One hundred years ago, when American golf course designer A.W. Tillinghast was asked by keen golfers of the New York Athletic Club to produce for them "a man-sized course" on Long Island, he was more than happy to comply. He moved 7200 tonnes of rock and removed 7800 trees to meet their brief, creating a course with several long and tight par fours and greens with false fronts guarded by deep and unforgiving bunkers. Tillinghast said that shots to the greens would need to be played with "rifle-like accuracy".

Winged Foot Golf Club, with its gabled stone clubhouse – 35 minutes’ drive from Manhattan just outside the town of Mamaroneck – remains one of America’s most iconic and difficult championship courses, particularly when the United States Golf Association sets it up for a US Open, letting the rough grow, pinching in the fairways and speeding up the greens.