After getting a chance to play Winged Foot’s iconic West Course for the first time earlier this week, I was left with several takeaways: the rollicking A.W. Tillinghast-designed greens are even better (and more challenging) than I imagined, and I can’t wait to see how the best golfers in the world fare this time around.
In June 2020, the U.S. Open returns to Winged Foot for the first time since Geoff Ogilvy fought his way to a winning score of 5-over par 14 years ago. The winner finished with a score above par in four of the previous five U.S. Opens contested at the club, including Hale Irwin shooting 7-over in the “Massacre at Winged Foot” in 1974.
This will be the second U.S. Open played in New York in the three years – Shinnecock Hills hosted the event in 2017 – and the USGA has kicked off a limited-time, holiday ticket offer. If you’re as anxious as I am to see how players like Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy fare on the big, raised, fast, rolling greens at Winged Foot, here’s your chance to get in on the action.
From Nov. 1 through Dec. 31, fans making a purchase of two gallery tickets or two sports bar tickets (for championship rounds on Thursday through Sunday) will receive a special suede valuables pouch with the U.S. Open logo. Single-day tickets to the season’s third major championship start at $50 and are available at the U.S. Open website, with children under the age of 12 getting in for free.
I visited Winged Foot West on a gray, misty Monday morning in late October as part of a media event. A lifelong New York Yankee fan, I was fortunate enough to play the course alongside former Yankee catcher John Flaherty, now a studio analyst for the YES Network in New York. Flaherty is one of several New York sports figures selected as U.S. Open ambassadors, a group that also includes former Knicks John Starks and Allan Houston, ex-Jets offensive lineman Nick Mangold, and broadcaster Howard Cross, who won a Super Bowl title with the Giants.
The day we played, the rough wasn’t just thick. It was also wet, making it even more challenging, and the fairways were as narrow as they’ll be for the U.S. Open. But the real challenge of Winged Foot is its greens, which were restored to Tillinghast’s original intentions by Gil Hanse in 2017.
The green contours of the West Course are second to none, with an incredible variety. Some seem shaped like giant potato chips, with humps, ridges, hollows, multiple tiers and wicked false fronts. One green is squared off; another on a short par-4 is shaped like an L, with one side tucked behind a deep bunker.
I got the full Winged Foot experience on the very first hole, missing the fairway on the dogleg left par-4, punching out from rough underneath a tree branch, and then hitting a wedge about 15 feet from the hole – above the cup. “Just get it started,” my caddie, Johnny, told me. I hit the downhill putt on line, with enough pace to go about five feet. The ball caught the edge of the hole and continued past, crossing a ridge three feet beyond and picking up pace. It eventually came to rest off the front of the green, more than 60 feet from the hole. Ouch.
I’d walk off the 18th hole after a similar experience, having hitting a poor shot over the tiered green with the pin tucked wickedly in the back left. I can’t even remember how many tiers my putt from the back fringe went over and down after racing past the hole, but definitely recall it made for another ugly number on the card.
I might not have the skill to consistently hit my approach shots to better spots on the Winged Foot greens. But the best players in the world do, and that will be fun to watch. Especially in person. Will Phil Mickelson capture the elusive career grand slam? Can Tiger win his first U.S. Open title since 2008? Can Koepka claim a third title in four years?
Those fans who opt for the holiday ticket offer will get a special gift – at least until they sell out. For others interested in an elevated U.S. Open fan experience, tickets are available for the Champions Pavilion, which offers complimentary food and drinks, executive restroom facilities and complimentary general parking and shuttle service.
However you go, it will make for a fun experience.
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