While the eyes of the golf world are on Muirfield Village this week for the annual playing of Jack Nicklaus’ famed Memorial Tournament — the seventh of the eight Signature Events on the 2026 PGA Tour calendar, with only the Travelers Championship remaining — there are undoubtedly plenty of people who are already thinking about the upcoming U.S. Open, which gets underway from historic Shinnecock Hills on June 18.
Now, from an aesthetic standpoint, Muirfield Village and Shinnecock Hills are vastly different golf courses, which we’ll break down in more detail momentarily. That said, though, there are some aspects one could take from what happens at the Memorial this weekend that could conceivably carry over to the season’s penultimate major championship.
Muirfield Village and Shinnecock Hills look nothing alike
Again, when only taking into account what each course looks like physically, it’s incredibly obvious which is which.
Located in Dublin, Ohio, Muirfield Village, named for the famed Scottish track where Nicklaus won the first of his three Open Championship titles in 1966, is a true parkland course carved from dense woodland in the Buckeye State, resulting in lush conditions.
There are trees everywhere, and with where they’re placed throughout the course, you get this enclosed feel that makes nearly every hole seem like its own little corner of the world. Muirfield also has its fair share of water, with such hazards coming into play on more than half the holes. And the bunkers, like the rest of the ridiculously well-manicured course, are typically in absolutely perfect condition with their fluffy, white sand.
Meanwhile, Shinnecock Hills, which opened in 1891 and hosted the second-ever playing of the U.S. Open in 1896, is a genuine Scottish-style links layout in Southampton, New York. As such, the course conditions are effectively defined by how the winds coming off the Atlantic Ocean decide to behave on any given day.
Typically, that wind doesn’t play nice, and with no trees to block it, Shinnecock’s wide-open layout plays firm and fast — and the fescue rough certainly doesn’t play nice either if you miss the fairway. But at least water isn’t an issue, as there’s just one hazard on the course and it really doesn’t even come into play for the pros. There are plenty of bunkers, though, more than 140 of them, and the sand they contain isn’t nearly as nice as what one finds at Muirfield.
So, again, there will never be any confusion between these two historic tracks.
The two courses do have some similarities
Despite their differences, Muirfield and Shinnecock do have some things in common.
For starters, there’s the yardage, as Muirfield plays at roughly 7,500 yards while Shinnecock is set to play at about 7,440 for the U.S. Open. It should be noted, though, that Muirfield plays to a par of 72, while Shinnecock will play as a par-70.
While certainly not as easy to hit as some other venues on the PGA Tour schedule, the fairways at Muirfield are fairly generous. They actually used to be even more so, but some of them got pinched a bit during Jack’s last redesign a few years back.
As world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler pointed out a few days back when discussing a recent scouting trip to Southampton, which actually marked his first-ever visit to the property, the fairways at Shinnecock can be quite generous as well. Rory McIlroy echoed that thought in his own presser, saying they’re much more forgiving than they were the last time the venue served as the host for America’s national championship back in 2018.
And no matter which course you’re playing, you’ll certainly want to take advantage of those fairways, as the rough is no joke at either venue. As mentioned, it’s basically all fescue at Shinnecock, as opposed to the mix of Kentucky bluegrass, ryegrass and fescue at Muirfield. Either way, you want to stay in the short stuff.
No matter where you’re hitting from, though, these are second-shot golf courses, and those approaches better be as close as you can get them to the pin because both places have extremely difficult and complex putting surfaces. Muirfield is at least a little nicer with its pin placements as the USGA typically sets the pins at Shinnecock in some nearly impossible locations — which is why not a single player finished under par at the 2018 U.S. Open, won by Brooks Koepka at 1-over.
5 things to watch over the weekend at the Memorial that could carry over to the U.S. Open
When you’re watching the Memorial over the weekend, try to focus on the five things listed below, which could well carry over to the U.S. Open:
- Strokes gained on approach
- Proximity to the hole from 150-200 yards
- Scrambling
- Bogey avoidance
- Overall performance on the greens
Yes, I’m aware that a couple of these are a bit cliche, but these are the things to watch at Muirfield that will translate to Shinnecock.
Truth be told, viewers got what could very well be the best sneak preview possible on Friday, as winds were whipping around Muirfield all day long. The course was already playing tough and the wind only amplified the difficulty.
While J.T. Poston somehow managed to fire a brilliant 7-under round of 65 to vault into the 36-hole lead, the next best score for the day was a 3-under 69, and the average score was 74.1. Justin Thomas, who needed a par on the 18th hole to shoot 75 and make the cut on the number at 5-over, said in his post-round presser that Friday was “the hardest round of golf I can remember, major, non-major, it was just insane.”
We’ll see what he has to say in a couple of weeks if those same conditions play out at Shinnecock.
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