{"id":644413,"date":"2026-06-18T00:49:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T00:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/644413\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T00:49:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T00:49:08","slug":"usga-seeks-to-avoid-setup-sins-at-shinnecock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/644413\/","title":{"rendered":"USGA seeks to avoid setup sins at Shinnecock"},"content":{"rendered":"

SOUTHAMPTON, NEW YORK |\u00a0There was a moment Wednesday in the USGA\u2019s pre-U.S. Open news conference when CEO Mike Whan leaned over and put a hand on the shoulder of John Bodenhamer, the organization\u2019s chief championships officer and the man tasked with putting the right competitive edge into tempestuous Shinnecock Hills this week.<\/p>\n

Shinnecock is a beautifully unadorned layout, difficult by design, and its inherent challenges are magnified by the wind that gathers and gusts, potentially to the extreme this week.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no secret that if the USGA has been guilty of any setup sins through the years at U.S. Opens, they have been sins of aggression, going a step too far or a couple of inches too deep. The past two U.S. Opens at Shinnecock, in 2004 and 2018, provide chapters to that story and it\u2019s on Bodenhamer to find the right blend of challenge and compassion.<\/p>\n

After a long description of how the USGA is preparing a softer (by degrees) Shinnecock setup to deal with winds expected to blow more than 30 mph at various times, Bodenhamer paused.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a USGA guy my whole life, my dream was always to play in and win the U.S. Open. To sit back here and talk about hydrating greens, slowing green speeds, and modifying hole locations, that\u2019s hard to do, but I\u2019ll tell you what, I have great respect for this cathedral of the game and about these great players,\u201d Bodenhamer said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Not one to miss a beat, Whan quickly told the assembled media, \u201cGive J.B. a hug on your way out, would you?\u201d<\/p>\n

If necessity is the mother of invention, Mother Nature is the inescapable force at Shinnecock.<\/p>\n

Other than a small chance of a random shower during the four tournament days, it will be the wind that defines how this championship unfolds.<\/p>\n

In 2004, the greens got so dried out by the combination of wind and sun that the USGA took the unprecedented step of watering some putting surfaces between groups to keep those spots playable. Similar problems developed in the Saturday round of the 2018 U.S. Open here when the wind blew substantially harder than forecast.<\/p>\n

\u201cThink about it as when you go into the grocery store and you go into the produce department and reach for that head of lettuce and that little mist comes on above and hits your hand. That\u2019s all we\u2019re doing to the putting greens.\u201d \u2014 John Bodenhamer<\/p>\n

Choosing to err on the side of caution in hopes of avoiding calamity, Bodenhamer and his team have substantially reconfigured their setup plan.<\/p>\n

With fairways that average 48 yards in width, the firm, fast conditions will effectively narrow those areas, many of which will be buffeted by strong crosswinds. It\u2019s on and around the putting surfaces where the weather could become the leading character in the story.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis place just dries down like nowhere else I\u2019ve ever experienced, and we need to watch it and be very careful,\u201d Bodenhamer said.<\/p>\n

To that end, the USGA has informed players that it will syringe (lightly water) the greens between the morning and afternoon waves on Thursday and Friday, having built in time in the middle of the day to accommodate that process. It\u2019s something done daily at Shinnecock Hills.<\/p>\n

There are also plans to syringe the greens just prior to play both Saturday and Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThink about it as when you go into the grocery store and you go into the produce department and reach for that head of lettuce and that little mist comes on above and hits your hand. That\u2019s all we\u2019re doing to the putting greens,\u201d Bodenhamer said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t impact playability. It hydrates the leaf blade. When it evaporates, it keeps it cool enough so we don\u2019t lose the friction on the putting greens.\u201d<\/p>\n

As an example of how Shinnecock can change during the day, both Daniel Berger and Tony Finau started the third round 11 strokes behind here in 2018 and caught the most benign conditions. As it became more difficult during the day, Berger and Finau ultimately ended up tied for the 54-hole lead, making up 11 shots on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Shinnecock will play at 7,440 yards, the same distance as it played in 2018. Bodenhamer said the USGA could have added 300 yards but chose not to, allowing the course to play as it was designed.<\/p>\n

The target green speed of 10.5 on the Stimpmeter is the same as it was when Corey Pavin won here in 1995.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet Shinnecock be what it\u2019s supposed to be,\u201d Bodenhamer said. \u201cAnd if it\u2019s not good enough, we shouldn\u2019t come here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sunset bathes the ninth and 18th greens at Shinnecock Hills. (John Mummert, USGA)
\n\u00a9 2026 Global Golf Post LLC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SOUTHAMPTON, NEW YORK |\u00a0There was a moment Wednesday in the USGA\u2019s pre-U.S. Open news conference when CEO Mike…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,217164,101,125285,56,54,55,55529],"class_list":["post-644413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-shinnecock","tag-sports","tag-u-s-open","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-usga"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}