Alinks is the oldest style ofgolf course, first developed inScotland. Links courses are generally built on sandy coastland that offers a firmer playing surface than parkland and heathland courses.[1]
The word "links" comes via theScots language from the Old English wordhlinc: "rising ground, ridge"[2] and refers to an area of coastal sand dunes and sometimes to open parkland; it iscognate withlynchet. "Links" can be treated as singular even though it has an "s" at the end and occurs in place names that precede the development of golf, for exampleLundin Links in Fife.[3] It also retains this more general meaning in standardScottish English. Links land is typically characterised by dunes, an undulating surface, and a sandy soil unsuitable forarable farming, but which readily supports various indigenousbrowntop bent andred fescue grasses. Together, the soil and grasses result in the firm turf associated with links courses and the "running" game. The hard surface typical of the links-style course allows balls to "run" out much further than on softer turf course after a fairway landing. Players often aim to land the ball short of thegreen allowing it to roll up onto it rather than landing it on the green in the more targeted-landing style used on softer surfaces.
Links courses tend to be on, or at least very near to, a coast, and the term is typically associated with coastal courses. These courses are often amid dunes, with barely any water hazards and few, if any, trees. This reflects both the nature of the scenery where the sport originated and the limited resources available to golf course architects at that time. Soil movement, for example, had to be done by hand, and thus was kept to a minimum, as was irrigation. Even today, some links courses do not employ a greens staff, use only basic machinery such as hole cutters without boards, resulting in a hole that is cut unevenly, and use grazing animals to keep the grass cropped.[citation needed]
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Although the term links is often used loosely to describe any golf course, few golf courses have all of the design elements of true links courses, including being built on linksland.[citation needed] The presence of a seaside location does not guarantee a links golf course.[citation needed] Many famous courses regarded as links do not, as presently constituted, have all of the necessary characteristics (e.g.,Pebble Beach Golf Links, Old Head Golf Links atKinsale,The Ocean Course atKiawah Island).[citation needed] On the other hand, some courses located hundreds of miles from a seacoast, such asWhistling Straits, nearKohler,Wisconsin, on theGreat Lakes, can have all of the characteristics of a seaside links except for proximity to saltwater.
Links courses remain most common inGreat Britain, especially in Scotland, as well as in Ireland.The Open Championship is always played on links courses, and this is one of the main features which differentiates it from the threemajor championships held in theUnited States. The first exception to this was the2004 PGA Championship, which was played on a links-style course,Whistling Straits, located nearSheboygan,Wisconsin.[4] The2015 U.S. Open was played atChambers Bay, a British links-style course inUniversity Place,Washington.Royal Adelaide Golf Club is a links course inAdelaide,South Australia, and was partly designed byAlister MacKenzie, who said of the location, "One finds a most delightful combination of sand dunes and fir trees. I have never seen a seaside course possess such magnificent sand craters, as those at Royal Adelaide."[5]
Modern seaside "links-style" developments have also appeared beyond the British Isles; for example, the Links course at La Hacienda Links Golf Resort in San Roque, Cádiz, Spain—originally designed by Peter Alliss and Clive Clark and extensively redesigned by architect Kurtis Bowman—reopened in 2022 and has since received industry recognition.[6][7][8]
The unique nature of links courses necessitates a distinct style of play. The challenges links traits present fall into two categories: topography, which tends to be characterised by uneven fairways, thick rough, and small, deep "potbunkers"; and climatic, dominated by windy conditions created by their coastal location and lack of trees, and frequent intermittent rain squalls.
Links topography favours a controlled style of golf, as hazards abound. Low and even bouncing shots allow balls to be skipped onto greens rather than high flights landed with strong backspin. Windy or blustery weather also calls for low, accurate shots.[9] Damp conditions demand concentration and caution.
As many traditional links courses consist of an "outward" nine in one direction along the coast, and an opposite "inward" nine returning, players often have to cope with contrasting wind patterns in each half of their round.
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