{"id":710306,"date":"2026-06-17T22:55:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T22:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/710306\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T22:55:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T22:55:10","slug":"hole-by-hole-view-of-shinnecock-hills-for-the-us-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/710306\/","title":{"rendered":"Hole-by-hole view of Shinnecock Hills for the US Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sean Quinlivan, the head pro at Shinnecock Hills, has analyzed for The Post how the 156 players in the field at the U.S. Open should play each hole<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 51-year-old Quinlivan, who grew up in the southwest of Ireland, has been the head pro at Shinnecock for the past five years after spending the previous 12 years at Piping Rock on Long Island.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s his hole-by-hole look at the 7,440-yard, Par 70 championship course, which is hosting its sixth U.S. Open:<\/p>\n

Holes 1-4 at Shinnecock Hills. NY Post composite<\/p>\n

No. 1 | Westward Ho<\/p>\n

Par 4, 399 yards<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a pretty soft opening hole, relatively speaking. The guys will hit out there around 250 and it plays downhill. Just get something in the fat of the fairway and that\u2019s going to leave them about 100 to 130 yards in. It\u2019s a kind of low-stress opening hole.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

No. 2 | Plateau<\/p>\n

Par 3, 252 yards<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter you get an easy hole on No. 1, then you get right into it on Hole 2, which is a big-boy par 3. It\u2019ll play anywhere from 230 to 260 yards for the event. It\u2019s a pretty severe green. There\u2019s some runoff on the back and a false front, especially on the front right of the green. Take par here and move on.\u201d<\/p>\n

No. 3 | Peconic<\/p>\n

Par 4, 501 yards<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a big one \u2014 roughly 500 yards, slight dogleg left. It does help with the prevailing wind, and there\u2019s a pretty nice downslope out there starting at 315 yards that kind of pinches out to the right. If you can catch that, you\u2019ll pick up an extra 50 or 60 yards of roll. Hitting the fairway here is a premium. It\u2019s a pretty severe green, a lot of runoff right and left on the front half. Distance control is quite important. It\u2019s a tough two-putt \u2014 a deceivingly difficult putting green.\u201d<\/p>\n

No. 4 | Pump House<\/p>\n

Par 4, 476 yards<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a good driving hole. To create the best angle on this green, it\u2019s best if you can hug the left half of the fairway. There are two bunkers out there \u2014 one starting at 270 yards and the second at 320 \u2014 and those will get some action. This is a beautiful green, a lot of slope left to right with runoff all the way around, like a reverse saucer. Anything middle of the green here, regardless of hole location, will get you a decent look at birdie.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Holes 5-6 at Shinnecock Hills. NY Post composite<\/p>\n

No. 5 | Montauk<\/p>\n

Par 5, 592 yards<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the two par 5s. The prevailing wind is out of the south-southwest and is kind of down out of the right, so this played the easiest relative to par in \u201918 [the last time Shinnecock hosted the U.S. Open]. This is the first real good look at birdie for the guys. The best play is to land something short of the green.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

No. 6 | Pond<\/p>\n

Par 4, 495 yards<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a big-boy hole. It\u2019s a blind tee shot, but it\u2019s actually one of the widest fairways on property out at the 300-yard area. The approach is to a pretty severe back-to-front sloping green. The left bunker is not a bad miss. The right of the green has a pretty severe kickoff and becomes a difficult pitch. Anything short or left is fine. Middle of the green here is a good play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holes 7-8 at Shinnecock Hills. NY Post composite<\/p>\n

No. 7 | Redan<\/p>\n

Par 3, 187 yards<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my favorite redan holes [typically a hole with a narrow green angled away from the tee] I\u2019ve had the opportunity to play. It\u2019s a pretty severe slope right to left. Short and right are a real problem. Getting it on the green is a bonus, and even if you\u2019re on the green, you\u2019re going to have quite a tricky putt. Everything is going to have a lot of movement. This is one where if the guys can make four pars for the week, they\u2019ll pick up a bunch of ground on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

No. 8 | Lowlands<\/p>\n

Par 4, 440 yards<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tee shot here benefits those who can hit the ball the farthest. There\u2019s a pinch of bunkers up the left half of the fairway. The first batch covers about 280 yards and the longest out there at about 300-plus. Creating an angle from the left half of the fairway is very helpful. The approach becomes quite intimidating \u2014 especially with any right hole locations. It looks like the flag is just floating in space.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Holes 9-10 at Shinnecock Hills NY Post composite<\/p>\n

No. 9 | Ben Nevis<\/p>\n

Par 4, 482 yards<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s back up the hill with a beautiful look back up to the clubhouse. With rolling hills and the fescue, it\u2019s a very attractive hole. It\u2019s a wide fairway, and aiming at the right half of the clubhouse gives you a lot of room. Down the left half of the fairway, there is a release point over a hill and you can pick up a lot of yardage and have a wedge in. Hitting the fairway is really a premium.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

