Shinnecock Hills has a reputation for exposing even the smallest mistakes. In the five instances when the US Open has been held here, only three professionals have scored under par. Raymond Floyd, with one under in 1986, and Retief Goosen, with four under in 2004, are the two who actually won, while Phil Mickelson, who scored two under, finished runner-up in 2004. But this year, even the veteran coach John Tillery bluntly expressed that “I’m glad I don’t have a tee time.” With the fast greens and challenging conditions expected this week, the margin for error could be razor-thin for Rory McIlroy and others.

“They could do just whatever they want to do, you know? I mean, it could be impossible. You know, they’re like, ‘We’re not watering the greens. We’re going to syringe them.’ And I was like, ‘With water?’ But it’s pretty interesting. It’s pretty generous off, like the fairways. They changed a few of the holes, and I guess it was it, 18 or nine,” John Tillery said on Fore Play Podcast. “I would say if you can’t nip it and create a lot of spin around greens, you’re almost eliminated. You know, like if that’s a weakness, it’d be a requirement to have a good short game this week.”

Tillery said that there are many holes where the fairways are generous. So, even a decent shot could end up on the fairways. However, it’s more about what comes next.

“The line between a shot being in there 10-12 feet for birdie and off the green is legitimately three yards or 200 degrees of spin more or less than you meant to,” he added.

That’s exactly what both Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy warned about after their scouting trip to Shinnecock Hills on the Monday ahead of the Memorial Tournament week.

The World No. 1, for instance, said that the “green complexes are exceptionally challenging.” According to him, the real challenge lay there, as the management had the option to set up pins anywhere on fast greens.

The Northern Irishman backed it up, saying that the fairways were accommodating. However, straying from them by just a yard would mean facing roughs around 5 inches deep.

What makes Shinnecock Hills especially challenging for the elite players is its unique design. The course’s most famous architectural feature is William Flynn’s “triangle routing,” also called “Flynn’s Triangles.” Instead of using a traditional out-and-back layout, Flynn designed holes 4 through 6, 10 through 13, and 14 through 16 to form triangles. This formation shifts direction and elevation from hole to hole, forcing golfers to adjust their strategy to the challenging Atlantic winds constantly.

Forecasts for Thursday’s opening round call for 20 mph winds. And things become worse later with gusts of 35 to 40 mph expected by the afternoon. Some officials have called gusts of over 30 mph “problematic” because balls can stop rolling on greens.

If the management could control the speed of the greens, it would still be manageable for professionals. However, if the greens become faster than 11 on the Stimpmeter, the short game would be the only thing helping Rory McIlroy and company.

The Northern Irishman even went on to say that faster greens would make the course unfair.

“Sometimes the softness of the green actually makes the short game a little trickier and tougher. So firm and fast doesn’t always mean more difficult, just depending on the shots that you have,” he said.

He isn’t the first one to say that. Fast greens have always been a concern whenever Shinnecock Hills has hosted the US Open. In 2004, Tiger Woods also became a critic. He acknowledged that Shinnecock Hills is a great golf course, but he blamed the management for losing control. “This is not supposed to be how golf is played,” he added.

Strong winds, lightning-fast greens, and punishing runoffs all make Shinnecock Hills the toughest of the tests in golf. As Tillery assessed, those who control spin and execute well around the greens will have the upper hand at the US Open 2026.