Shinnecock Hills Golf Club is considered to be the very first world class golf course built in the United States. The course was founded in 1891 and hosted the second U.S. Open Championship in 1896 (Champion: James Foulis, 36-hole score of 152). Since then the facility has hosted two more U.S. Open Championships in 1986 (Champion: Raymond Floyd, one under, 279) and 1995 (Champion: Corey Pavin, even par, 280).

In 1896 when Shinnecock hosted the second U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open (they were held back to back), the course only played 4,423 yards. Still, considering the technology of that era and the relative infancy of the game in the U.S., the layout was plenty challenging. In 1986 the par 70 course played 6912 yards, while playing 6813 yards in 1995.

From the Long Island Golf News...In 1891, William Vanderbilt and several wealthy friends bought 80 acres north of present-day Sunrise Highway for $2,500 and hired Shinnecock Indians to build a 12-hole course designed by Scottish professional golfer Willie Dunn. The course was expanded to 18 holes four years later. In 1891, the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club became America’s first incorporated golf club, granting women full membership from the start. It was also the first to have a clubhouse, which was designed by famed architect Stanford White.

By the start of the last decade of the 20th century, tennis, hunt and yachting clubs were the principal activities of the well heeled sporting enthusiast on the east end of Long Island. Golf had yet to arrive but that changed when a group of men (including William Vanderbilt) occasioned upon Willie Dunn at the resort in Biarritz, France, in 1890. So taken were the Americans by this 'new' sport of golf, they hired Willie Dunn to build them a course in Southampton.

Located on treeless, sandy soil, the property had links characteristics though it was two miles from the Atlantic Ocean. Willie Dunn's 12 hole course opened in 1892 and two years later, Shinnecock Hills Golf Club joined The Country Club in Brookline, Newport CC in Rhode Island, Chicago Golf Club, and St. Andrews in New York as a charter club in the Amateur Golf Association of America (later re-named the United States Golf Association). The game of golf quickly took hold in the Hamptons and the increased play forced the club to expand its course to 18 holes. In 1895, the 4,400 yard course was deemed sufficient to host championships.

Over 100 years later, the course is considered by many as the supreme test for championship golf in the United States. P.J. Boatwright, the former long time Executive Director of Rules and Competition at the USGA who was not prone to extravagant praise, said in 1986 that he felt Shinnecock Hills to be the finest course he had ever seen.

However, the credit for today's ruthless examination does not lie with Dunn or Macdonald/Raynor, who consulted with the club during the 1910s. In 1927, the main east-west highway was extended through to Easthampton and Highway 27 bisected Dunn's golf course. With the increase in train travel and with the club unable to acquire insurance to handle the doubling crossing of the road and the train tracks, the club had little alternative but to purchase additional land to the north and to forgo the portion of the course that lay to the south of the road. This was actually no great loss as the newly acquired land was superior in all respects. The club hired the architecture firm of Howard Toomey and William Flynn to build a new 18 hole course.

Work commenced in 1928 led by construction foreman Dick Wilson, and 150 Shinnecock Indians were employed to help with the task. The course re-opened for play in 1931 and it remains Toomey and Flynn's undoubted masterpiece to this day.

Located on an immense 300 acre block of land, Toomey and Flynn took full advantage of the scale of the property with a brilliant routing. A majority of the holes bend one way or another, thus the golfer is forever figuring out which way the wind is attacking for each shot. There are only two times (with the 2nd and 3rd and the 11th and 12th holes) where consecutive holes run in the same direction.

The prevailing wind was a key factor in the design, as the holes that typically play downwind (e.g., the 3rd, 12th and 14th) are longer but also open in front to allow the player to bounce the ball onto the green. The holes that are typically into the wind are shorter (e.g., the 4th and 13th) with tighter targets. There are only two par fives (the 5th and 16th), and each plays in opposite directions. While the 5th was intended to be played with the wind helping and the 16th with the wind hurting, each plays well if the wind turns 180 degrees.

John Shippen - America's first African-American golf professional; assistant professional and greenkeeper at Shinnecock

In July, 1896, John Shippen became the first African-American golf professional when he played in the second U.S. Open Championship at the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. But his participation in the event almost didn't happen.

John Shippen was born in 1879 in Washington, D.C., one of nine children of a Presbyterian pastor. Nine years later, his father was sent by the church to minister at the Shinnecock reservation. He knew nothing of golf until 1891 when Scotsman Willie Dunn arrived in Southhampton to supervise construction of Shinnecock Hills. Shippen was among the young workers who helped clear the land and construct the course. Dunn shared his knowledge of the game with young John, who soon became a better player than any of the club's members and was elevated to the position of assistant to the professional. Before long Shippen was not only giving lessons to club members, he became part of the maintenance crew, a tournament starter and golf club repairer.

As his proficiency grew, so did his love for the game. At the age of 16, with the encouragement of many of the club's members, Shippen entered the United States Open Championships.

But on the day prior to the start of the competition, controversy threatened to close the Open door. Irate that the field included an African-American, the foreign-born contingent cornered Theodore Havemeyer, president of the USGA. They told Havemeyer, in no uncertain terms, that if Shippen was allowed to play in the championship, they would not. It is believed that the president assuged the dissidents by claiming Shippen was half Shinnecock Indian, a less distasteful racial cocktail.

Shippen displayed precise shotmaking and incredible maturity and at the end of the first day his 78 tied him with four others for the top spot. The next day, however, young John's game unraveled on the back nine, specifically the par-four 13th where he drove onto a sandy road and hacked his way to an 11. The result was a final-round 81 and a 36-hole total of 159, seven worse than that of Scottish-born winner James Foulis.

Shippen played in four more U.S. Opens but was never again a serious contender for the title. After his playing career, Shippen became pro/greenkeeper at Shady Rest Country Club in New Jersey.

Willie Dunn-Original designer of Shinnecock Hills Golf Club

Willie Dunn was descended from a Scottish golfing clan that played an important role in the earliest development of golf.

The Dunn twins, Jamie and Willie Sr. were born in Musselburgh, Scotland, in 1821. They both took up employment with the Gourlay family as apprentice ballmakers at Bruntsfield.

They both played in many challenge matches between 1840-1860. Willie Dunn was greenkeeper at Blackheath Links until 1864 when he returned to Leith Thistle before settling at North Berwick.

Willie had two sons who were Tom and Willie, Jr.. Young Willie served as professional at Westward Ho! for a few months in 1886, before moving to Biarritz in France. It was while he was in France that the Vanderbilt family invited him to Shinnecock Hills on Long Island as greenkeeper and professional. The course was a 12 holer to which Willie added a ladies course and then in 1895 combined the two into 18 holes. Willie remained at Shinnecock for several years and won the first unofficial U.S. Open in 1894.

Peter Smith-Former golf course superintendent/Shinnecock Indian

Peter Smith followed his father's 37-year career as superintendent at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, by holding the same position from 1980 through 1999. During that time he conditioned the course for two U.S. Open Championships, 1986 and 1995. Smith left Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in 1999 to be the golf course superintendent at Foxwoods Resort, which is owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation. Dec. 12, 2002, Peter Smith, 47, of Southampton, N.Y., died of a heart attack.

A member of the Shinnecock Tribal Nation, he was a strong supporter for many Native American causes. He served as a tribal trustee and maintained a practice of filling most of his grounds staff with members of the Shinnecock Tribe.

Rabbit, redfox, raccoon, deer, quail, pheasant, snakes, squirrel, blue heron, muskrat, mole, turkey, hawk, Canada goose, woodpecker, turtle, swan, osprey, and several different species of birds

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