Links Golf Explained
What 'Links' Actually Means
The word is used loosely. Golfers describe windswept municipal courses, exposed coastal parkland and any course with sandy soil as a 'links', when many of them are nothing of the kind. A true links course sits on a specific type of land: the narrow strip of sandy ground between the sea and the inland farmland, deposited over millennia by retreating shorelines. The Gaelic root of 'links' refers to this transitional terrain — ground that 'links' the sea to the land.
This definition has geographical implications. True links golf is largely confined to the British Isles, with small concentrations in Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales, and rare examples elsewhere. The great Scottish links — St Andrews, Carnoustie, Muirfield, Royal Troon, Turnberry, North Berwick — all sit on this coastal sand-belt. Ireland's Atlantic coast is home to perhaps the greatest concentration of links golf anywhere: Ballybunion, Lahinch, Royal County Down, Royal Portrush, Waterville and The European Club, among many others. Outside the British Isles, Barnbougle Dunes and Cape Wickham in Tasmania, and Cabot Links and Cabot Cliffs in Nova Scotia, represent the closest approximations to the original tradition.
The Terrain and Its Consequences
The sandy soil of a genuine links drains fast. After overnight rain, a links fairway is typically playable within hours; an inland parkland course might be closed for days. This rapid drainage also means the turf is firm underfoot throughout the season, and the ball runs rather than checking on landing. A well-struck iron on a links course will pitch twenty yards short of the flag and run up onto the green. The same shot on a soft parkland course plugs in the grass.
This firmness transforms strategy. On a links, the ground is a playing surface just like the air. Bump-and-run approaches with a seven iron or even a fairway wood can be more effective than a high-trajectory pitch wedge. The greens are often elevated or perched to shed shots that don't pitch in the right spot, requiring players to judge both carry and run simultaneously. The shot that lands on the front of the green and rolls to the back requires a different skill set than a high approach that stops quickly.
The rough on links courses tends to be fescue or bent grass, wiry and punishing when the ball nestles into it. Unlike the lush, manageable rough of a typical parkland course, genuine links rough can reduce a wayward drive to a survival chip back to the fairway. The bunkers are frequently deep, steep-faced and placed where the most dangerous driving lines converge — not where aesthetics demand them.
Wind and Weather
No factor defines links golf more than the wind. Courses that appear benign on a calm day become entirely different propositions when a force-five blows off the Irish Sea or the North Atlantic. Par fours that yield comfortable approaches in still air demand long irons or fairway woods into a headwind. The same hole playing downwind may need nothing more than a mid-iron second shot and a delicate approach.
The seasoned links golfer manages wind instinctively, keeping the ball low and curving it with the breeze rather than fighting it. Knockdown shots — half swings with the follow-through abbreviated — are bread and butter at Carnoustie or Ballybunion, but are rarely practised by golfers who play exclusively on sheltered parkland tracks. Rain, low cloud and reduced visibility compound the difficulty. Open Championship fields regularly speak of 'surviving' the first two rounds rather than attacking the course.
Rain waterproofs and thermal layers are not optional accessories on a Scottish or Irish links in October. They are as essential to the round as clubs. Many links aficionados argue that experiencing a course in difficult weather is the only way to truly know it.
The World's Great Links
St Andrews' Old Course (designed by nature and refined over six centuries, most recently in consultation with Martin Hawtree) remains the spiritual home of links golf. Its wide fairways, shared greens, hidden bunkers named Hell and the Principal's Nose, and the 17th Road Hole — arguably the most famous par four in golf — define the form.
Carnoustie in Angus, where the Barry Burn has denied more Open titles than any other feature in golf, plays relentlessly from the back tees. Royal Portrush in County Antrim hosted the 2019 Open Championship and its new Dunluce Links course in particular stands comparison with anywhere on earth. Ballybunion's Old Course on the Kerry coast, built into spectacular dunes above the Atlantic, was considered by Tom Watson — five times Open champion — as perhaps the finest test of golf in the world.
Australia's Barnbougle Dunes (designed by Tom Doak and Mike Clayton, opened 2004) and Loss (Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, 2010) in Tasmania represent the international links tradition at its best, using genuine coastal sand terrain to produce courses that feel genuinely old despite being recent.
Playing Links Golf Well
The mental adjustment required for links golf is considerable for players used to modern parkland or resort courses. Accepting bad bounces, playing for position rather than attacking every flag, using the ground creatively rather than fighting it — these are attitudes that don't come naturally to golfers trained on courses where the premium shot is always high and soft.
Preparing specifically helps. Practise punch shots and knockdowns on the range before a links trip. Spend time on bump-and-run chips from the fringe rather than defaulting to the lob wedge for every short-game situation. When you arrive, play a front-nine warm-up with low expectations and use it to understand the pace of the greens and the firmness of the fairways before committing to a scoring round.
Open the map can help you identify genuine links courses in your region — filter by coastal areas in Scotland, Ireland and England to find the real thing among the many courses that borrow the name without the geography.
Links golf at its best is the most demanding, most atmospheric and most historically grounded form of the game. Experiencing a true links in proper weather — firm ground, swirling wind, grey sky overhead — is to play golf as it was originally conceived, before irrigation systems, bent-grass greens and GPS distances made the game considerably easier and considerably less interesting.