Every Hole at Shinnecock Hills - No. 5, Montauk

No. 5 - Montauk

Par 5 | 592 yards

Often racing downwind in the summer, the fifth is short by modern standards but has a tendency to turn small mistakes into big numbers.

From the tee, players choose between two fairways, both running on a left-to-right diagonal and surrounded by bunkers and sandy waste. The left fairway demands a longer carry but delivers a meaningful advantage: from there, players can run the ball onto the green, which is the only realistic way to hold it from distance. Those who settle for the right fairway stand little chance of reaching in two. (In modern U.S. Opens, everyone goes left; the carry from the tee is no longer a consideration for elite golfers.)

The green carries the load of the hole's challenge. Like its neighbors at Nos. 4 and 6, it is sharply pushed up from the surrounding terrain, with a false front and steep runoffs at the back. Since the hole plays down the usual summer wind, anything less than a well-struck approach from an advantageous angle is likely to run long and find one of the deep swales. One exception: a narrow spine at the back-right corner will occasionally save long misses from the left side of the fairway.

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Strategy Notes for the U.S. Open

• The tee shot on No. 5 is one of the most compelling on the golf course. There is no reason for any player who can reach the left side of the split fairway — likely every single player in the field — to go down the right side. But tee shots down the left, the route most players will choose, must negotiate bunkers that cut in from the left and catch tee shots pulled even just a hair to the left. 
• Get ready to see drives hit monstrous distances on this hole. 
• Approach shots that miss long left result in difficult up-and-downs, so look for players to err on the side of leaving their second shots just short of the green.
• No. 5 is the easiest hole on the course relative to par and the only hole virtually guaranteed to play under par in any weather conditions. On the infamous Saturday of the 2018 U.S. Open, this was the only hole on the golf course that played under par. –Joseph LaMagna

Historical Tidbits

• In an analysis of William Flynn’s plans commissioned by the club in 1929, prominent golf architect Charles Hugh Alison endorsed Flynn’s decision to move a substantial amount of dirt on the fifth hole: “The tee shot has no natural feature, and the strong artificial bunkering indicated on the plan is very necessary.”
• Architect Dick Wilson, who worked on Flynn’s construction crew at Shinnecock, added a bunker short left of the fifth green in the 1950s. This change altered the strategic identity of the hole, closing down the angle from the left. Coore & Crenshaw eliminated the bunker during their restoration work in the mid-2010s.
• In the final round of the 1986 U.S. Open, Lee Trevino laced a persimmon fairway wood past Wilson’s bunker, up the false front, and onto the green.
• At the other end of the spectrum, Tom Kite chipped from one swale to another behind the fifth green at the 1995 U.S. Open.
• It is a testament to the dangers of the fifth green that eventual champion Retief Goosen laid up from about 40 yards in 2004.

‍Our Take

“Montauk” is at its best when the right fairway is a legitimate option. Unfortunately, in a summer wind, that’s rarely the case. Nonetheless, the slanting landing zones and sadistic exterior contours of the green make the hole exciting to play and watch year-round. While the U.S. Open telecast focuses on Nos. 10 and 11, the nerds will cluster around the fifth green.

Course Routing

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Shinnecock Hills Golf Club

Southampton, NYWilliam Flynn1891

A Golden Age architect’s magnum opus thanks to a sublime setting and stellar design, Shinnecock Hills is deep-rooted in American golf history.

Hole 1 - Westward Ho

Par 4399 yds

Hole 2 - Plateau

Par 3220 yds

Hole 3 - Peconic

Par 4469 yds

Hole 4 - Pump House

Par 4409 yds

Hole 5 - Montauk

Par 5537 yds

Hole 6 - Pond

Par 4453 yds

Hole 7 - Redan

Par 3189 yds

Hole 8 - Lowlands

Par 4394 yds

Hole 9 - Ben Nevis

Par 4435 yds

Hole 10 - Eastward Ho

Par 4415 yds

Hole 11 - Hill Head

Par 3159 yds

Hole 12 - Tuckahoe

Par 4469 yds

Hole 13 - Road Slide

Par 4374 yds

Hole 14 - Thom's Elbow

Par 4463 yds

Hole 15 - Sebonac

Par 4409 yds

Hole 16 - Shinnecock

Par 5540 yds

Hole 17 - Eden

Par 3180 yds

Hole 18 - Home

Par 4426 yds

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