SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — Tommy Fleetwood exhaled.
It sounded a little like a laugh and a lot like relief. He was preparing to answer a question about Shinnecock Hills’ 7th hole, which is just a par-3 on the Shinnecock Hills scorecard but, in the first round of the 2026 U.S. Open, was so much more than that. Devilish was one word for it. Maddening another. One member elected brutal.
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Fleetwood talked about the wind, the way the green slopes and where the bunkers sit. The landing area is minuscule, and Fleetwood was happy to hit it to 27 feet. But what the hole really does is challenge your mental fortitude, which is what U.S. Opens are all about.
“How disciplined can you be?” Fleetwood said. “How aggressively can you try to hit the perfect shot?”
The hole — all 180 yards of it — can drive pros nuts. But for fans in the grandstands behind them? It’s a blast. As one volunteer spotter said, “It’s the best hole to watch because you see balls running off left and right.”
The 7th played as the third-hardest hole overall on a blustery Thursday (with a few players still left to complete their rounds) and the most difficult par-3. The last time the Open was at Shinnecock, in 2018, the hole was more tame, playing as the 12th-hardest with a 3.235 average.
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This hole has history. In 2004, when Retief Goosen won here, J.J. Henry and Kevin Stadler were the first pairing out on Sunday and recorded a collective 12 on the 7th. The greens were so dry, the crew watered them between pairings. Mike Davis, the USGA chief at the time, called the day “a double bogey.” The 7th played as the second-hardest hole of the tournament that year, with a 3.41 stroke average.
The hole wasn’t near that unfair on Thursday, but that doesn’t mean it was easy.
Cameron Smith made a 6. J.J. Spaun found the green, walked halfway to the hole and realized his ball, tightroping the crown of the green and fighting off the gusts, lost its battle and plunked into the sand. Bogeys or worse almost eclipsed pars made.
“That shot on 7, the par-3, is so hard,” said Sam Stevens, who shot 68 to take the early clubhouse lead. He called the 7th the trickiest shot he faced. “It’s maybe 180 or 175 yards. I hit a 6-iron, which I normally hit about 200 yards. Just getting that ball on the green, I don’t know how you get it on the green. You have to hit a perfect shot.”
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Shinnecock Hills is known for its strong collection of par-3s, and the 7th is a Redan template. The elevated green angles from front right to back left, with two bunkers left and another right. The ideal shot is usually something that rides that slope and settles near the pin, or something more toward the front-middle of the green that won’t trickle back down. But Thursday’s pin was middle-right, and the wind — a steady 20 mph with gusts up to 40 mph — blew hard toward the front-left portion of the green.
Several balls that landed near that middle-left area veered off and collected into the bunkers. Shots long were spit out behind the green. Balls on the front edge were rejected and tumbled back down the hill. (The worst miss is in the bunker right, which the field played away from, although Max Greyserman missed the memo, found that bunker and somehow holed out for birdie.)
The safe miss is left, because these guys are good and getting up and down from off the green or from the bunker isn’t particularly hard when pitching uphill with green to work with and the wind against you. But that often requires making a 4- to 6-footer, and no putt on that green is flat.
“I hit a 6-iron,” Fleetwood said. “Wind’s in off the right today. Even to just be on the green, I feel like it’s an unbelievable shot.”
A view from behind the par-3 7th green at Shinneock Hills. USGA
Alex Noren hit a low cut with a 5-iron, a swing he hardly finished past his hips. The ball landed 3 feet onto the green, danced a little and rolled back down the hill. He made bogey.
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“It’s a crazy hole, but there is room,” Noren said. “You just got to hit the right shot, but it’s just so penalizing if you don’t. You just have to have the right trajectory and right spin on the ball.”
Ludvig Aberg skipped his ball off and over the green. He got up and down for par and shot 69.
“I hit a 5-iron today, so it’s a long club,” Aberg said. “Just knowing that right you’ve got no chance adds to a lot of shots being played from those two bunkers. … It’s a challenging little hole.”
What’s really scary is that the 7th can get harder. With 156 players in the first two rounds, the USGA needs to balance testing players while not making rounds last six hours. A few balls that lingered on the left edge of the green on 7 on Thursday, for example — propped up by strategic watering — will be in the bunker with faster conditions this weekend, warned one Shinnecock member.
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Another volunteer summed it up well: “Not a lot of smiles coming off 7 today.”
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