- Shinnecock Hills Golf Club
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Shinnecock Hills G.C. 
Club information Location Shinnecock Hills, N.Y. Coordinates 40°53′46″N 72°26′24″W / 40.896°N 72.440°WCoordinates: 40°53′46″N 72°26′24″W / 40.896°N 72.440°W Established 1931 Type Private Equity Operated by Gregg Deger (General Manager) Total holes 18 Tournaments hosted U.S. Open (4 Times) Designed by Willie Dunn, Jr./(R) Dick Wilson Par 70 Length 6996 (2004 U.S. Open) Course rating 74.5 Slope rating 140 Shinnecock Hills Golf Club is a links-style golf club located in the hamlet of Shinnecock Hills in the town of Southampton on Long Island in the U.S. state of New York. It has hosted the U.S. Open four times in three different centuries and will host the 2018 U.S. Open. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.[1][2]
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.
Contents
History
The club traces its roots to an 1889-1890 trip by William K. Vanderbilt, Edward Meade and Duncan Cryder, to Biarritz in southern France where they encountered Willie Dunn, from Scotland, who was building a golf course at the resort.[3]
Back in the United States Meade and Cryder scouted for a place for a golf course near New York City. They chose the sandhills adjoining the Long Island Railroad just east of the Shinnecock Canal. The 80-acre (320,000 m2) parcel was purchased for $2,500 and 44 original members signed up for $100 each.[3]
Willie Davis from the Royal Montreal Club designed a 12-hole course that opened in late summer 1891.[3] Members of Shinnecock Indian Nation helped build the course (which is on land they have laid claim to and which remains in litigation). Stanford White designed the club house which opened in 1892 and is said to be the oldest golf club house in the United States.[3] In 1893 a 9-hole ladies-only course was designed and built at Shinnecock Hills.[4]
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 Island. The following year Shinnecock was one of five founding clubs of the United States Golf Association, which held the first U.S. Open in 1895 in Newport.[3]
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. Macdonald and Seth Raynor, retaining five of Dunn's original holes.[4]
In 1937 William Flynn 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 Hills is claimed by the Shinnecock Indian Nation as their land, illegally seized in a white land grab in 1859.[5]
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.[6]
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 1896 U.S. Open James Foulis 1977 Walker Cup United States 1986 U.S. Open Raymond Floyd 1995 U.S. Open Corey Pavin 2004 U.S. Open Retief Goosen 2018 U.S. Open Scorecard
Shinnecock Hills Golf Club Tee Rating/Slope 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 OUT 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 IN TOTAL Par --- 4 3 4 4 5 4 3 4 4 35 4 3 4 4 4 4 5 3 4 35 70 Green 71.10/133 380 193 422 373 487 415 173 319 373 3135 402 150 427 354 436 357 464 149 374 3113 6248 Red 74.50/140 391 221 456 409 529 456 184 361 411 3418 412 158 469 372 447 408 542 169 426 3403 6821 White N/A/0 366 146 395 303 413 368 133 281 307 2712 337 121 396 325 361 288 406 140 289 2663 5375 Awards
Shinnecock Hills was ranked second in Golf Digest's 100 Greatest Courses Ranking for 2007, 2008, and third in 2009.
See also
- National Golf Links of America (located immediately north of the course across Sebonac Road)
References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html.
- ^ Alison Cornish (undated). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Shinnecock Hills Golf Club". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. http://www.oprhp.state.ny.us/hpimaging/hp_view.asp?GroupView=9057. Retrieved 2010-02-20. See also: "Accompanying seven photos". http://www.oprhp.state.ny.us/hpimaging/hp_view.asp?GroupView=9079. and: "Additional documentation". http://www.oprhp.state.ny.us/hpimaging/hp_view.asp?GroupView=101511.
- ^ a b c d e World Atlas of Golf: The Greatest Courses and How They Are Played by N. Hamlyn, Herbert Warren Wind, Charles Price, Peter Thomson, Mark Rowlinson - Octopus Publishing Group – 2006 ISBN 9780600613756
- ^ a b http://www.golf.com/golf/courses_travel/coursefinder/course/0,28290,1443177,00.html
- ^ Harris, Paul (2010-07-11). "Native American tribe reclaims slice of the Hamptons after court victory". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/11/shinnecock-tribe-hamptons-native-american.
- ^ http://longislandgolfnews.com/tag/shinnecock-hills-golf-club/
External links
Categories:- Southampton (town), New York
- Golf clubs and courses in New York
- Sports venues in Long Island
- Clubhouses on the National Register of Historic Places in New York
- Walker Cup venues
- Sports venues in Suffolk County, New York
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