Shinnecock Hills Golf Club is a
linksA links is the oldest style of golf course, first developed in Scotland. The word "links" comes from the Scots language and refers to an area of coastal sand dunes and sometimes to open parkland. It also retains this more general meaning in the Scottish English dialect...
-style
golfGolf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
club located in the hamlet of
Shinnecock HillsShinnecock Hills is a hamlet in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 1,749 at the 2000 census. It is the home of a leading golf club, Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. This is the highest point on Long Island's east end. At its highest point it is the only place on Long Island,...
in the
town of SouthamptonThe Town of Southampton is located in southeastern Suffolk County, New York, U.S., partly on the South Fork of Long Island. As of the United States 2000 Census, the town had a total population of 54,712...
on
Long IslandLong Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
in the U.S. state of
New YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. It has hosted the
U.S. OpenThe United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open golf tournament of the United States. It is the second of the four major championships in golf, and is on the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour...
four times in three different centuries and will host the 2018 U.S. Open. It was added to the
National Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 2000.
It claims to be the oldest formal organized golf club in the United States (1891), to have the oldest golf clubhouse in the U.S. (1892), and to be the first club to admit women, which it did from the start.
History
The club traces its roots to an 1889-1890 trip by William K. Vanderbilt, Edward Meade and Duncan Cryder, to
BiarritzBiarritz is a city which lies on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast, in south-western France. It is a luxurious seaside town and is popular with tourists and surfers....
in southern
FranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
where they encountered Willie Dunn, from
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, who was building a golf course at the resort.
Back in the United States Meade and Cryder scouted for a place for a golf course near
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. They chose the sandhills adjoining the Long Island Railroad just east of the
Shinnecock CanalThe Shinnecock Canal is a canal that cuts across the South Fork of Long Island at Hampton Bays, New York. At long, it connects Great Peconic Bay and the north fork of Long Island with Shinnecock Bay and the Atlantic Ocean...
. The 80 acres (323,748.8 m²) parcel was purchased for $2,500 and 44 original members signed up for $100 each.
Willie Davis from the Royal Montreal Club designed a 12-hole course that opened in late summer 1891. Members of
Shinnecock Indian NationThe Shinnecock Indian Nation is a federally recognized tribe, headquartered in Suffolk County, New York, on the south shore of Long Island. Shinnecock are an Algonquian people from Long Island...
helped build the course (which is on land they have laid claim to and which remains in litigation).
Stanford WhiteStanford White was an American architect and partner in the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White, the frontrunner among Beaux-Arts firms. He designed a long series of houses for the rich and the very rich, and various public, institutional, and religious buildings, some of which can be found...
designed the club house which opened in 1892 and is said to be the oldest golf club house in the United States. In 1893 a 9-hole ladies-only course was designed and built at Shinnecock Hills.
In 1894 Dunn arrived and added six more holes bringing the total to 18. That same year Dunn won an informal attempt to establish a national championship at
Newport, Rhode IslandNewport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
. The following year Shinnecock was one of five founding clubs of the
United States Golf AssociationThe United States Golf Association is the United States' national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the Rules of Golf. The USGA also provides a national handicap system...
, which held the first U.S. Open in 1895 in Newport.
In 1896 Shinnecock hosted the second U.S. Open. Many of the golfers broke 80 on a course which was playing less than 5,000 yards. This led to demands to make the course more difficult. Participating in the 1896 open was black player John Shippen.
In 1901 the popular ladies course was abandoned to allow for a lengthening and redesign by
Charles B. MacdonaldCharles Blair Macdonald was a major figure in early American golf. He built the first 18-hole course in the United States, was a driving force in the founding of the United States Golf Association, won the first U.S...
and Seth Raynor, retaining five of Dunn's original holes.
In 1937
William FlynnWilliam Stephen Flynn was a prominent golf course architect during the early part of the 20th century. Among Flynn's most notable work are the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on Long Island, Cherry Hills Country Club, Lancaster Country Club and his work at the Merion Golf Club.- Life and career...
redesigned the course into a 6,740 yard configuration. Flynn's design retains five of Macdonald and Raynor's holes and the green of a sixth hole. Prior to the 2004 U.S. Open the course was extended to a length of 6,996 yards by the addition of extra tees.
