual hazards than sources of visual intimidation. The approach plays back uphill to a wide, open-front green pitched sharply from back to front, with a small shelf in the top/back-right corner. Where Shinnecock allows for a run-up shot, it is quite often the ideal one; the golfer should follow the architecture and embrace the opportunity.
 

Although visually intimidating, the terraced bunkers short of the 3rd fairway facilitate aiming on one of Shinnecock's few slightly blind tee shots.
 

Even on the front nine's less dramatic terrain, Shinnecock's hills--here seen looking back up the 3rd fairway--influence play.
 

A view toward the 3rd green from the bunker guarding the right side of the 7th green reveals the wisdom of a low, running approach.
 
Hole 4 ("Pump House"): Par 4, 409 yards
 
A gentle dogleg-right par-4, the 4th gets its name from the small structures guarding its right side. Although a wide fairway unfolds straight ahead of the tee, the prevailing wind--and the temptation to hit the fairway's right side for a shorter approach to a well-protected green with falloffs at all sides--makes the tall grass surrounding the pump houses a magnet for imprecisely hit balls. 




Often overlooked, the 4th offers a view that is impossible to overlook.
 


Perched and well bunkered, albeit with an opening for the ground game, describes many of Shinnecock's greens, including this one at the 4th.
 

Although many of Shinnecock's greens fall off severely at the back, they usually fall into open space, allowing balls to be found and shots to be played.
 
Hole 5 ("Montauk"): Par 5, 529 yards
 
The site of my first eagle in 10 years, the 5th is a visually unremarkable par-5. After a drive to a wide fairway bisected early by bunkers, the hole turns slightly right--the doglegs at Shinnecock, and there are many, are refreshingly gentle--to another open-front green with a falloff at the back. The hole's length and design features make going for the green in two shots a realistic possibility for a good percentage of golfers hitting the fairway with a solid tee shot. What assists with overcoming the distance needed to reach the green is an ingenious speed slot on the left side of the fairway approximately 100 yards from the green. Hitting it with a hard, low fade can propel the ball--as it did in my case--the rest of the way home, even if, by yardage, the target seems well out of reach.
 

A shot left of--or, ideally, over--the right-hand fairways bunkers leaves the most margin for error.
 

The banked left side of the end of the 5th fairway serves as a speed slot for those trying to reach the green in two.
 

The gently domed fifth is typical of Shinnecock's greens: visually benign, actually devilish.
 
Hole 6 ("Pond"): Par 4, 456 yards
 
Historically the hardest hole at Shinnecock--and an homage to the famous "Channel" hole at Lido--the long par-4 sixth, despite being routed across relatively flat land, plays blind from the tee to a wild split fairway with sandy waste areas aplenty, especially along the right side. (These waste areas were recently restored by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, who have been doing work on the entire course in preparation for the 2018 U.S. Open. Because I had never before played the course, I am unfortunately unable to evaluate their work--except to say that everything looks ideal.) The approach is no bargain either, as the course's sole water hazard, the hole's eponymous pond, must be carried with what is often a long iron or hybrid. Out of bounds guards the entire right side of the hole.
 

The newly restored sandy areas at the 6th hole fit perfectly with Shinnecock's landscape.
 

A deep green, viewed here from behind, receives approach shots inevitably struck with long irons or fairway metals.
 

At the intersection of the 4th and 7th tees, the view back down the 6th reveals its serpentine, split-fairway nature.