No. 10 | Eastward Ho<\/p>\n

Par 4, 415 yards<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve looked at the data from 2018 and there were a number who laid back on the fairway hill, but there\u2019ll be very few birdies from up top, where you\u2019re looking at about 170 or 180 yards in, and it\u2019s an intimidating green. If you come up short, it\u2019s a problem. Over the back could be an even bigger problem. The guys that found the fairway at the bottom of the hill had a flip wedge in, and it yielded a lot of birdies from down below. It\u2019s worth trying to go down the hill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holes 11-13 at Shinnecock Hills NY Post composite<\/p>\n

No. 11 | Hill Head<\/p>\n

Par 3, 157 yards<\/p>\n

\u201cAn iconic par 3. It\u2019s a very small green that effectively plays even smaller with the false front and runoff over the back left. Any miss big and left is a handful. If you remember Brooks [Koepka] making his chip over the other side into the bunker and then getting back up and down for four \u2014 one of the great bogeys [en route to winning the 2018 U.S. Open]. Distance control here is a premium. Having the ball stay short of the middle of the green is the play.\u201d<\/p>\n

No. 12 | Tuckahoe<\/p>\n

Par 4, 469 yards<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this hole is going to yield some birdies. It plays a little shorter because the tee ball is downhill, so they\u2019re left with short to mid-irons into the green.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

No. 13 | Road Side<\/p>\n

Par 4, 371 yards<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my favorites. It\u2019s a great short hole playing at about 350 yards downhill. You\u2019ll see guys going for this. I think most of the field has the power to drive the green side. It\u2019s a very severe green, so a good pitch is probably to about 15 feet. The majority of the field will play back, hit something out there around 230, leaving a short iron \u2014 anywhere from a gap wedge to a nine iron. This hole should yield some birdies.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Holes 14-18 at Shinnecock Hills. NY Post composite<\/p>\n

No. 14 | Thom\u2019s Elbow<\/p>\n

Par 4, 530 yards<\/p>\n

\u201cWe go from the shortest holes on 13 to the longest par 4. You have to hit the golf ball in the fairway. If you miss the fairway, you\u2019re most likely making bogey. Even shots finding the fairway are left with a long iron into this green. Landing something just short on the front is a good play. Anything middle of the green here will give you a decent look. A lot of guys just take par here. Par is a good score.\u201d<\/p>\n

No. 15 | Sebonac<\/p>\n

Par 4, 409 yards<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother one of my favorites. It plays downhill quite a bit, so it plays fairly short. The guys will want to land something about 230 yards and the ball will release down the hill 30 to 40 yards, leaving a short wedge shot anywhere from 115 to 140 yards to another elevated reverse saucer green complex. Any decent shot in, you have a really good look. If you miss the fairway, you\u2019ll pay the price, because it\u2019s very difficult to hold this green from the rough. You\u2019ll be justly punished for a fairway miss here.\u201d<\/p>\n

No. 16 | Shinnecock<\/p>\n

Par 5, 616 yards<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of our iconic-looking holes. You look right up that snaking fairway with the clubhouse in the background. A really beautiful hole, but it\u2019s a lot of golf. The longest guys can get greenside in two. It\u2019s a severe green that runs back to front with a lot of slope, so controlling spin on the third shot is a premium.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

No. 17 | Far<\/p>\n

Par 3, 176 yards<\/p>\n

\u201cThis hole can vary quite a bit in length, from as short as 150 yards at a front hole location to 185 at a back right or back hole location. The green is tilted from right to left, so it requires a quality iron shot, well struck and high, just to stop it on the green. Par is a good number here.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

No. 18 | Home<\/p>\n

Par 4, 485 yards<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019d be nice to have a stroke or two of a lead here, because this is a beast. It\u2019s 490 yards and it\u2019s an awkward tee shot \u2014 a dogleg left with a left-to-right sloping fairway. A lot of balls will stay short of the second bunker, probably a little over 300 yards cover. But it plays uphill a little, so it\u2019s a big cover. The guys can challenge that and get a big reward \u2014 instead of a 4- or 5-iron in, they can have wedge or 9-iron. This is definitely one of the holes where hitting the ball a long way helps. It has one of the more severe greens on the property. I\u2019d hate to have to make a 15-footer here.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sean Quinlivan, the head pro at Shinnecock Hills, has analyzed for The Post how the 156 players in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":710307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,301650,99,23234],"class_list":["post-710306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-shinnecock-hills","tag-sports","tag-us-open-golf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=710306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/710307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=710306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=710306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=710306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}