Links,parkland and Heathland

pokerjoke

pokerjoke

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Watching Rory at the Irish open and struggling it got me thinking how hard it is to keep changing between Links,Parkland and Heathland.

Ricky Fowler seems to be playing proper links golf,however he plays on the PGA mosts weeks.
We all know Rory learnt his trade on the links courses of Ireland but now plays in America and has a very high ball flight.
How easy is it to chop and change?

I am a member of a Links and a Parkland course and I struggle with the links side the most because I also have a relatively high ball flight.

Also I find the greens different every week so I struggle there too as its not easy going from slow to fast greens.

Your thoughts
 
Rory's home club in Ireland is a parkland so he will be more suited to that. Wasn't it him that said he wasn't going to change his game just to suit the Open or was that someone else?

I play mainly on links and heathland which in the summer can be quite similar. At the top level, those guys SHOULD have the game to adapt.
 
Biggest issue is the nature of the greens rather than purely speed.

If you have developed your approach play around the links course you may struggle to adapt to the need to come in high, but the opposite shouldn't matter (unless you never play in the wind!)
 
The course in itself is not a problem, it's whether it's windy or not, as I have a high ball flight, a windy day on a links course would more than likely see me in triple figures.
 
My ball flight reflects that I've played links golf for many years. Having moved to a parkland course last year its proving a little difficult playing into the greens.
 
pokerjoke said:
Watching Rory at the Irish open and struggling it got me thinking how hard it is to keep changing between Links,Parkland and Heathland.

Ricky Fowler seems to be playing proper links golf,however he plays on the PGA mosts weeks.
We all know Rory learnt his trade on the links courses of Ireland but now plays in America and has a very high ball flight.
How easy is it to chop and change?

I am a member of a Links and a Parkland course and I struggle with the links side the most because I also have a relatively high ball flight.

Also I find the greens different every week so I struggle there too as its not easy going from slow to fast greens.

Your thoughts
Click to expand...

Although Rory learnt his game at a parkland and played a lot of links, I think his swing mechanics are just better suited to a big high shot whereas Rickie has more of a handsy feel swing and likes those low punchy shots.
 
Ethan said:
Although Rory learnt his game at a parkland and played a lot of links, I think his swing mechanics are just better suited to a big high shot whereas Rickie has more of a handsy feel swing and likes those low punchy shots.
Click to expand...

plus his swing is a bit flat, so a lower flight and run.. from what i can see from the TV anyway
 
pokerjoke said:
Watching Rory at the Irish open and struggling it got me thinking how hard it is to keep changing between Links,Parkland and Heathland.

Ricky Fowler seems to be playing proper links golf,however he plays on the PGA mosts weeks.
We all know Rory learnt his trade on the links courses of Ireland but now plays in America and has a very high ball flight.
How easy is it to chop and change?

I am a member of a Links and a Parkland course and I struggle with the links side the most because I also have a relatively high ball flight.

Also I find the greens different every week so I struggle there too as its not easy going from slow to fast greens.

Your thoughts
Click to expand...

Isn't he just playing badly?

I agree that to some extent it makes a difference, but not to the tune of 9 over par. He's just playing badly.
 
They're full time, highly skilled pro's so should be able to manage the transition between types of courses. In their defense, different grass types and effects of weather are always going to make links golf that little bit harder - not to mention they spend 90%+ of their time on parkland courses. Just think Rory's having an off-couple-of-weeks like anyone. Usually comes back from a 'crisis' ok and wins so roll on the US Open.

Personally like links as it's just such a challenge and limitations in technique give me a naturally low ball flight which helps a bit in the wind. Play most of my golf on parkland courses though and the variation in greens from one week to the next is the hardest thing for me to figure out.
 
His putter is stone cold. He said in his interview he has lost confidence in the greens.

You just can't putt well when you head goes.
 
Spear-Chucker said:
They're full time, highly skilled pro's so should be able to manage the transition between types of courses. In their defense, different grass types and effects of weather are always going to make links golf that little bit harder - not to mention they spend 90%+ of their time on parkland courses. Just think Rory's having an off-couple-of-weeks like anyone. Usually comes back from a 'crisis' ok and wins so roll on the US Open.

