Shinnecock Hills is easy on the eyes, tough on the golfers for the U.S. Open

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — The fairways spread out on the ancient sand hills at olden Shinnecock Hills Golf Club are rather expansive as far as the U.S. Open of yesteryear goes, appearing to provide a green welcome mat for golfers in this week’s 118th edition of the U.S. Open.

Looks, however, can be deceiving.

“The fairways aren't necessarily narrow,” three-time major champion Jordan Spieth said. “They'll probably play narrower as the week goes on and as the course firms up. You have to see smaller and smaller targets and not look at what looks like a wide fairway that plays effectively narrow and just be really, really smart about picking apart the golf course. It makes you think a lot.”

The sizable greens, which look inviting, can play tricks on the eyes, too.

“These greens are quite large, but they play a lot smaller than they are just because of the run-offs and the way they are designed,” four-time major champion Rory McIlroy said.

All in all, then, Shinnecock, a 7,445-yard stretch that plays to a par of 70, “is a true test of golf,” Memorial champion Bryson DeChambeau. “I love it.”

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So, too, does world No. 2 Justin Thomas.

“Shinnecock Hills kind of speaks for itself,” he said. “Just when you say that name, you think of U.S. Open. You think of extreme difficulty. At the end of the day, like every U.S. Open, it's going to come down to just total control of your golf ball and minimize the mistakes.”

That will be especially true if the winds blow with gusto off the seas on either side of Long Island, and the U.S. Golf Association, which conducts the U.S. Open, has taken measures to make the wind pivotal.

Ten years after the 2004 U.S. Open at Shinnecock, an extensive renovation project removed 500 trees, 450 yards of length were added, fairways were widened and 10 new tees were added, many changing the angle of the tee shot.

But after last year’s U.S. Open at wide-open Erin Hills in Wisconsin, where the wind missed its tee time and the large fairways softened by constant rain before the championship posed little challenge, the toughest test in golf became a birdie festival won by Brooks Koepka at 16 under.

The USGA didn’t want a repeat so 200,000 square feet of turf on the sides of the fairways was replaced by thick fescue. The fairways that were 65 yards wide on average were thinned to 41 yards on average. That’s still wider than the 26 yards of width they averaged during the 2004 U.S. Open.

“It's generous off the tees for the most part, but if you miss the fairways, you're going to get punished heavily,” said McIlroy, the 2011 U.S. Open winner. “It's just about making sure you put your ball in the right place off the tee. I like it. It presents guys with options off the tee. You need to make a decision basically on every tee box what you're going to do.”

Players will need to make decisions hitting approaches, too. The greens have been enlarged, and thick rough around the putting surfaces have been shaved down, meaning balls coming up just short or long by a yard or 2, and even inches, will roll off into collection areas or bunkers well below the greens.

“It's all about the second shot,” said world No. 1 Dustin Johnson, who won last week’s FedEx St. Jude Classic. “You really have got to hit good, good quality second shots into these greens. Some of the greens are big, but they're still areas where you want to hit your ball and those are small. If you miss it in the wrong spot, you have a very, very tough time getting it up and down.”

Phil Mickelson, who has finished runner-up a record six times in the national championship, including in 2004 at Shinnecock, said the course setup is the best he’s ever seen at the U.S. Open.

“All areas of your game are being tested,” said Mickelson, who is a U.S. Open shy of completing the career Grand Slam. “There are some birdie holes. There are some really hard pars. There are some fairways that are easy to hit, fairways that are tough to hit. The chipping and short game around the greens are going to be a huge factor this week.

“I feel as though the luck of a course has been taken out as much as possible to where skill is the primary factor. I think we're going to have a great leaderboard and a great tournament.”