SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. – A day after a capitulation that was a decade in the making, the USGA scored a much-needed “W” under cloudy skies and blustery winds.
On Wednesday at Shinnecock Hills, the USGA, led by Mike Whan, dialed down the temperature in the golf ball rollback room by kicking the can for implementation of a new testing standard that was supposed to reduce average drives for elite players by 13 to 15 yards. The new standard that was supposed to begin in 2028 has now been pushed to 2030 with “a collective willingness to reconsider alternative approaches.”
In non-rule maker speak, Whan and Co. pumped the breaks in the face of increasingly vocal opposition from PGA Tour players, the circuit’s leadership and manufacturers, as well as mounting evidence that the new standard would not achieve the desired effect (see Young, Cameron).
Simply put, the USGA and R&A blinked, which made the fog-delayed opening round of the U.S. Open a welcome respite from the handwringing. A foreboding forecast with winds predicted to gust to 40 mph at a course that had been pushed too close to the edge in its previous national championship cameos could have set the stage for disaster.
As much as it pained John Bodenhamer, the USGA’s top set-up man, the forecast, if not history, demanded the ultimate discretion, as well as a healthy amount of water to prepare the layout for the 126th edition of the national championship.
“What’s really going to be interesting for both of us is we’re going to hear John say today words I don’t think he’s ever said out loud: slower, wetter, safer. Safer, I can promise, when he says that, he’ll stutter his way through it,” Whan smiled on Wednesday.
Bodenhamer syringed the putting surfaces between the morning and afternoon waves, erred on the side of caution with hole locations in the most user-friendly positions and dialed down the greens to speeds that haven’t been seen at the national championship in more than three decades.
Bodenhamer’s caution was well-earned. Shinnecock Hills had become something of a major championship punchline following set-up snafus in 2004 and ’18, and if a few under-par totals were the price to pay to set things right on one of America’s most iconic golf courses, then so be it. But on the way to reconciliation, even the softer side of Shinnecock Hills pushed back.
It turns out, a dumbed down Shinnecock Hills is tougher than your course, with the partial Day 1 scoring average (3.78) more than two shots tougher than any other course this season on the PGA Tour and just a single Grand Slam stop remaining on the schedule.
Even when the forecast fell short of the predicted chaos, with gusts never reaching the feared mark of 40 mph, a softer Shinnecock Hills stood tall.
PGA Tour players rarely have any interest in the benefit of doubt when it comes to either the USGA or golf course set up, but as the wind-burned field finished their rounds there was a collective appreciation, however begrudged, for Bodenhamer’s light touch.
“Look, the greens are pretty slow and quite receptive. I think they need to be at this point. It’s a challenging golf course already, and you put 30-mph winds on top of it, it tests the best players in the world pretty well,” said Rory McIlroy, whose opening 69 was one of just six under-par cards from the morning wave. “I think they were prudent with the course setup, and they made sure, especially with starting with 156 [players] the first two days, you just want to get everyone around without too much issue. They’ve set the course up for that, at least today.”
There had been some fear that the USGA’s cautious setup could backfire if the winds didn’t rage and the forecast fell short, leaving the classic gem to be carved up by the game’s best. But as the scoring average proved, there was still plenty of bite in Shinnecock Hills without the unsavory carnage that had defined the U.S. Open’s most recent trips to this corner of Long Island. Tough but fair is the standard, and perhaps the best statistical example of this was on the leaderboard, where there were twice as many rounds in the 60s in the early wave as there were in the 80s.
“We could brutalize this place the next few days if we wanted to. That’s not what we’re about. We really want it to be fair, and we want it to be what Shinnecock Hills has always been. It will be tough enough,” Bodenhamer had promised on the eve of the championship.
It’s also worth noting that in the long-ball age that has the rule makers scrambling for answers, Bodenhamer left about 300 yards on the table. “We chose not to [use Shinnecock Hills’ maximum yardage] because we think it’s good enough,” he said.
During a different time and under a different hand, Shinnecock Hills likely would have been pushed to the limit in the name of “testing the game’s best players,” but those times and hands have changed.
The weight of governance was heavy on Whan this week, and the USGA’s move to push back a potential rollback was seen in traditionalist circles as a curious capitulation following a decade of debate and tough talk. But for an association that is often an easy target for many of the game’s problems, Shinnecock Hills and a savvy setup was a timely “W.”
