What defines a "true" links course??

The word 'Link' when relating to a piece of land tends to originate from the Middle English "hlinc" meaning a ridge of land.

I live In Malvern Worcestershire which is just about as far as you get from the sea but there is a district of the Town called 'Malvern Link' No golf course on it either.
 
A course that passes through coastal sand dunes would be my definition. Some links courses have been left behind by the sea (e.g. Royal Lytham) as more sand has been dumped by the sea over time. So although they may not be right by the sea anymore they are still situated in coastal dunes and were/are links courses.
 
I've played 2 coastal courses in the North east.Goswick and Newbiggin by the Sea.Pretty sure Goswick is known as a links course and assume Newbiggin is too.....although think there were trees by the 1st fairway at Goswick? I did enjoy both courses cant believe how fast Goswick greens were in Feb/March compared to what I was used to on my course/other inland courses at the time.I need to play more links courses to gain a better experience of them...what I did like was the wide open spaces to play towards compared to the tight fairways at my course.Will be playing Dunstanburgh Castle in the future been told its a very good course.

Kev
 
i always thought that in years gone by it was the unarable land near to the sea what the farmers could grow crops on
 
Tommo21 said:
Railways has nothing to do with it...................coincidence, nothing more.
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I never suggested that railways made it a links course. I'm quite happy that I know what a links golf course is thank you. I thought I read somewhere that TRUE, links courses were defined by something to do with the railways. I'm quite happy that I'm wrong in this and I've picked it up wrongly.

No need to labour the point. Move on and berate something else now. Something worth while like stack'n'tilt or captains abusing their position and demanding the first tee will suffice!
 
thecraw said:
I never suggested that railways made it a links course. I'm quite happy that I know what a links golf course is thank you. I thought I read somewhere that TRUE, links courses were defined by something to do with the railways. I'm quite happy that I'm wrong in this and I've picked it up wrongly.

No need to labour the point. Move on and berate something else now. Something worth while like stack'n'tilt or captains abusing their position and demanding the first tee will suffice!
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Rewind...........I only said it was coincidence. No need to labour on the point...it's my first post on the subject.

You get out the wrong side.
 
Tommo21 said:
Rewind...........I only said it was coincidence. No need to labour on the point...it's my first post on the subject.

You get out the wrong side.
Click to expand...

No, my wife decided to wake me up because she was going to work, I was quite happy in bed after sitting up to watch last nights boring golf.


:fore:
 
rosecott said:
I assume you mean with no gap inbetween i.e. railway line, then golf course, then beach. If so I'll have to have a look on Google maps to see if that is the case on all the courses we know as links courses.
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I always understood links to be as rosecot says strip of land between the beach and agricultural land no good for growing crops but poerfect for a golf course ,but i would say most of the links courses i know all had a railway running alongside although most arent there now after the Beecham report a lot of lines were closed. My course at leven the railway more or less split course in two until line was shut in the late sixties i think.
 
I think this may sum it up better. Taken from a website.

The British Golf Museum says that "links" are coastal strips of land between the beaches and the inland agricultural areas. This term, in its purest sense, applies specifically to seaside areas in Scotland.






So "links land" is land where seaside transitions into farmland. Links land has sandy soil, making it unsuited for crops. Such land was often, in times past, thought to be worthless because it was not arable for crops.

Sounds about right to me. It was taken from this article...

http://golf.about.com/cs/historyofgolf/a/hist_links.htm




​
 
Probably a stupid question but can a links course have a man-made lake on it? Can't remember seeing one..... just wondered if it's "against the rules"?
 
JustOne said:
Probably a stupid question but can a links course have a man-made lake on it? Can't remember seeing one..... just wondered if it's "against the rules"?[/QUOTE

Dunbar GC has a few burns crossing the fairways, has a pond next to the first green, and a large pond to the right of the 6th fairway...it's OOB though. Is it links, well it runs right along the sea front. Cannygetmorelinksthanthat.
Click to expand...
 
Tommo21 said:
JustOne said:
Probably a stupid question but can a links course have a man-made lake on it? Can't remember seeing one..... just wondered if it's "against the rules"?[/QUOTE

Dunbar GC has a few burns crossing the fairways, has a pond next to the first green, and a large pond to the right of the 6th fairway...it's OOB though. Is it links, well it runs right along the sea front. Cannygetmorelinksthanthat.
Click to expand...

Royal Dornoch Struie (ladies course) has a pond in front of the 2nd and 18th tee's. I thinks its just some way to collect water for the course though!
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