[Benjamin Litman]

Hole 7 ("Redan"): Par 3, 189 yards
 
In my experience, no two consecutive holes on a world-class course are more difficult than the 6th and 7th at Shinnecock. All of the criticism of this hole--and there has been a lot, especially during the infamous 2004 U.S. Open--is fair. But I think it's misplaced. The issue, to me, is not the severity of the slope. Instead, it is the location of the tee and the corresponding angle of the green. What makes the Redans at both North Berwick and National--the two generally considered the best in the world--so good, and so playable, is that the golfer approaches them from the side. At Shinnecock, by contrast, the Redan's tee lines the golfer up directly at the "open" part of the green--i.e., what is the top-right corner at most Redans. To me, Redans are best played with a fade, so that once the ball lands, it comes to rest before gently spinning back toward the hole due solely to the green's slope. (People often say the design calls for a draw, but a properly sloped Redan should propel a properly hit draw--like a shot hit with, as opposed to up against, the wind--off the green.) But hitting such a shot is much more difficult when, because of the tee's obtuse angle to the green, the ball lands more on a downslope than a sideslope. Moving Shinnecock's tee 20 yards to the left might well cure this problem by making the angle more acute and the slope less severe. (To be sure, the tee at the superb Redan at Somerset Hills--what many consider the third-best rendition of the template--also lines the golfer up to the open part of the green, but the green then moves much more sharply to the left than Shinnecock's version, creating the ideal acute angle of play.) [Update: Since my first tour of Shinnecock in 2015, the club has indeed added a new left tee.]
 

The alignment from the tee--directly at the opening to the green--is largely responsible for this Redan's notorious reputation.
 

Only a woefully mishit tee ball will bring these bunkers well short of the green into play; the steep upslope beyond, however, gets plenty of action.
 

Refreshingly, the two-tiered bunkering on the right side of the green allows for proportionate punishment.
 

Though tiny, the bunker nestled into the high-right shoulder of the green is preferable to the larger bunker below.
 

When viewed from the right side, the Redan's slope looks every bit its impossible-to-hold reputation.
 


But viewed from the left side, the slope looks manageable, even tame, suggesting that the location of the tee is mostly responsible for the hole's difficulty.
 
Hole 8 ("Lowlands"): Par 4, 359 yards
 
Interestingly, the 8th offers another Redan-style green, albeit one where the approach shot is at a more proper (i.e., acute) angle than at the 7th. The high-right corner allows golfers to feed the ball to middle- and back-left hole locations. From the tee, the wide fairway offers more room right than its dogleg-right orientation would suggest.
 

The wasteland left of the fairway after which the 8th is named typifies Shinnecock's rugged appeal.
 

Note the difference in angle between the approach to the 8th green (pictured) and the 7th green.
 
Hole 9 ("Ben Nevis"): Par 4, 411 yards
 
With the exception of the 2nd and 3rd holes, Shinnecock's front nine is only gently undulating--until the 9th hole. Here the golfer confronts the course's eponymous hills, which stay with him for the next eight holes. The 9th green is the first of three consecutive greens that sit perched high above the fairway (or the tee, as in the case of the par-3 11th). Inside the 9th's dogleg-left fairway lies, along lower, flatter ground, the 18th hole. (The nines at Shinnecock were flipped early on.)



Albeit on much more dramatic ground, the 9th is sandwiched between the 1st hole, to the right, and the 18th hole, to the left.
 

A wide swath of tall fescue grasses and bunkers separates the 9th and 18th holes.
 

The green at the old closing hole gives "perched" a new meaning; do not underclub.
 

A side view of the green at twilight makes clear that right or long is the proper miss.
 
Hole 10 ("Eastward Ho"): Par 4, 410 yards
 
My favorite hole on the course, the 10th plays blind from the tee into a deep valley some 50 feet (if not more) below the crest of the hill. Because of the steepness of the descent, most second shots will be played from the same spot near the bottom of the fairway. To be sure, some opt to lay back to the top of the hill, before the descent, but the longer approach is arguably even harder, given how small the green is and how severe the runoffs in front and behind it are. From wherever it's played, the approach is the most demanding on the course, requiring a perfectly struck iron shot and, perhaps more important, the correct club selection. Distance control is at a premium, as the back-to-front tilt of the green, together with the steep uphill slope that fronts the green, means that anything even marginally short will result in a do-over. Long is no bargain either, as the green falls off into a vast area of tightly mown grass, requiring a delicate pitch (or, more prudently, putt) back to the green and, too often, to the fairway beyond.
 

