USGA To Play It Safe With US Open Setup Ahead Of Strong Forecasted Winds At Shinnecock Hills

The USGA is usually plotting rapid putting greens and devilish pin placements for the US Open, but this week at Shinnecock Hills it's all about slowing things down and ensuring playability with an ominous weather forecast.

Chief Championships Officer John Bodenhamer was in the unusual position of talking about slowing the green speeds down and watering the putting surfaces during the first two rounds on Thursday and Friday at his pre-US Open press conference.

After being accused of 'losing the golf course' during the controversial 2004 and 2018 US Opens at the Long Island venue, the USGA is taking no chances this time around, with heavy winds expected and Shinnecock Hills being a course that "dries out like nowhere else I've ever been" according to Bodenhamer.

Massively undulating greens are the big danger at Shinnecock Hills, and Bodenhamer knows if they're too dry with the wind forecast they could become unplayable. So he revealed the aim is for the speeds to be "around the mid 10s" throughout the tournament - that's the slowest green speeds at the US Open since 1995.

"We reflected on 2018 and learned a lot from 2018," said Bodenhamer, adding that the "green speeds will be slower so we can use good pin placements" during the tournament.

"Coming here, 10.5 wasn't our aim, we wanted them to run at 11.5 to 12 but with the wind we've had to slow them down to make sure we're able to play."

Along with slower green speeds and more subtle pin placements, the USGA will syringe the greens during the first two rounds - with the plan to add water between the early and later waves of players.

US Open tee times have been moved forward 10 minutes to allow for a light watering, which is aimed at not only keeping the putting surfaces healthy, but also ensuring it's more fair for the entire field.

Shinnecock will play exactly the same length as it did back in 2018, but with wider fairways the USGA says it will play more like William Flynn's original design for the first time in the US Open.

"It's a breezy links course," explained Bodenhamer, with players having links-style options around the greens with tight run-offs giving them "a multiple choice examination" with options for getting up and down.

"I think the wind this week will impact us more than any other US Open," said Bodenhamer, with the clear message being the USGA will play it as safe as possible to avoid any drama.

"Let this week be about one of the great cathedrals of the game and these great players, that's what we want the story to be."

USGA being careful with gusts expected

"We began to pivot last Friday night when we began to see the wind forecast," said Bodenhamer, when explaining that this is very much a Plan B for the week in a response to the weather conditions.

"We think we're looking at a US Open, who knows, with the potential to be much like 1992 was at Pebble Beach when Tom Kite won in that wind-swept final round.

"We think Thursday could look a little bit like that with what we're seeing in the forecast...with gusts from 24 to 36 miles an hour. When we start to talk about numbers in the mid-30s, that becomes problematic in a number of ways. Golf balls just staying still on the putting green.

"Some of the models that we're working show winds reaching as high as over 40 miles per hour. We hope that doesn't happen. We're preparing for all that we can."

And it's not just the wind speeds to deal with: "We have really taken the wind direction into account and where we can position those hole locations in places that will account for the wind but will also give us our best chance so we can just play in those types of winds."

There's also a period of strong winds forecast between 2pm-5pm on Saturday that Bodenhamer says the USGA are concerned about, especially where the wind will blow from back to front on some of the more diifcult greens.

Par no longer the target for US Open

The weather has prompted this softer approach, but even without the wind Bodenhamer says he always wanted to hold back on setting up the course.

"We could brutalize this place the next few days if we wanted to," he said. "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."

And although the USGA had always prided itself and producing a course where par would be a winning score - that's no longer the case.

"It's not about par is a winning score. Maybe it used to be years ago. It is not anymore. What do we endeavor to do? It's about getting every club in the bag dirty. We want to examine every part of their game.

"It's just not the way we think anymore. It's not about even par or five-under. We look at score, it's a metric.

"It's something we do consider, but the way we thought about it in not lengthening and not narrowing, let Shinnecock be what it's supposed to be. And if it's not good enough, we shouldn't come here. Those shot values are good enough.

"Could we lengthen? Yeah, we could, 300-plus yards. We chose not to because we think it's good enough."