If Pine Valley’s goal is to provide the ultimate golfing experience, Shinnecock Hills Golf Club gives it a run for the title. Before I begin about my day at Shinnecock, two letters from different golfing legends help offer perspective on the occasion.
If you don’t read anything besides the following two letters that’s fine. This post can’t convey what letters from two of the game’s finest provides.
Hogan on Shinnnecock Hills
Ben Hogan was sitting around one afternoon in Fort Worth, Texas reminiscing on some of his finest golf experiences and decided to write the following letter to his host at Shinnecock:
It reads:
Dear Paul (Hogan’s Host),
While sitting here relaxed and with very little to do, my thoughts turned to some of the pleasant golf games we have had and the many courses we have played.
The one game and course I particularly recalled was Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. To me – it is very strange (and I suppose you would call it evolutions) why so many courses have deteriorated in their requirements of good golf shots and actually the game itself. This is not true in the case of Shinnecock.
Although Shinnecock is a very old course it has not succumbed to the pattern of “make golf easy” because of the hacker’s inability to hit decent shots.
To me Shinnecock affords any golfer a most pleasant 18 of golf. By this I mean each hole is different and requires a great amount of skill to play properly. As I think back – each hole has complete definition. You know exactly where to shoot and the distance is easy to read.
All in all I think it is one of the finest courses I have ever played and can say that I had a great amount of pleasure the day we played there.
My best personal regards
- Ben
Ben Hogan’s candor and description of any course is always a gem.
Lehman’s Take
Another golfing legend weighs in on his experience at Shinnecock. This one is from Tom Lehman.
It reads:
If I were given one day to live, and could play any course that I wanted for my last round, I would choose Shinnecock! Shinnecock is true golf, a fair, tough test from one through eighteen, a golf links that ultimately stimulates all the senses. It is without question my favorite course in all the world!
The Shinnecock Hills Experience
The experience was created by our consumate host, Graeme Russell. Graeme is a student of the game and a member of prestigious clubs in his native country, Scotland. It’s important to note, no matter how fantastic a course, if your playing partners don’t value the game, the experience will be tainted. This was not the case on this day. Fellow golf blogger, Khaki Crusader (who also documented the occasion), and Grame’s business associate, Charles, rounded off the foursome.
The Story of Shinnecock Hills Golf Club
From the Long Island Golf News:
In 1891, William Vanderbilt and several wealthy friends bought 80 acres north of present-day Sunrise Highway for $2,500 and hired Shinnecock Indians to build a 12-hole course designed by Scottish professional golfer Willie Dunn. The course was expanded to 18 holes four years later. In 1891, the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club became America’s first incorporated golf club, granting women full membership from the start. It was also the first to have a clubhouse, which was designed by famed architect Stanford White.
From a 1896 New York Times’s Article – Probably the Most Perfect Golf Courses in This Country (click to read the expanded version):
This article is fantastic and gives a detailed story behind the process of creating Shinnecok. It’s interesting that the NYT’s piece doesn’t even mention Vanderbilt in it (opposed to the Long Island Golf News).
Shinnecock’s early success was due to a member named Edward S. Mead who fell in love with the game in Biarritz, France of all places! He and Willie Davis, who provided the services “to lay out a course in the vicinity of Southampton,” were the beginning.
When Willie Davis first discovered the grounds that would be Shinnecock Hills, the following occurred:
…it was suggested that they visit the hills across the railroad track, about half a mile to the north, where the ground had more of the qualities of a sandy turf and it was while viewing this section from the vicinity of the sixteen or Peconic hole, that Willie Davis’s face lightened up, and with true golfing ardor he exclaimed: ‘This is more like it.’
It was soon after this moment that Willie Dunn “was secured to take charge of the grounds.” Dunn proceeded to design and build a course that still “stimulates the senses” from the game’s best.
Contemporary Moments in Golf History
2010 Ryder Cup Captain, Corey Pavin won his U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills in 1995 with a magnificent 5-wood to the eighteenth hole.
An incredible montage during the 2004 U.S. Open…Retief rolled in putts from everywhere.
The Perfect Day at Shinnecock Hills
It was just past 6:00 a.m. and I was walking down 37th and 9th to Times Square in order to catch the NQR line in order to meet my soon to be playing partners. New York City was already alive – students were studying on trains, bankers making their way to Wall Street, and me with my clubs on the NY Transit waiting for my stop.
We arrived on Long Island at 9:30 a.m. – about an hour and half before our tee time. We stopped at a traditional NY deli shop (pictured below). The sun was bright, not a cloud in the sky, and the wind was swirling…perfect.
We made our way up Tuckahoe Road to the brilliantly classic clubhouse.
The competition was ferocious. Charles and I played against Graeme and Khaki Crusader. To get a more in-depth play by play, I suggest you venture to Khaki Crusader’s account of the competition. It’s a good one.
The round ended with drinks on the outside patio.
After the round, we decided to have dinner in Southampton. The restaurant is pictured below.
The day ended with a two hour drive back to the city. The drive seemed like 10 minutes due to the conversation, stories, and memories created. It was a day that you never wanted to end, a day that golfers live for.
Thanks again to our host, Graeme, for providing such a great occasion.
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Am going to be playing Shinecock on Monday. What advice would you give to a mid handicapper (i’m a 12). The rest of the folks in my group are all 5′s.
What are the puts like and is fairway the name of the game vs distance.