What is Links Golf All About?

Its links golf time of year! Football might not have come home, but luckily golf is well and truly coming home over the next couple of weeks. This week’s Scottish Open, followed, as I’m sure you’re aware by now, by The Open at Royal Portrush. Both course provide the ultimate test of golfing (and mental) skill, taking golf back to its roots. But what is a links course?

Links refers to the strip of land between the sea and earth, which is typically sandy, undulating and fertile; basically the perfect conditions for sustaining a playable golf course throughout the year. Most inland courses require a lot of holes to be manufactured, with holes formed artificially thanks to trees being planted to show the way to go. Golf courses built of the links land however were simply formed by a teeing area being decided, then a green was formed on the most suitable part of the surrounding land. This then allows for each hole to be as challenging as the ground used, and any undulations are purely from the lay of the land.

Couple the tough terrain with the inevitable coastal winds, and even the best players in the world will struggle. Throw in some hidden, often quite small bunkers, the odd burn (Scottish for stream) and some punishing rough and you will soon see one of the toughest challenges in golf.

Prepare for all eventualities…

via @JulianSuri1 pic.twitter.com/fxubhu9Qew

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) July 11, 2018

Certainly not for the fainthearted…..we’ll see you out on the links soon!