Links golf

[thesheriff]

Warning - this post may irk the golfing purists.

As I approach the close of my second season of being a committed golfer, I'm pleased to say 2018 so far has been a year of new courses and new experiences as I've been introduced to some of the different styles of course and a variety conditions they play under.

I've enjoyed all these experiences.....but then there's links golf.

For many the 'true test', or 'the way golf is meant to be played'. For me, an exercise in sado-masochism. The bleak landscape, the howling wind, the hard greens and drop offs and the unfair bounces and pot bunkers. I've tried my darnedest to love this form of the game out of respect for its history, but after having tried a fair few links now, it just ain't happening. I quite like the spongey fairways. Pitching an approach 50 yards from the green and running it up is ok once or twice a round (not 14 or 15), but getting battered by wind and traipsing through the scrub looking for another wayward shot gets tiresome very quickly.

The landscape is all the same. After a day on the links the monotone regularity is branded on the inside of my eyelids, my swing feels damaged by the number of punch/weird shots I've tried to hit.

Maybe it'll grow on me and I hope it does. I'll keep at it cos I love golf and I'm no quitter but yet to see what all the fuss is about.

 

[Jacko_G]

And to offer as flippant and uneducated a response as your post all trees are the same and all parkland is soggy.

 

[patricks148]

You are probably just not good enough

 

[User2021]

Only been playing golf a year.
Love links.
Played some wonderful tests like Siloth, Turnberry, Littlestone etc - all gorgeous.

 

[Blue in Munich]

Not a problem. One more person that doesn’t appreciate real golf means one more space on the links for those of us that do. Your loss is our gain.

 

[IanM]

Grew up inland... but love links for the difference!!! Good courses are good courses regardless of "type."

 

[User20205]

It’s all about opinions. Links Golf is awesome but would I want to play it all the time? I’d chose heathland as a preference with links (without the sideways rain) as a close second. I’ve never played a links course that I didn’t enjoy tho

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Well it’s certainly a thread that will get the gums chomping but not everyone does like Links golf for the reasons you mentioned

For me i love playing Links golf , played some of the most spectacular courses with stunning views and amazing holes , holes that you don’t get on any other type of course but I don’t think I would want to play Links every time it would be a bit too much so I play Links course every now and then and enjoy it - my game actually seems to suit Links

If I had a choice then I would be a member of a Heathland course - they are just stunning and whilst you may not get seaside views you certainly do get some stunning inland views and i find the courses ones that i would happily play every day and they can certainly be tough.

And then there are parkland courses - again played some stunning parkland courses that have some amazing holes , some of the holes at Bearwood at spectacular and they can easily play as tough if not tougher than a Links course

But the great thing about it all is that we have some a choice in this country for which ever type you want to play or be a member off. Links does have all the history but that doesn’t mean it’s the only format to play - each course will have its own character for anyone to enjoy

 

[Lord Tyrion]

He takes out the pin and throws the grenade...............

You are not alone. Plenty on here are not fans either although many will strike you down for suggesting such heresy. I played Turnberry earlier this year and it was fabulous, the best course I have ever played. There was nothing monotonous about it though, plenty of different views and landscapes. Most other links courses........not for me. I don't feel the love either.

The good news is there are plenty of parkland and heathland courses to play and, as has already been pointed out in reverse, they will be quieter as the true golfers are all playing on those crowded links courses, ha ha.

 

[ademac]

Each to their own but I would love to be by the coast and able to play links golf every week!
Always enjoyed the links courses I have played and whenever there is a UK trip with mates its always to links courses.

 

[Curls]

I think what it is about Links golf is that depending on the conditions (wind mainly) and how they decide to set the course up, you can have a completely different challenge from one day to the next. That probably means that for a true appreciation of any links course you need to play it a few times. Personally I love it but each to their own.

The only type of golf I don't like, and it can be on any sort of course, is one where every other shot is blind. As in "you can't even walk to a reasonable nearby high point and see where you're going" blind. I don't mind a few blind shots they come with the territory, but when you're aiming at sticks all day you really do have to know a course well to get the most out of it. Nothing worse than seeing a great hit punished! If it's somewhere I'm playing for the first time I get fed up of it. So in that regard if you play a links once and don't get on with it I get what you mean. I just think with time you could learn to appreciate the nuansces of the course, for me I have no desire to play repeatedly to learn which side of a stick I need to aim at. Not fun for me.

 

[thesheriff]

And to offer as flippant and uneducated a response as your post all trees are the same and all parkland is soggy.

My post is definitely not flippant. Uneducated? I haven't played too many links and I hope they will change my view.

 

[thesheriff]

I should have added that links golf on TV is absolutely the most entertaining to watch. Watching the pros trying to deal with it is different and brilliant.

 

[User 99]

It is hard, but no one said golf was easy. It's tougher mentally than anything, dealing with horrible bounces, terrible lies, side winds can all destroy you mentally.

 

[Deleted member 21258]

Links golf is interesting that's for sure, great fun when the wind is blowing and so on. Like links courses that have views(like castles, hills, scenery, big dunes rocky edges, more than just the sea is required and not to many blind shots)

If I play a links course without any views I just think, hmmm this is not so great. A good example of that would have been West Lancs, no views at al just a baron golf course (also the course felt a bit man made ) I like the 'rougher' looking links courses with rough around the top of bunkers etc, just think it adds something to the eye.

And think about it to say its a truer test etc is just pants IMHO, if it was then the winners on tour would all be from Scotland or from windy places. Its just a different form of golf.

At heart I am a tree person, so still prefer Heathland or Parkland myself tbh.

 

[Liverbirdie]

Which links courses have you played?

 

[Deleted member 16999]

Each to their own, Links golf all the way for me, it’d be a bland world if we all agreed on everything.

 

[duncan mackie]

I've played Cinque Ports when it's been beautiful, and the breeze a necessary consideration on most shots.
I've also played it when my trolley has blown over on three occasions. If it hadn't been a charity team event I simply wouldn't have been out there - and it wasn't even raining!

If I had only ever played it in those latter conditions I would probably be so against links golf ....

I enjoy all types of courses; it just happens that most links have the best scenic views - although that only really here in the UK as the rest of the world has scenic parkland as well!

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

The landscape is all the same.

Each to their own opinion but your quote above is actually nonsense. Try playing Royal Lytham, Tralee, Trump Aberdeen and Royal County Down then come back and tell me the views are all the same.

 

[Jacko_G]

Each to their own opinion but your quote above is actually nonsense. Try playing Royal Lytham, Tralee, Trump Aberdeen and Royal County Down then come back and tell me the views are all the same.

Or Carnoustie where there are no views!