Great golf courses, like great golfers, have robust resumes and reputations. Case in point: Shinnecock Hills.
Established in 1891, the storied Long Island club is home to a William Flynn design that ranks 5th on GOLF’s list of Top 100 Courses in the World, and its standing among design aficionados is more than matched by its reputation as a tournament site. Since staging its first U.S. Open in 1896, Shinnecock has hosted 10 USGA championships, five of them U.S. Opens, with a sixth set to begin this week.
But what, exactly, makes it so special?
Wayne Morrison is the author of The Nature Faker: William S. Flynn, Golf Course Architect and the architecture historian for Shinnecock Hills. With another national championship on tap, we asked him what elevates Shinnecock as a design, and where it fits within Flynn’s broader body of work.
GOLF.com: Flynn was part of the Philadelphia School of Golf Course Architecture. What were the central principles of that school and how did they differ from those of other great architecture of the time?
Wayne Morrison: The so-called Philadelphia School emanated from the lopsided losses Philadelphia golfers faced from the inter-city competitions between Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. Philadelphia was late to golf. It was the country’s bastion of cricket. Even the growth of baseball was delayed in acceptance due to how deeply cricket was ingrained in the region. The friends who comprised the Philadelphia School included Hugh Wilson (Merion), George Crump (Pine Valley), A. W. Tillinghast (Philadelphia Cricket Club), George Thomas (Los Angeles Country Club), and Flynn. They were a collection of visionary architects and turf grass specialists. It could also be called the Pennsylvania School given that William Fownes (Oakmont Country Club) was also a Pine Valley member and had an influence.
These friends strived to develop championship courses with the idea that championship course designs would yield better champions. Their collaboration can be found at Merion Golf Club, Pine Valley Golf Club, and the city’s first municipal course, Cobbs Creek Golf Club. Rather than the penal layouts characteristic of Victorian era architecture, they promoted courses that provide physical tests for shot execution and strategic planning to account for multiple ways to play the course. They were known for using natural site-specific features in their routings. They weren’t focused on finding sites fit for template holes. They were unbounded by Old World convention while taking care to make architectural features look natural. They knew that avoiding overly artificial mounding, green sites, and geometric bunkers reduced ongoing maintenance costs, pioneering sustainability and environmental conservation.
Within that school, what, if anything, set Flynn apart?
Flynn was truly one of a kind. He provided a one-stop shop for his golf course clients — architecture, construction, turfing, and maintenance practices — and was arguably the finest router of golf courses in the game’s history. Flynn spent a lot of time on site, with design iterations that were tried on paper before being produced on the ground. His plans were expected to be built precisely according to the detailed construction instructions he provided, and none of his construction teams were allowed to deviate in the slightest from his final plans. Overlaying those plans on top of historic aerials clearly shows that the courses were built to the plans, rather than the plans being after-the-fact as-builts.
What set Flynn apart was the depth and originality of his thinking. He produced unique, site-specific hole designs and was a master at designing perceptual miscues to put golfers off balance. He was also the first to provide multiple tees for use on a given day, each to be played by golfers with the appropriate skill set, and he planned elasticity into his designs so that lengthening over time was possible given advances in both golfers and technology. He likewise promoted the use of triangulation to increase the effect of wind, a technique he employed at 20 of his courses.
Flynn did not believe in replicating hole concepts from the Old World on American designs, and his green work reflects that independent spirit. His greens take a long time to learn; they don’t rely on overt contouring so much as long interplays of slope. His design theories also evolved over time – from the mid-1920s onward, he often utilized short grass areas around greens so that missed approaches would trundle further from the hole, offering a variety of recovery shots. Throughout it all, Flynn believed in natural aesthetics in every architectural element, from tee shapes with no squared-off corners to bunkers that mimicked the natural forms of seaside sand, to the greens themselves.
Shinnecock is considered his greatest design. Why?
Flynn was tasked with creating a championship test of golf that would be enjoyable for all classes of golfers – the most difficult of design challenges. Shinnecock Hills was late in his career, just after the onset of the Great Depression and prior to the halt in golf course development due to WWII. All of the above elements that confirm Flynn as one of the finest golf course architects of all time are on full display at Shinnecock Hills. The amount of triangulation, warranted on a large and windy site is greatest at Shinnecock Hills with three sets of triangles comprising 10 holes: 4-5-6, 10-11-12-13, and 14-15-16. It provides a stern test for the touring pros and enjoyable difficulty for all classes of players that play from the proper tee. The design allows ground game options on some holes and specific aerial demand shot tests on others.
Setting aside the distinctiveness of the site, was there anything different in the way Flynn approached the job at Shinnecock?
Unlike some of his peers, Flynn did not forsake quality for quantity. He only worked on a few projects at a time, nearly always with the same construction crew that knew what Flynn wanted and delivered. Spending a considerable amount of time on site yielded design nuances that other architects couldn’t provide. Flynn would utilize distant features and replicate them on the grounds. This created a harmony with the surrounds that resonate with golfers whether or not they recognize the effect.
