For the majority golf course maintenance crews, workdays begin with watering and mowing.
Not Jon Jennings and his staff. They start theirs with attention.
Jennings is the supervisor of Shinnecock Hills, a role he has held for nearly 15 years. No small task, looking after grounds of such scale and delicacy, with a famous design by William Flynn, set in nearly 300 rolling acres.
The assignments are exhaustive and intensely detailed. But before the day’s work begins, Jennings leads his crew in five minutes of meditative breathing, followed by a quick calisthenics burst. It’s, he’ll tell you, the best way to prepare for what’s ahead — and what’s ahead now is a national championship.
For the fifth time in its storied history, Shinnecock will host US Open. Practice rounds began on Monday. Jennings and his crew, of course, began their preparations long before that.
GOLF.com has followed these preparations for months, sending cameras to Southampton starting in late winter, when Shinnecock was still covered in snow. Our crews caught Jennings and his staff pulling protective tarps off the greens, a physically demanding job given the strong winds sweeping the exposed property. Jennings compared it to that high school parachute class exercise. “You’re holding on for dear life,” he said.
The winter of 2025–2026 brought unusual amounts of snow Long Islandwhich was both a blessing and a burden. On the one hand, the snowpack acted as a protective blanket, protecting the terrain from the killing cold and drying wind. On the other hand, it postponed the start of other preparations. After the temperatures rose and the snow cleared, the crew got busy fixing the bunkers battered by months of winter weather, rolling the turf and getting everything ready for the fine tuning that championship conditions demand.
Managing the workforce behind all this is an enterprise in itself. During the offseason, Jennings oversees a staff of 13. That number increases to 40 during the regular season, and for the week of the US Open it will increase further, with volunteers pushing the total to about 200. With that kind of firepower, the entire course can be mowed in roughly two hours.
Even then, the elements keep Jennings and his team on their toes. Moisture management is among the most persistent challenges at Shinnecock, where winds arrive from every direction across the open landscape, threatening to dry out the turf. Keeping the course properly – but not overly – hydrated is one of the main tasks of the job.
By any measure, it’s a career’s worth of work. But it is coming to an end. Jennings is planning to retire after 45 years in the industry. Time flies, which is partly why his morning mindfulness routine has taken on new meaning. It’s a reminder, he says, to stay present amid the controlled chaos of championship preparation.
“It happens so fast,” he said. “I have to make myself slow down and enjoy what’s happening.” You can watch the full video below.
