never played a links course

can not beleave that you guys have not played links golf
you should be ashamed with yourselfs!!!!

wind about 90miles a hour!!!
rain coming in and hitting you like stones!!!
umbrella inside out!!
wet to the bone!!!

what more could you want!!

no sorry some of the best golf around and some great courses

Indeed, looking forward on getting back to links this winter..

Score of about 20 points lol.. Ball almost moving on the green with the wind.. Cant see past 150 yards with the tears from the wind cutting the face of you LOL..


BRING IT!!

But really for me its at a different level.. I can say for sure any low handicap golfer from any of the great links courses down my way.. Would be near pro in any of our parkland courses, its so much harder..
 
I would rather play links golf any day of the week.

It requires accuracy, craft & shot-making to a much higher extent than parkland golf.

I find it laughable on a lot of parkland courses when you can slice your drive 100 yards right, accross 3 fairways and still have a shot to the green.

On a Links this waywardness will be punished heavily and thats the way it should be.
 
You are being course specific there John, I have played Links courses with 100yd+ landing areas for drives.

You can argue that Parkland requires the greater degree of accuracy especially on tree lined tracks, something that would be a rare commodity at a Links course.

You can also argue that shot making is rewarded greater at a Parkland too. Links golf can become as one dimentional as any other type of course.

I enjoy playing golf. Not "Links golf" or "Parkland golf", they both bring their own different challenges that have to be conquered on any given day.
 
can't see how you say it's ugly. There's nothing worse than bland 'parkland' course dropped onto an old farm, now that's featureless and ugly.
links I love, didn't do great at my first attempt but that was me not the track (no, track doesn't apply to links, they <u>are</u> courses). I will do better next time.

there may not be too many trees, though I found some!, but there are plenty of other hazards to contend with, and a sea of grass is <u>not</u> the place to put your drive.
wind in the hair, smell of the sea and preferably the sun shining - can't beat it.
 
Links all the way for me.

Regarding the guy who is heading to Ballybunion new course.
Haven't played there myself but I live in Kerry and the general open is that the new course is ridiculously hard. A friend of mine played there a few weeks ago with a society, he said the fairways are very narrow and most of them slope towards the rough and there is no semi rough. 34 points won that outing.

If you are in the Kerry area for a few days, Ceann Sibeal in Dingle is worth checking out.
 
Good shots punished and bad shots rewarded sums it up tbh

110% agree with you.

Links is unfair and ugly to look at. Parkland all the way.

A sweeping generalisaion from somebody who has obviously played a lot of links golf!!!? :D

I’m bored at work and fancied annoying the Links lovers on here. Played links a few times and had my arse kicked by the course every time. Its way too hard for a southern softie like me, im sticking with my nice looking parkland in leafy Surrey.
 
We have no links courses here in Austria, but every time I visit the British Isles, the first thing I do is to head for the coast and play a links course. I dont believe they are tougher then inland courses, in fact most of them are easier unless it's breezy (and it always is).
 
I don't necessarily find links any harder than parkland. For both, it is about finding fairways and greens. Combined with a half decent short game, and what's the difference?

You can get firm greens and fairways at both, mounding, long bundu, deep bunkers, etc at both types (and heathland too). Same to an extend with the weather. Any one who has played the Oxfordshire will vouch for the wind and rain the equal of any links. It is very exposed to the elements.

My preference is towards good challenging layouts, rather than any distinction between links, parkland or heathland.
 
On a Links this waywardness will be punished heavily and thats the way it should be.

Rubbish.
On a trip to Carnoustie a few years ago, one of my mates (who's a handy golfer) quickly worked out that if he just went for out and out power and just smacked it around the gaff it didn't matter where he was on the course, he could attack the pins. And he was actually better coming in from some of the places his drives had ended up 'cos he took most of the courses defences (the bunkering) out of play.
OK it wasn't set up with the rough like it was in the Open, but then what links courses are most of the time???
He shot the best round of the 12 of us that day.
 
I’m bored at work and fancied annoying the Links lovers on here. Played links a few times and had my arse kicked by the course every time. Its way too hard for a southern softie like me, im sticking with my nice looking parkland in leafy Surrey.

Nearly worked!! ;)

Seriously, even though I am partial to a bit of links golf (obviously) I also enjoy parkland courses, and have probably played more parkland courses than links, and enjoy the different elements of the game that I get to use on both.

I also agree that sometimes on links courses you can definitely rip it at take your chances. Bude's 17th is a good example, where for a "power fader" like myself it is better approaching the green from the 16th fairway to the right!!! :D
 
It depends on the Links course and the player attitude.
If you play a Links and its not a good one, and on top of that you have bad weather, then few golfers will hail a great day.

Links can be gorgeous, it depends on setting and weather.
In my experience Links can offer such variation. I have played a couple where you can hit wild and wayward and still have a shot,but with many other hazards to cancel out this benefit, yet others where you are just slightly out and in the cack!

Reading the course and judging the affect of weather on the course is a skill, on some , not only do you have to hit a good drive in windy conditions, but you have to place it on fairways to get the right bounce, or risk skipping off into trouble. Negotiating the many hazards on some Links is a skill too, things people dont perceive as hazards, Like a small clump of heather just off fairway at driving range, if you saw it as water you might play a different shot for example, the extra bunkers on some Links courses that grab your ball and want to keep it. Knowing when to go for it and when not to is more important on a good Links than any other courses IMO. Weather affects are more amplified on open Links course.
For me its a matter of challenge, varied skills, right choices, and pleasure in its differences as well as its purity.
 
I have never played a links course and am quiet happy playing parkland at the moment at the hearing of some of the reports about links golf on here.

Masters anybody?
 
My first ever introduction to links golf was playing Dunbar on the East Coast of Scotland on a Tuesday early in March 1991.
It was howling a bloody gale. I had never played in such wind before, and have never played in such wind since.
God knows what speed the gusts were, but trollies were being blown over left, right and centre and a full blooded drive into the wind was travelling about 80 yards and bouncing back down the fairway towards you!
We only managed 12 or 13 holes on that desolate waste, we couldn't carry on and couldn't get in quick enough. Enough was enough.
But we were so taken with the place that we cancelled our previously booked game at another course on the Friday and went back to Dunbar to take it on again, minus the wind. Sun was shining, skylarks were singing, and there was just a gentle breeze fluttering the flags.
It was bloody terrific.
 
I think it depends on the type of lins course you play. We hacked around Lydd and it was a soulless place with only about 10 people on the course at 10.00 on a dry and sunny day. If the members don't want to be there you can tell its not great (and they had a competition on). On the other hand there are other courses where you don't want the round to end as you think coming down the stretch you've finally mastered the 130 yard 6 iron into the wind.
 
We hacked around Lydd and it was a soulless place with only about 10 people on the course at 10.00 on a dry and sunny day.

I have also played Lydd.
£14.00 a round including full English breakfast I think it was.
I got a bit worried when I realised the breakfast was actually worth about £10.00 of that.
Goody Goody. £4.00 worth of golf course to come
 
Top