Few tee shots in the world better typify the sense of discovery that makes golf so endlessly enthralling.
 

Beyond the hill, the fairway falls severely downhill to a collection area within wedge range of the green.
 

Only to rise again to another green perched well above the golfer.
 

The steepness of the green-fronting slope--which has ruined many a round, even among professionals--cannot be exaggerated.



Missing long might seem the prudent option, but another falloff at the back reveals otherwise.
 
Hole 11 ("Hill Head"): Par 3, 150 yards
 
A devilish par-3--often called golf's shortest par-5--the 11th demands the proper gauge of both distance and direction to hit and hold the perched, exposed green. As poor an option as the deep bunkers front right seem, the short grass long left--invisible from the tee, as the green falls sharply away in that corner--is the golfer's true nightmare. The proper aiming point--for any hole location--is the middle-left portion of the green, which moves uphill toward the narrower back-right tier. A sense of seclusion--the 11th, especially the walk from tee to green, is one of the few spots on the property where the clubhouse is out of view--brings a calm that is at odds with the hole's severe demands.
 


Like the 9th and 10th holes, the 11th presents an enormous challenge because of green siting and surrounds, not length.
 


The only "safe" shot, where falloffs won't swallow your ball, is to the middle-left section of the green.



As at the 10th, the short miss seems more dangerous only until the golfer realizes what awaits long.
 


The steepness of the falloff long left of the 11th is clear as the golfer looks back while making his way down the 12th.
 
Hole 12 ("Tuckahoe"): Par 4, 469 yards
 
Of all the holes at Shinnecock, the 12th is probably the best known--thousands of cars drive through its fairway along Tuckahoe Road every day of the year. It is the road, moreover, that marks the end of the gentle downhill descent from the tee and the beginning of the gentle ascent to the green. The 12th is the first--and most straightaway--of four consecutive par-4s that begin from elevated tees.
 

If carried, a bunker pinching the right side of the fairway will propel a tee shot well forward.
 

Looking back toward the tee from the road, the steadily downhill, rolling nature of the 12th is evident.
 

But the approach plays slightly uphill, as evidenced by this view back from the green.
 

Owing to the hole's length, the green surrounds are less severe than elsewhere at Shinnecock, easing the demands of the recovery shot.
 

[Benjamin Litman]

Hole 13 ("Road Side"): Par 4, 372 yards
 
Not unlike the diagonal bunker at the 5th and 7th holes at Bethpage Black, albeit less diagonally, the depressed waste area to the right of Shinnecock's dogleg-right 13th fairway presents a bite-off-as-much-as-you-can-safely-chew proposition. Given the hole's length, biting off too much is rarely worth the risk. A deep, relatively flat green--it falls off gradually at the back--makes the 13th a scoring hole. From the tee, which is the highest point on the property, the views in all directions are glorious.
 

The 13th tee offers stunning views, especially over the 15th hole--with NGLA's windmill and Peconic Bay in the distance--to the north.
 

The view over the 13th hole itself isn't too shabby either, revealing a superb waterless Cape-like hole.
 

Another shortish par-4 brings another green with a falloff at the back, a wise architectural pairing.
 
Hole 14 ("Thom's Elbow"): Par 4, 447 yards
 
After the brief respite offered by the 13th, Shinnecock's might returns at the 14th, back on the central paddock. A gorgeous hole with bunkers along the left and a large hill all along the right, the 14th winds its way down through a natural valley and then slightly back up to the course's most natural green setting tucked in between two hillsides.



The third of four consecutive mesmerizing downhill tee shots comes at the long 14th.
 

From the fairway, the approach is slightly back uphill.
 

The green sits perfectly at the end of the journey through a valley bordered on the left by bunkers and the right by a hillside.
 

Looking back down the fairway reveals the gradually uphill nature of the approach.
 
