The US Open frames its entire identity around being the toughest test in golf.
Last year, around Oakmont Country Club, JJ Spaun won the event as the only under-par finisher. That course is renowned as one of the toughest in America, and it’s not getting any easier for the players this week.
The 2026 US Open is at Shinnecock Hills, where only three players have shot under par at a major championship in the last 100 years. In 2018, Brooks Koepka won at one over.
Shinnecock and Oakmont are two brutal tests of golf, but they are very distinct challenges. Last year’s winner, Spaun, went into some detail as to what makes Shinnecock so difficult before this year’s US Open.
JJ Spaun names the key difference between Shinnecock and Bethpage Black
Spaun was an unexpected winner at Oakmont last year, as he was the only man to conquer the brutal conditions on Sunday. He drained a long putt to finish the week under par and win his first major title.
That was one of the greatest putts in golfing history, considering the difficulty of those greens. Spaun was asked how he’s been practicing for Shinnecock’s lightning-fast, undulating putting surfaces, and he explained why it’s been so challenging.
Speaking in a press conference before the US Open, he said, “Yeah, so putting is difficult to simulate, considering I live in Arizona. We don’t really have crazy, undulating greens right now, especially this time of year. Everything is really slow because it’s so hot. They’re keeping the grass alive.
“What I did a lot last week was really — because I know Shinnecock is known for being very windy, and it can be breezy, so worked a lot on, like, my technique on flighting my shots and understanding what feels I’ve got to feel when I need to flight certain clubs and what shape that takes to hit, like, a flighted draw.
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“More of that, instead of airborne golf, working on your carry numbers, because that’s kind of what’s not going to happen this week, especially the first few days. Yeah, I just tried to simulate what kind of shots I will be envisioning myself hitting throughout the tournament and just really worked hard on how to get comfortable with a template as far as how to execute those shots.”
Spaun has had plenty of preparation on difficult golf courses, having played at Oakmont last year and at the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black. Although, in fairness, Keegan Bradley took the teeth out of Bethpage.
Still, Spaun was asked about the two golf courses, both based in the North East, and he said, “I would say, first off, conditions. It’s a lot windier here. I don’t know if we’re closer to the ocean or not than Bethpage. That could be a terrible guess. Sorry. I don’t know if that has anything to do with it.
“But there’s I feel like more undulation, more elevation changes. Visually, it can look similar, but there’s more tree-lined — not tree-lined, but there’s more trees kind of in the surrounds of Bethpage that kind of brings it in a little bit.
“But you’ve got the fescue out there. It’s very similar in ways visually, but I think it plays a lot differently. The greens are a lot slopier. A little crazier, I would say, around the greens.”
Typically, trees make golf courses more difficult, putting a higher emphasis on accuracy, but not at Shinnecock. The lack of trees leaves it totally exposed to the wind, which is expected to howl this week. This is going to be a brutal test of golf.
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