Episode 212: Jimmy Dunne’s Guide to Shinnecock
6/11/202657 min
Nobody knows Shinnecock like Jimmy Dunne. A South Shore Long Island kid who caddied and painted houses in the summers, Dunne played Shinnecock at 16 after landing a painting job at a member's house in Southampton. He walked off the 18th convinced it was the greatest golf course in the world. Now the president of Seminole GC and a member at Augusta National, Pine Valley, and Cypress Point, he still feels that way. On this episode of the TGJ Podcast, Tom Coyne joins Dunne in his Southampton golf shrine to share what he loves about Shinnecock and preview the U.S. Open. Dunne also discusses his legendary 63 at Shinnecock, how memorizing every caddie's name at Augusta became a dealmaker's cheat code, and what it was like helping steer the PGA Tour through its war with LIV. It’s a rare look at one of the world’s most iconic grounds through the eyes of someone who’s played them all.
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First 90 secondsJimmy Dunn· Guest0:00
Chris Quackenbush, who, uh, uh, people that know me know that he and I were best of friends. And at that time we were, we were painting houses. We caddied and painted houses. We painted a guy's house who asked us where we were going next, and we told him we're going out to paint a house out in South Hampton. Bob Ty was his name. He was a member at S- at Shinnecock. And he said, "You guys ought to come and play Shinnecock when you're out here." You could write a book on this day. There was absolutely nobody on the golf course, and just he and I carrying our bags. We were playing the, uh, 18th hole, and it was just spectacular. I said, "Quack, you know, I think that's the greatest golf course in the world." And of course, he was more sensible than I was. He said, "Jimmy, you know, you've, you're like, you know, you're 16 years old. You've played, like, five golf courses. I mean, well, how could you make a statement like that? That's just ridiculous." And now I'm, I'll be 70 in October. I have played a lot of those top golf courses, and my opinion hasn't changed.
Speaker 10:57
[upbeat jazz music] Welcome back to the Golfers Journal podcast, presented by Titleist, the number one ball in golf. My name's Tom Coy. Thanks so much for joining us. And today we're speaking with one of our all-time favorite podcast guests, and taking you back to one of the greatest places we've ever done a podcast, and that would of course be the golf museum that is Jimmy Dunn's home office. Don't know who Jimmy Dunn is? Well, you will soon. Yes, he's the president at Seminole, and a member of pretty much every