Hole 15 ("Sebonac"): Par 4, 402 yards
 
The final downhill tee shot at Shinnecock is arguably its most glorious, with vast views north out to National's windmill and clubhouse in the distance and Peconic Bay beyond. Although the walk from the 14th green up to the 15th tee might strike some as overly contrived, the view, as at the similarly maligned 1st tee at Streamsong Blue, is worth it. A huge lateral ridge divides the fairway into upper and lower tiers; carrying it off the tee leaves the golfer in the best position to reach and hold a green heavily guarded at the front by bunkers, a rarity at Shinnecock.
 

The hike up to the tee is just that...
 

...but the view on arrival more than justifies the effort.



The 15th is the rare green at Shinnecock where only aerial approach shots will suffice.



Continuing the theme of terracing, not all of the bunkers are as greenside as they appear.
 

Tree removal at Shinnecock has opened up long interior views, including this one from the 16th fairway back over the 15th green and the 5th green in the distance on the left.
 

From the 5th fairway, the 15th's dual elevation drops--from tee to fairway, and top of fairway to green--are apparent.
 
Hole 16 ("Shinnecock"): Par 5, 520 yards
 
Generally thought of as Shinnecock's best hole, the 16th is the course's second and final par-5. The hole plays up a rollercoaster, zigzagging fairway guarded by a maze of bunkers; focus on the clubhouse, which lords over the entire hole from a distance, and the dizziness should subside. If the 14th offers the course's most natural green setting, the 16th offers its most beautiful.
 

From the back tee, the landing zone at the glorious 16th is generous.
 

A maze of bunkers guards the hole's entire left side; play too safe to the right, however, and the angle into the green becomes more difficult.
 

An ideally framed green, the 16th is deeper and flatter than others at Shinnecock, allowing big hitters to give it a go in two.
 

The green's fronting slope, together with its depth and the hole's into-the-wind orientation, makes the back a wise target.



The view of the hill up to the 9th green and the clubhouse beyond make the journey to the 16th green particularly memorable.
 
Hole 17 ("Eden"): Par 3, 173 yards
 
Another gorgeous, exposed hole, the 17th plays slightly downhill to a green set at a diagonal--from front right to back left--to the tee, with another set of terraced bunkers guarding the inside. Plenty of room right, together with a preferable angle for recovery, makes the bailout area to that side both attractive and smart. The only problem is that the ensuing pitch or long putt must navigate a front-to-back slope that starts early in the green--a relative anomaly at Shinnecock, where falloffs are just that, typically found only at the back edge of greens.
 

Though they lack the framing provided by the ubiquitous clubhouse, Shinnecock's north-facing holes still delight the eyes.
 

Once at the penultimate green, the final task comes into view on the right.
 

Unlike at many other greens on the course, the falloff at the 17th is long and gradual.
 
Hole 18 ("Home"): Par 4, 426 yards
 
For those who haven't played Shinnecock before, the closing hole perplexes. Everyone comes in with the image of Corey Pavin puring a fairway wood uphill right at the pin. But in reality, the tee shot is the only uphill portion of the hole. The approach, if anything, plays slightly downhill, as the green is sunken into a slight hollow. It is rather the ninth hole, which runs parallel to the 18th along the outside of the dogleg but on higher ground, that features a steeply uphill approach. The inside of the dogleg at the 18th is raised, making the downhill approach to the green partially blind. Finding the right side of the fairway off the tee, although adding distance to the approach, therefore provides the better angle.
 

The aim off the home tee is straight toward the 9th green in the distance, although the 18th green is well off to the left.
 

From the middle of the fairway facing the clubhouse, the golfer must change his orientation more than 45 degrees to the left for the final approach.
 

Like the 14th, the home green--viewed here from the large swath of fescue separating the 18th and 9th fairways--sits beautifully among bunkers and hillsides.
 

One final open-front green allows the golfer to summon his inner Corey Pavin and run up a long iron or fairway wood to glory.
 
Epilogue from the 19th Hole
 

Whether for a meal before the round or a drink after it, Shinnecock's veranda is as good as it gets.
 
