Have You Ever Experienced the Challenge of Playing on a Links Golf Course?

[SEMI_Duffer]

3 hours ago, boogielicious said:

The little mowed strip IS the fairway!

Would I ever be in trouble there.

[pganapathy]

The course I used to be a member of and play on in Maputo, Mozambique, was very close to the beach.  Being a coastal town, the course was probably half a kilometre at most from the beach as the crow flies.  Also, the soil was kinda sandy though they had put in some other soil when setting up the course.  I enjoyed playing the course though I must admit it wasn't anywhere as windy as links courses in the UK

[ChetlovesMer]

I played a few actual links courses in the UK. But that was way back in the middle 90's. I remember it being very windy. I also remember having a caddy who was very literally 3 times my age. I felt bad, like, "shouldn't I be carrying that bag for you?"

Later on, I was a member at Cold Water Golf Links in Ames, Iowa for several years. That course is "Links Style". Obviously not truly a links course as there is no ocean in Iowa. It had big greens, deep bunkers, fairways separated by waist high grass. It was kind of funny, because you had to manage your misses. If you missed the fairway by one yard, you might be in waist-high grass and have to take an unplayable lie, assuming you found it. But you could also miss your fairway by 20 yards and be just fine in another fairway. 

I have fond memories of that course. I made my first hole in one there.

[IceMike]

My local course (arbroath) is a links course and ill be starting out october so high wind, frozen grounds and boggy roughs to look forward to. Needing to figure out how to control direction early if im going to cope with the wind along the coast.

Ive took the time to work the course and its night and day compared to the pga courses that look like perfectly trimmed astroturf I see on tv

 

[NZ Golfer]

My local course during the peak of summer one of our holes that get very dry ...it can be a brutal when the greens are fast and wind is up ... you can be just off the fairway by a yard and be in a nasty pocket hole of sand

[3jacker]

I've played a dozen links courses in NW Ireland.  It is a very different game for me.  My takeaways were:

1) Miss a fairway and you're dead.  Done.  This is not the Open Championship where you have spotters or dozens/hundreds of people standing alongside the hole to spot where the ball went in. You can't always see it down as there are often grass-covered dunes between you and the ball.  You may find a dozen balls but finding your own is tough.  STAY OUT OF THE HEATHER.  Gorse goes w/o saying.

2) My irons seem to go further off the firm turf.  Especially the wedges. You often aim to land your ball quite a ways of where you want the ball to end up. One uphill approach at Narin & Portnoo I had 110 yards to the pin.  Uphill, severely.  I was going to hit a gap and the caddy said, no, aim a 90 yard shot over there (15 yards right of the flag).  I did, and he was right, the slope around the green kicked it on and it rolled to 10 feet. Had I aimed at the flag, it'd skipped over the green, likely into the tall grass behind the green and it could've been a lost ball. 

3) Driving - when you have a 35 mph crosswind coming off the North Atlantic, it can be daunting to aim at Newfoundland. But you'd better.

4) Putting - not so bad!

Beautiful landscape for golf (the original after all).  Highly recommend it to anyone who has a chance.  But if you're scratch on a parkland style course, be ready to get humbled.

[WillieT]

Never had the pleasure of playing a true links course - there is a links style course near me I played once in mid-December several years back. Brisk Atlantic breezes and open turf made for some interesting shot making.  Looking to maybe play it again soon.  Links golf is a bucket list item.