US Open course conditions complaints hit Shinnecock Hills on Wednesday after the USGA softened the greens before the opening round of the 126th U.S. Open. The setup was built for rough weather, but the course played much softer than expected, and that drew immediate pushback from players and fans.
Michael Kim added the sharpest public critique on Tuesday, calling the greens “spongy,” “quite bumpy,” and pockmarked with “aerification holes.” That description fit the argument around the setup: the USGA had already taken pace out of the surface before the first shot, then still did not get the wind it was guarding against.
Shinnecock Hills and Michael Kim
The greens at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club were syringe watered between the morning groups and the afternoon groups before the opening round. The goal was simple — slow the putting surfaces enough to handle a forecast that pointed to high winds and low humidity.
That forecast never really arrived in the form officials feared. The opening round on June 18, 2026, still ended with darkness forcing a suspension around 8:30 p.m., but the day had already turned into a setup debate instead of a survival test. A video board displayed a message that play was suspended because of limited visibility.
126th U.S. Open setup
The criticism landed fast because this was Shinnecock Hills again, and the course’s setup at the 2018 U.S. Open had already drawn heat. This time, the complaint was not about excessive punishment. It was about the opposite: the course looked dialed back, and the field got a softer version of a major-championship venue.
By Wednesday afternoon, the greens were not being described as spongy or bumpy, but the response had already moved beyond texture. The article’s view was blunt: this became the slowest U.S. Open in 30 years, and the choice to water early left the course less severe than the conditions actually demanded.
Rory McIlroy at Shinnecock Hills
Rory McIlroy was on the property during the buildup, and he played practice golf with Mason Howell and Hamilton Coleman on Wednesday afternoon. Howell and Coleman are both 18 years old, both native Georgians, and both will matriculate at the University of Georgia at the end of summer.
Howell already reached the Masters in April after earning his place in the field as the U.S. Amateur champion. That practice round did not change the core issue at Shinnecock Hills, though: the setup team played defense against a forecast that never fully materialized, and the result was a first round that drew complaints for being too manageable instead of too hard.
What happens next is the part players and fans will watch most closely. If the greens firm up later in the week, the opening-round approach will look cautious but understandable. If they stay soft, the first day at Shinnecock Hills will stand as the round that turned a major into a debate over whether the USGA took too much out of the course.
