Shinnecock Hills Course Record: What Is The Lowest Score?

Tommy Fleetwood plays a wedge shot into the 18th green at Shinnecock Hills during the final round of the 2018 US Open — (Image credit: Getty Images)

One of the best golf courses in the world, Shinnecock Hills has been hosting its 10th USGA Championship this week.

The 2026 US Open has been played at this iconic layout for the sixth time in the club's history, and fifth since 1986, with Shinnecock first staging the toughest of the four modern Majors in 1896.

During that time, the winning score in the five individual stroke play championships has never exceeded four-under with South Africa's Retief Goosen posting the lowest tournament total in 2004.

However, while four-round totals at Shinnecock Hills have seldom dipped under par, there has been the odd case of someone posting an impressive 18-hole score.

The par-70 total has been surpassed plenty of times, but the lowest until recently was a five-under 65 from the clubs of Chip Beck, Lanny Wadkins and Mark Calcavecchia.

Mark Calcavecchia with The Open trophy — Mark Calcavecchia won The Open in 1989... three years prior, he'd set the Shinnecock Hills course record

All three players achieved the feat in the final round of the 1986 US Open at Shinnecock, with Beck and Wadkins catapulting themselves into a share of second place on one-over for the championship as a result.

The pair picked up $47,646 apiece but were still two strokes behind winner, Raymond Floyd on one-under-par.

But the first player to shoot 65 at Shinnecock Hills was Calcavecchia. The man who would go on to win the 1989 Open Championship and shares the record for the lowest back nine at The Masters (29 - 1992) cracked a five-under score to leave himself in solo 14th once all was said and done.

The trio's joint-record stood for 22 years until a certain Tommy Fleetwood arrived on Long Island in 2018 and created history of his own.

The Englishman was coming off a fourth-place finish at Erin Hills the year before in just his second-ever US Open and appeared to already enjoy the kind of a test this championship put players through.

While he was doing well at Shinnecock Hills, Fleetwood began the final round in 2018 some six strokes behind the leaders - consequently, he teed off around three hours before eventual champion Brooks Koepka and co.

But perhaps that freedom allowed him to go out there and do what he did. Fleetwood was two-under through the first three and then claimed a couple more birdies at the sixth and seventh holes to move out to four-under for the day.

A frustrating lone bogey of round four arrived at the par-4 ninth, but Fleetwood quickly put that behind him and chained consecutive birdies together between holes 12-15 to reach seven-under for the day and two-over for the week.

Tommy Fleetwood walks down the 18th at Shinnecock Hills during the final round of the 2018 US Open with a scoreboard being carried showing his seven-under total in the background — Fleetwood walks down the 18th at Shinnecock Hills during the final round of the 2018 US Open

With just one more birdie securing him what would have been the outright lowest total ever seen at any US Open at the time, the man who would go on to win his first PGA Tour title at the 2025 Tour Championship made par at 16 and 17 before dropping a simply sublime approach to six feet at the 18th.

Yet, a tame effort saw Fleetwood's last-gasp birdie attempt tail off to the right and he would sign for a seven-under 63.

Fleetwood became one of just six men at the time ever to shoot a 63 at a US Open, he broke the Shinnecock Hills course record by two and he tied the best-ever 18-hole total at a US Open (until Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele rewrote history in 2023).

Tommy Fleetwood shot 63 at the 2018 US Open but lost by a shot

Yet, the Ryder Cup star was disappointed. "I wanted 62," he told Fox after his round.

Had he shot 62, Fleetwood would have posted one-over for the championship and been embroiled in a playoff with Brooks Koepka. As it was, the 11-time pro winner finished solo second by the finest of margins.

Speaking to Fox about his special round, Fleetwood said: "I knew I was kind of in it teeing off, but you still have to get off to that good start.

"... All the way around, I always felt like I could get myself back in it. It's funny though, when you finish, you always feel like you're going to be just short [of winning].

Tommy Fleetwood poses with his runner-up medal after the 2018 US Open at Shinnecock Hills — Fleetwood poses with his runner-up medal after the 2018 US Open

"... I made great putts coming down that back nine. It's easy to look at 16, 18 where I had chances, because that's essentially what it comes down to, but I made so many good putts today."

Since that day, Fleetwood's record at the US Open since has not been all that special with three missed cuts, two finishes of T50th or worse and a best of T16th in his six appearances.

Nevertheless, his FedEx Cup victory has undoubtedly given the Englishman new confidence and there is every chance another score in the low 60s could be posted again this week.

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Jonny Leighfield is our Staff News Writer who joined Golf Monthly just in time for the 2023 Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup. He graduated from the University of Brighton with a degree in Sport Journalism in 2017 and spent almost five years as the sole sports reporter at his local newspaper. During his time with Golf Monthly, Jonny has interviewed several stars of the game, including Robert MacIntyre, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, and Joaquin Niemann. An improving golfer himself, Jonny enjoys learning as much about the game as he can and recently reached his Handicap goal of 18 for the first time.