If a meal on the veranda before the round gets the juices flowing, a drink on it afterward is a time for quiet reminiscence. It is almost impossible not to linger. The view of the course, bathed in the glow of twilight, is as evocative as any in the world of golf. Most seascapes pale in comparison.
 

The view eastward allows the golfer to replay at least six different holes in his mind, including the glorious 14th on the right.
 

Many more still come into view on looking north, over Shinnecock's quilted landscape, which is unrivaled in the world of golf.
 

While in the west, the setting summer sun warms the 1st and 9th holes for the next day's play.



The drive home along the course's northern edge offers even more opportunity to reflect--and smile.
 
In describing my experience to friends, I called Shinnecock at once a great place course and a great golf course. The marriage of the two--as well as of top-rate building architecture and golf-course architecture--makes it simply one of the very best in the world. Its perch atop my list is secure.
 

My heartfelt thanks to my playing partner, as well as our member host and caddies, for making a lifelong dream come true.
 

[Jeff Taylor]

Thanks for your attention to the clubhouse.
Did you visit the upstairs card room?

[Thomas Dai]

Benjamin,


Well done and many thanks for preparing and sharing this outstanding tour. The before and after the round elements, if I may term them that, are a very nice addition and your use of both black & white and colour photos enhances the presentation.


I reckon you have a smile bigger than that of the preverbial Cheshire Cat every time you recollect your time at Shinnecock!


Atb

[RSantangelo]

Thank you for posting.  A marvelous job.....a joy I am sure for many (in addition to me) to remember through this photo tour the special times we have enjoyed on Shinnecock

[Josh Stevens]

Not a course I will ever get to see, let alone play I suspect.  But if one must nit pick, do a few of the round, flattish, shallow fairway bunkers look  a simplistic? dare I say pedestrian?

There seems lots of very interesting traps around the greens and in places where there is some contour to the fairway, but also quite a few simple saucer like things?  I am sure they have a function, but were they always like that, or were they once sandy waste areas that over time became constrained?  Does not seem to have the boldness and perhaps quirkiness to the bunkering that its neighbour does.

[Jon Cavalier]

This is magnificent work, on both the photos and the writing. Outstanding.

[David Wuthrich]

A very well done piece on my favorite course in the world!

[Tim_Weiman]

Ben,


Wow! Congrats on another superb photo tour. Shinnecock doesn't rank as one of my "favorite courses", but it ranks near the top in terms of pleasant memories. For several years, while living in Long Beach, CA and dining at Kelly's Restaurant on 2nd Street in Belmont Shore, I had the great fortune of having a wonderful elderly gentleman serve as my waiter countless times. His name was Tom Bass.


Tom, it turns out, had a close connection to Shinnecock. Though not a member, he was treated like one each summer when he would visit traveling from his home in Long Beach. Tom was loved, thanks to years of caddying starting when he was a young kid. Apparently, he was the favorite young caddy of long time pro Charlie Thom.


Anyway, Tom invited me to jump on a plane in LA and join him for a round at Shinnecock. It was such an enjoyable round of golf I could barely focus on the golf architecture features of Shinnecock. On this special occasion, that wasn't so bad.

[Terry Lavin]

Downright B-Lit-erary! 

Well done.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Not a course I will ever get to see, let alone play I suspect.  But if one must nit pick, do a few of the round, flattish, shallow fairway bunkers look  a simplistic? dare I say pedestrian?
 
No, not at all.
Photos don't pick up the three dimensional aspect.
 
The golf course and it's component elements are brilliant.

There seems lots of very interesting traps around the greens and in places where there is some contour to the fairway, but also quite a few simple saucer like things? 
 
I am sure they have a function, but were they always like that, or were they once sandy waste areas that over time became constrained? 
 
There's a 1938 aerial that reveals more sandy areas/bunkers, but, there's nothing constrained about Shinnecock.
 
Does not seem to have the boldness and perhaps quirkiness to the bunkering that its neighbour does.
 