Any particular holes fans should look out for this week as especially compelling or particularly representative of Flynn’s style?
There isn’t a hole that lacks interest. That makes it difficult to highlight just a few that are representative of Flynn’s design theories and practices. But I’ll take a crack at the task.
Hole 1: The offset fairway requires that the first shot of the round be on the correct line and have the correct distance. Try to take on too much and be short, you’re in the right rough. Take on too little and the tee shot ends up in the left rough. From the rough, approach shots to a green that sheds balls front, back and along the sides is very challenging.
Hole 5: This long par 5 offers a split fairway with longer hitters able to play down the left side. Shorter hitters playing safe to the right fairway have a much tougher angle into the green given a massive right fairway bunker. Approach shots from the left can either be played in the air or on the ground with the left to right slope short of the left side of the green feeding running shots onto the green.
Hole 7: Flynn, along with Harry Colt, were the two best designers of par 3 holes. The collection of par 3 holes at Shinnecock Hills is particularly strong. The original Macdonald Redan hole (his 14th) was laid out over the natural right to left slope of the ground. The tee was above the Macdonald green. Flynn raised the green some 4 to 5 feet, requiring an aerial shot due to the steep upslope fronting the green. Flynn proposed a new tee 7 paces to the left of the Macdonald tee. This small difference in approach angle allows a greater range of shot trajectories, including a slight draw. This is not possible from the original Macdonald tee.
Hole 8: Flynn often challenged the golfer’s ability to survey the hole design and plan a strategy to provide the best scoring possibility. The 8th hole is a great example whereby Flynn tests the golfer’s ability to understand the demand the architect is presenting. Most of Flynn’s contemporaries rewarded play that takes the shortest route on dogleg holes; cutting the corner. Flynn laid out the fairway, bunkers, and greens in such a manner that dictates the ideal angle of play is along the outside of the dogleg. Making such holes play longer than their scorecard length.
Hole 10: Flynn gives you something to think about on the blind tee shot 10th. A decision needs to be made whether to lay up short of the downslope and stay on the plateau even with the elevation of the green with a longer approach or play down to the hollow with a steep upslope approach shot. The short approach hit with too much spin can come back to you. A shot that is too long will run down the back slope off the green resulting in a scary recovery shot with the front of the green falling away from you.
Hole 11: This celebrated short par 4 has a green placed precariously on a ridge. The opening to the green was fashioned by cutting into the left to right slope. Any shot missed right, left, long, or short is repelled away from the green, often into deep bunkers. This precise aerial shot demand hole is worth viewing up close as the scoring spectrum tends to be very wide – birdies to double bogeys or worse are possible. Wide scoring spectrums are often indicative of outstanding design. It certainly is the case with the short 11th at SHGC.
At the time of Flynn’s death, did he have other notable projects in the works? Any plans that he left unfulfilled?
Flynn died on Jan. 24, 1945, nine months prior to the end of WWII. The Great Depression and the economic boom that resulted from the war was not yet in effect. There was very little going on in terms of golf course development. Flynn finished the design and construction of the US Naval Academy golf course, the redesign of the Langston Golf Course, a municipal course in Washington, D.C. His last projects, all in the Maryland/D.C. area, included the design of the Indian Spring Country Club course, the design and redesign of the East Potomac Park municipal golf course, and the design and redesign of the Rock Creek Park municipal golf course. I am not aware of any pending projects that would’ve started up at the end of the war.
Is it fair call Flynn under-appreciated? If so, why do you think that is the case?
Well, given that I think Flynn is one of the top architects of all time, and most people have never heard of him, I think is fair to say that. Some of that is due to a lack of understanding of his significant roles at Merion, Pine Valley, The Country Club in Brookline, and Kittansett Club. Another contributing factor is that Red Lawrence mistakenly took credit for the innovative design of Indian Creek Country Club and Dick Wilson took credit for the design of the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club course. Flynn alone was responsible for these celebrated designs. Howard Toomey was the managing partner of Toomey and Flynn, Construction Engineers. He had no architectural influence. Red Lawrence and William Gordon were construction foremen. Dick Wilson was under Lawrence and Gordon. Once when Gordon was sick, Wilson took over during Gordon’s recovery period. He deviated from Flynn’s plan for a green and was sacked on the spot when Flynn got back. It took Gordon and Wilson’s brother Wayne to convince Flynn to hire him back. The Wilson green was undone, and a faithful rendition of the Flynn plan was built.
Flynn died young, due to chronic nephritis and diabetes. Much of his career was stymied by the Great Depression and WWII. It is interesting to think what Flynn’s stature in golf would be if these 15 or so years could have provided more work for him.
Flynn’s portfolio of designs has a lot to do with the relative lack of appreciation for Flynn. He did very few public courses and many of the resort courses built or planned in Florida were undermined by hurricanes, land bubbles, the Great Depression, and WWII. Flynn’s courses tend to be very private and are geographically concentrated in Southeast Pennsylvania. His courses are typically the elite courses in a given area with little outside play. Yet, 105 USGA events have been held on courses with some level of Flynn contributions with another 18 planned.
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