Photo by Josh Smith on Unsplash Golf's physical health benefits are well documented — walking 18 holes burns 1,500+ calories, the twisting swing builds rotational strength, and fresh air and sunlight provide vitamin D. But the mental health dimensions of golf are equally compelling and underappreciated. For millions of players worldwide, golf is as much a mental wellness practice as a sport. Here's what the research and experience of regular golfers tells us. Mindfulness Without Calling It Mindfulness Golf demands moment-to-moment presence in a way that few activities can replicate. A full round of golf contains 70–100 moments where you must be completely focused on a single task — this shot, right now, with this club. The architecture of the game forces you out of past shots and future worries because inattention produces immediate consequences. This is functionally identical to mindfulness meditation practice. You're not allowed to ruminate about your bad drive on hole 3...
Players, analysts, and golf historians consistently identify the US Open as the most demanding of the four major championships. The winning scores at US Opens are routinely the highest of any major — meaning the scores relative to par are the least impressive. That is not an accident. The USGA designs the US Open to be the hardest test in golf. Here is exactly why the US Open is different from every other major.
The USGA Setup Philosophy
The United States Golf Association has a deliberate and consistent approach to US Open preparation: narrow the fairways, grow the rough, and firm up the greens. The philosophy is that the national championship should identify the most complete golfer in the world by removing the margin for error that other major setups allow. A shot that misses a Masters fairway might still leave a playable approach. The same shot at a US Open will find rough so deep that advancing the ball to the green from a good distance is not possible. The punishment is direct and severe.
The Rough
US Open rough is the defining physical challenge that distinguishes the championship from all others. The USGA grows rough to three to four inches on both sides of the fairways — deep enough that players cannot generate the club head speed necessary to control a full approach shot. From US Open rough at distance from the green, the strategic choice is almost always to lay up to a manageable distance rather than attempt a heroic recovery. This forces players to play conservatively off every tee, eliminating the aggressive driving lines that other major setups permit.
The Green Speeds
US Open greens are prepared to run faster than at any other major championship — sometimes approaching or exceeding stimpmeter readings of 13 or 14. At those speeds, a putt from 15 feet that misses the hole can roll 10 feet past. The difficulty of avoiding three-putts on greens that fast, with pin positions that the USGA selects for maximum difficulty, turns what would be straightforward par putts at other events into genuine challenges. The combination of fast greens and difficult pin positions means that even when a player hits the green in regulation, making par is not guaranteed.
Why Winning Scores Are High
At the Masters, winning scores regularly reach 10 to 18 under par. US Open winning scores since 2000 have ranged from 16 under par (Tiger Woods at Pebble Beach in 2000, the outlier) to five over par (Rory McIlroy and Retief Goosen). The average US Open winning score in the modern era is somewhere around three to seven under par — dramatically higher (worse) than other majors. That difference reflects the setup: the USGA is specifically trying to prevent the low scores that Augusta National or the Open Championship venues can produce.
Shinnecock's Wind: The Extra Layer
At Shinnecock Hills, the USGA setup challenge is compounded by the exposure of the course to Atlantic Ocean and Peconic Bay winds. Wind changes club selection on every hole, alters the flight and landing angle of approach shots, and affects putting distances on fast greens in ways that are genuinely difficult to predict and account for. The 2018 US Open at Shinnecock produced afternoon conditions so severe that the USGA was criticized for making the course too difficult — greens were firming and speeding to the point where balls were rolling off putting surfaces unaided. That episode reflects the fine line the USGA walks in US Open setup, and it will be on every decision-maker's mind in 2026.
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