THE GOLF TOURNAMENT

The Golf Tournament is a members’ competition played over one round on a summer morning in Southampton, for the Court Cup: sixteen players in fours, with handicaps, the cards signed and returned at the end, and the Cup presented at dinner the same evening.

It exists so that members who play can play together, in the town where Shinnecock Hills, one of the five clubs that founded American golf’s governing body, has played since 1891.

The Links

In 1891 William K. Vanderbilt, Edward Meade and Duncan Cryder bought eighty acres of the Shinnecock Hills for $2,500, and Willie Davis, of the Royal Montreal club, laid out twelve holes with the help of more than a hundred men of the Shinnecock Nation. Women were members from the start. In 1892 the club opened a shingled clubhouse by Stanford White, said to be the oldest in the country, and in 1894 it was one of the five clubs that founded the United States Golf Association.

The second U.S. Open was played there in 1896. Some of the professionals said they would not play if John Shippen, who was African-American, and Oscar Bunn, of the Shinnecock, were let in; the association refused the petition, and Shippen finished tied for sixth. The Open came back in 1986, 1995, 2004, 2018 and 2026.

Next door, Charles Blair Macdonald, who had learned the game at St Andrews and played there with Old and Young Tom Morris, opened the National Golf Links of America in 1911, its holes modelled on the great holes of Britain. When a member remarked that a windmill would look well on the course, Macdonald bought one in Europe and sent him the bill. Southampton Golf Club, by Seth Raynor, who designed it without a fee, opened in 1927.

The Morning

Sixteen players, in four fours.

The draw is made the evening before, and the honour on the first tee goes by the draw; after that, the lowest gross score at each hole takes it.

The format is stroke play off handicap. Each player’s card is kept by another in the four, and at the end each checks his scores, signs, and hands it in; a card signed for a higher score than was played stands.

Lunch follows at the club. The Court Cup is presented at dinner that evening, and the winner’s name is engraved on it.

What Is Asked

The club’s dress, which is the club’s affair: collared shirts, no denim, soft spikes.

Stand still and keep quiet while another plays.

Repair the divot, mend the pitch mark, rake the bunker.

Keep up. The four behind is also a member.

The Places

Sixteen. It is as many as four fours make on one morning.

A handicap is asked for, and members without one are paired with those who have.

Members are written to in May.

The sum is stated in the invitation and covers the green fees, the caddies, lunch and the dinner.

The Court’s Beach House is in Southampton through July; The Open Championship is played the same month.

How one becomes a member is set out under Admission.