NBC's lead golf voice Dan Hicks calls Southampton's Shinnecock 'my favorite golf course in the country'

You don’t have to sell Dan Hicks, NBC’s lead voice for the upcoming U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.

Hicks first called the Open at the Southampton course in 1995 and then again in 2004. He has played it too many times to count.

“It's my favorite golf course in the country,” Hicks told Newsday on Tuesday in a telephone interview. “It's not even close. I just think it's true. It's tremendous, and it was always Johnny Miller's favorite, too, when I worked with him and he kind of told me about the intricacies of it and how there's these triangles of golf holes that you get different winds -- almost every hole in a series of holes that are set up out there.

“I just became really intrigued by the whole place, the challenges of it. I've had the opportunity and privilege to play it numerous times as well and it's just always a great experience. You get your head slapped around by it because it's not easy, but I just think it's a true U.S. Open test that I just think is the best around.”

The 126th Open will be held from June 18-21 at Shinnecock, which also hosted the tournament in 1896, 1986 and 2018.

Coming on the heels of the recent, raucous Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black, Hicks is expecting a more genteel golf experience.

“Thankfully, it won't be the craziness of Bethpage for the Ryder Cup,” he said. “I just think there's a little more decorum at the U.S. Open. It'll be raucous, there's no doubt about it.

“But I think being there in Southampton, being at Shinnecock, being that it is the national championship and there'll be all sorts of different people to root for, it won't be as focused on the U.S. or Europe. That kind of scene got obviously out of hand to a degree at the Ryder Cup, so I think it'll be a great scene. I think the golf course is gorgeous. You sit up in that clubhouse and you look, you can see almost every single hole in the golf course. It's just magical place and hopefully we get some great weather.”

Scottie Scheffler goes in as the favorite as he tries to complete a career Grand Slam. Hicks said he thinks the course will favor a certain kind of player, which bodes well for Scheffler.

“I think it's always been, for the most part, a ball striker's golf course,” he said. “The greens obviously have gotten a little out of control the past couple times they've had the U.S. Open there, and that'll be a test for the USGA, to make sure they get it right this time, 100% of the four rounds, but I think they will. I think they definitely have learned some lessons on what you can do, how far you can push that course.”

Scheffler visited Shinnecock on June 3.

"That was my first time on property," he said afterwards. "It was kind of what I expected. I had heard some rumors about how difficult the greens were. I was a little surprised at the width of the fairways, but the green complexes there are extremely difficult, and I think that's where the greatest challenge comes from."

Said Hicks: “I think it all starts and begins with Scottie Scheffler because he's just got all the tools, including ball striking.”

Hicks, who is from Tucson, Arizona, and has lived in the New York area for the past 30 years, could have one eye on the golf course and the other on another championship next week.

Hicks is Knicks partial season ticket holder, although he didn’t attend Finals Game 3 because he said the prices were too steep for the section he could have gotten through his package.

“This run has been unbelievably magical,” he said. “It's pretty special, trying to break a drought of 53 years. To watch it happen -- perhaps -- is going to be pretty off the charts for me. I'll be on the couch for the rest of the time watching.”

By Anthony Rieber

anthony.rieber@newsday.comAnthonyRieber

Anthony Rieber covers sports media and business and professional sports (you know, games and trades and things). He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since Jan. 1, 2026.