Land claim dispute
There is a question mark over the clubs ownership of these lands as the area of
Shinnecock HillsShinnecock Hills is a hamlet in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 1,749 at the 2000 census. It is the home of a leading golf club, Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. This is the highest point on Long Island's east end. At its highest point it is the only place on Long Island,...
is claimed by the
Shinnecock Indian NationThe Shinnecock Indian Nation is a federally recognized tribe, headquartered in Suffolk County, New York, on the south shore of Long Island. Shinnecock are an Algonquian people from Long Island...
as their land, illegally seized in a white land grab in 1859.
In 2005 the nation filed a lawsuit against the state seeking the return of 3,500 acres (14 km²) in Southampton, New York around the tribe's reservation and billions of dollars in reparations. The disputed property includes the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, which Native American representatives say is the location of tribe burial grounds.
The core of the lawsuit is over a 1703 deal between Southampton and the tribe for a 1,000-year lease. The suit charges that a group of powerful investors conspired to break the lease in 1859 by sending the state Legislature a fraudulent petition from a number of Shinnecock tribesmen. Although other tribal members immediately protested that the petition was a forgery, the Legislature approved the sale of 3,500 acres (14 km²) of former tribal land.
Major tournaments hosted
| Year | Tournament | Winner |
| 1896 |
U.S. Amateur |
H. J. Whigham Henry James Whigham was a Scottish writer and amateur golfer. He won the U.S. Amateur in 1896 and 1897. Following his first win in the U.S. amateur , he wrote a golf instruction book....
|
| 1896 The second Open went to the 18-hole course of the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Shinnecock Hills, New York, in July. Like the first, it was a sideshow to the U.S. Amateur Championship...
|
U.S. Open |
James Foulis James Foulis was a Scottish professional golfer who won the second U.S. Open.Foulis was born in the "Home of Golf", St Andrews in Scotland. His father was foreman at Old Tom Morris's golf shop and clubmaking business, and Foulis spent some time working at the shop...
|
| 1977 |
Walker Cup The Walker Cup is a golf trophy contested biennially in odd numbered years between teams comprising the leading amateur golfers of the United States and Great Britain and Ireland...
|
United States |
| 1986 The 1986 United States Open Championship was the 86th U.S. Open. The event was held from June 12-15 at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Shinnecock Hills, New York. Raymond Floyd, who at one point was one of nine golfers tied for the lead during the fourth and final round, won his first U.S...
|
U.S. Open |
Raymond Floyd Raymond Loran "Ray" Floyd is an American professional golfer who has won numerous tournaments on both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour....
|
1995The 1995 United States Open Championship was the 95th U.S. Open. The event was held from June 15-18 at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Shinnecock Hills, New York. Corey Pavin won his first major championship by two strokes over Greg Norman.-Final leaderboard:...
|
U.S. Open |
Corey Pavin Corey Allen Pavin is an American professional golfer on the PGA Tour. He spent over 150 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Rankings between 1986 and 1997.-Biography:...
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2004The 2004 United States Open Championship was the 104th U.S. Open, played from June 17 to June 20 at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Shinnecock Hills, New York. The U.S. Open returned to Shinnecock Hills for the first time since 1995. Retief Goosen won his second U.S. Open Championship and second...
|
U.S. Open |
Retief GoosenRetief Goosen is a South African professional golfer who has been in the top ten in the Official World Golf Rankings for over 250 weeks between 2001 and 2007. His main achievements have been two U.S...
|
| 2018 |
U.S. Open |
|
Scorecard
Awards
Shinnecock Hills was ranked second in
Golf DigestGolf Digest is a monthly golf magazine published by Condé Nast Publications in the United States. It is a generalist golf publication covering recreational golf and men's and women's competitive golf. Condé Nast Publications also publishes the more specialized , and Golf World Business. The...
s 100 Greatest Courses Ranking for 2007, 2008, and third in 2009.
See also
External links