The United States Golf Association (USGA) is holding its 118th U.S. Open this week at Shinnecock Hills, an elite Country Club on Long Island. This is a historic site as Shinnecock was one of the five clubs that started organized golf (the USGA) in 1894. Consequently, commentators may refer to the game’s history in the United States during the event.
What might not be mentioned is the fact that, like many other events in American history, African Americans were there at golf’s beginnings in the U.S. This club produced the first American-born golf professional, who happened to be an African American—John Shippen.
Shippen, born in Washington, DC, in 1879, spent his childhood on the Shinnecock Indian Reservation in Southampton, Long Island, after his minister father was assigned to the Presbyterian mission there in 1888.
In 1890, members bought land next to the Shinnecock Reservation on which to build a golf course. As was the practice in those early days of golf in the U.S., they hired a golf professional from Scotland to start making a 12-hole course.
In 1894, another Scotsman, Willie Dunn, who was the club’s first head professional, completed the course to 18 holes. Dunn raided the local reservation for laborers. John Shippen and his Native American Friend, Oscar Bunn, were among the young workers who helped clear the land and construct the course.
Dunn also taught them to caddie. Shippen became thoroughly captivated by the game, grew quite good at it, and was soon made Dunn’s assistant, repairing clubs and serving on the maintenance crew. In that role, he taught some of the club members. Thus, he was the first American-born golf professional.
The USGA held the first U.S. Open at the Newport Golf Club in Rhode Island in 1895. In 1896, a 17-year-old Shippen, encouraged by his club, entered the second U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills. Joining him was his friend, Oscar Bunn.
Many Scottish and English professional golfers signed a petition, threatening to withdraw from the Open if Shippen and Bunn remained in the field. Theodore Havemeyer, President of the United States Golf Association (USGA), declared that the U.S. Open would be played, even if Shippen and Bunn were the only entrants. And no one withdrew.
Shippen, the youngest player in the field, was co-leader after the first day of the two-day event, shooting the best-ever score at that time by an American-born player, 78. Unfortunately, he had a disastrous hole on the second day and finished in a tie for fifth. He still finished ahead of his teacher, Willie Dunn, and the new head professional at Shinnecock, R. B. Wilson.
Impressed by Shippen’s play, members of a new club, Maidstone, which was under construction in nearby East Hampton, set an exhibition match between Shippen and R. B. Wilson. Shippen defeated Wilson, tying his best-ever score by an American in the second of two rounds. He played in the U.S. Open four more times: 1899, 1900, 1902, and 1913, with his best finish being a tie for 5th again in 1902.
In 1897, young Shippen became the first head professional at Maidstone. After serving as club professional at Maidstone for two years, Shippen went to Aronomink Golf Club near Philadelphia, which just hosted this year’s PGA Championship, one of the four so-called golf majors, last month. In 1902, he returned to Maidstone and served as its professional until 1913.
He left Maidstone and became a teacher to wealthy players and top world-ranked amateurs while serving as a professional at a club in New Jersey. He returned to Shinnecock Hills as greenskeeper and spent two years there before moving on to the National Golf Links of America, also on Long Island.
Interestingly, Shippen was a professional at three of the most prestigious and elite clubs in the Hamptons. As Golf Digest calls it, “If Shinnecock is the alpha Hamptons club, National and Maidstone are close betas.” In fact, Maidstone, where Shippen was the first head professional, is probably the most exclusive club. It has refused memberships to Groucho Marx, George Plimpton, and Diana Ross, among others.
Shippen competed in professional tournaments for several years, but eventually – due to the strengthening of Jim Crow laws throughout the United States – he and other blacks were excluded from tournaments. He had spent his entire life in the world of white golf. Perhaps these developments led him to enter the world of black golf.
Shippen became greenskeeper and head pro in 1932 at the black-owned Shady Rest Country Club in Scotch Plains, N.J., where he remained for 32 years. He died in 1968, at 89 years of age.