Different landforms, different style.
There's more than ample boldness at Shinnecock.
Did you not look at the photos of #'s 9, 10 and 11, just to name a few ?

[Patrick_Mucci]

Ben,
 
Great blend of photos and text.

[Ben Jarvis]

Benjamin,

What a wonderful piece, capturing a very special day. Shinnecock is unlike anything else.

Like you, I never wanted the day to end, as we lingered on the verandah as the sun set. What a place!

Thank you,
Ben

[David Stamm]

This is just epic. Truly one of the best course profiles done on this site. Thank you for posting it.

[Peter Pallotta]

My thanks and compliment too, Benjamin. That's wonderful work you did there; and, even if you hadn't noted that playing Shinnecock was a dream fulfilled, I would've known it -- your love of the place comes through in every photo and paragraph. I'm glad you got the opportunity to be there.


Peter

[Jason Way]

What a flood of wonderful memories that tour brought back Ben.  Thank you very much for that. 


It is neat to see the natural and rugged elements that C&C are restoring juxtaposed with Jon Jennings's absolutely immaculate conditioning.  Beautiful, brutal at times, but as you so eloquently described, a joy of a challenge to tackle.


A quick story: My first buddies golf trip in life was to Long Island in 2013, and it included Shinnecock on a windy, drizzly day.  On the range, my middle-aged caddie introduced himself as Raymond and said that if I hit enough good shots, I could call him Ray.  I played well that day and at several points throughout the round, after hitting good shots, asked him if it was okay to call him Ray yet.  He returned a look that said no.  My playing partner was struggling, so it was basically me against the other two guys in our match.  On the 17th hole, I holed out from the right bunker to win the match 2&1.  From across the green, Raymond yelled to me, "It's about damn time, you ain't done nuthin' all day! You may now call me Ray."


For as long as I live, I will never forget that glorious day with Ray.

[Matthew Mollica]

A course I hope to visit one day. All the more following this glorious review.


Sincere thanks Ben for your thoughts and words, and wonderful images.
That is, quite simply, as good as course reviews get.


Matthew

[David_Elvins]

Wow, great work Benjamin.  Thanks for sharing.

[Jerry Kluger]

Bravo - well done.  It may be presumptuous of me but I would say that the brilliant routing of Shinnecock greatly influenced, if not educated, some of today's best architects. Like many great courses it just seems that the holes were there and it was a test to see if the architect doing the routing could find them.  I have to get back there. 


Thank you Benjamin

[Josh Stevens]

I note a few trees scattered about.  Was it ever over treed and had to be cleared?

[Patrick_Mucci]

I note a few trees scattered about.  Was it ever over treed and had to be cleared?

YES

[Steve Salmen]

Ben,

Thank you for taking the time to put your thoughts and feelings into such eloquent words.

Muirfield has been my favorite golf course for 25 years, and I'd consider Shinnecock it's American twin. The biggest differences to me are lack of elevation changes at Muirfield and forced carries at 9, 10 and 11 at Shinnecock. Also, Muirfield does not have a hole as spectacular as 14 at Shinnecock nor one as uninteresting as #4.
Btw, how old is the scorecard you posted?  I was there recently and the card features green, red, and US Open tees. 
Thanks again. I enjoy your work.

Steve

[Keith OHalloran]

Ben,
Nice write up and pics. I think you may short change the complexity of the 13th green though. Hopefully future plays will straighten that out.

Jason, That is a great Ray story. He is one of the best caddies I have ever had and a very funny guy. He definitely knows what is going on in the match at all times, and hates when his guy loses. Absolutely adds to the experience to go around with a guy like him.

[JJShanley]

Breathtaking!  I had a photograph of the clubhouse from the USGA as my desktop picture circa 2004.  Even this loyal Brit appreciates the beauty of an enormous Stars and Stripe flying in a brisk wind.  I agree with the comparison with Muirfield, although the latter doesn't appear to have Shinny's elevation.