Personally like links as it's just such a challenge and limitations in technique give me a naturally low ball flight which helps a bit in the wind. Play most of my golf on parkland courses though and the variation in greens from one week to the next is the hardest thing for me to figure out.
Click to expand...

Of course thee guys are good and can move between different types of course but some courses favour some players more. Rory has a full tilt crush the course style and RCD with wind is a very hard place to do that. Luke Donald's nudge it round approach may work better. I read somewhere recently that the players are increasingly selecting their events based on length, so big hitters like Brooks Koepka like TPC Scottsdale or the Houston Open venue because you can hit it long and wide but GMac prefers Hilton Head because you need to be accurate and have a tidy short game, so those guys don't play many of the same events.
 
Ethan said:
Of course thee guys are good and can move between different types of course but some courses favour some players more. Rory has a full tilt crush the course style and RCD with wind is a very hard place to do that. Luke Donald's nudge it round approach may work better. I read somewhere recently that the players are increasingly selecting their events based on length, so big hitters like Brooks Koepka like TPC Scottsdale or the Houston Open venue because you can hit it long and wide but GMac prefers Hilton Head because you need to be accurate and have a tidy short game, so those guys don't play many of the same events.
Click to expand...

Very interesting - horses for courses I guess?! Don't blame the players for tailoring their schedules around where they are most likely to achieve success, probably sensible given it's their livelihoods. Personally I like to see a greater spread of events (based upon course type variation) to see whose skills translate well - it's why I prefer watching Euro events tbh.
 
Been reading about Vardon and his advice on playing what he calls the 'push' shot. Sounds like what I do when having to keep the ball low to get under trees - so gripping down a three iron, short to half swing - and punching it low. Catch it right and it goes miles. Sounds from Vardon that the better players really worked on this shot - using a cleek - and used it a lot.

He said it was a difficult shot to perfect but I can see how it would be useful as a normal play shot on links or heathland - though not so much modern parkland - courses. And really useful in the wind - as I use do it today - though not from significant distances - and Vardon is talking 180-200yds I think. Though interesting it was a know as the 'push' - not the 'punch' as we might call it today
 
Canary_Yellow said:
Isn't he just playing badly?

I agree that to some extent it makes a difference, but not to the tune of 9 over par. He's just playing badly.
Click to expand...

I totally agree yesterday he did play badly.

I was thinking along the lines of changing between the above week in week out.
Has someone mentioned some players do pick and choose their comps,however once someone has chose to play a Links instead of a Parkland course how hard is it to adapt?
It just seems to me Ricky Fowler has done it a lot better than Rory so far this week.
Rory does hit a very high bal lnormally and will probably struggle a little bit more than someone who normally plays with a lower ball flight.
After the Open where Darren Clarke won and Rory really really struggled with the conditions,maybe just maybe Rory is just not suited to windy Links golf.
 
A bad couple of days at the office for Rory. As he's the current Open Champion I guess he can cope with links golf. Looks like his form carried on from last week.
 
Couple of observations and only my opinion of course, firstly why did he try and change his follow through, he was attempting to hold everything off into the wind instead of going with the wind and using it to his advantage when he could by completing his natural swing. Second and possibly the real reason he struggled was that he apparently hasn't had any time off since his win in USA as he flew straight home to carry out sponsor duties for Nike on the Monday and went straight into the PGA comp before starting all that's associated with running your own foundation's tourney. I don't think he's got anything to worry about, he just needs to get a rest and bounce back. Sorry to go off piste, think this should be in the Irish open thread, mods feel free to move it.
 
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Ethan said:
Wasn't very windy or wet when he won and he was able to blast away with the driver.
Click to expand...

You're not wrong. RCD is a tight course, and not one to be overpowered. Donald has shown that its a straight hitters course rather than a bombers course.
 
Donald isn't really a straight hitter though either, has a big miss in him.

I think there's multiple types of links golf, a calm links day is still a big challenge and requires different shots than a parkland would to me, I've been a member of 2 links courses and 1 parkland and I find it much easier to score well consistently around a parkland as the course usually plays more predictably
 
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