OK, despite my username, I’m relatively new to golf, so I don’t know all of the terminology. While reading an article on the recent British Open, I saw that the course was “a challenging links-style course.” Now, I had always assumed that “links” was simply a synonym for “golf course,” as in “Hey, let’s go hit the links.” However, the use of the phrase “links-style course” implies that there are some courses that aren’t “links.”
So what exactly constitutes a “links-style course”? Does it have to do (I assume it does) with the way the course is laid out? And what do we call courses that are not “links style”? It seems they should have their own name, not just “non-links-style.”
Links courses also tend to had extreamly deep bunkers and the tall hay type grass. If you watched any of the British Open this past weekend you know what I’m talking about with the grass. The bunkers tend to be extreamly deep, sometimes 4-5 feet plus and very steep. To the best of my knowledge though links courses do not need to be on the ocean but generally are.
Hmm. About the ocean thing: Near me, there are two courses that bill themselves as “Golf Links.” We are 100 miles away from the nearest ocean. Also, neither has deep bunkers or the type of grass you saw at the Open.
So I’m thinking that all of the answers that have been given were the original meaning of “links course,” but now the term has been made generic (like Kleenex or Xerox) for any course. Thanks for the input!
[My original thought was that all the holes were “linked” somehow…]
I asked my dad about this a while ago (he is a golf nut - he was one of the course marshals at The Open* last week, 13th hole I think).
The Open is unique in that it is always played on a links course. The R&A which controls the event includes in it’s definition of a links that it must be on the coast. There may be further attributes they need to qualify (something about how the holes are laid out relative to the coastline maybe - I forget the details) but that is the most obvious. Any ‘links’ which is not by the sea, isn’t.
*The British Open is correctly termed The Open as it is the original of it’s kind.
[nitpick]Neither Kleenex nor Xerox are generic names, unlike aspirin. Both retain full trademark status. The generics are facial tissue and photocopier.[/nitpick]
In the OED, “links” as used to describe the land used in a golf course like Muirfield or St. Andrews is the first one listed under “link” used as a noun.
An inland course may use the name “links” but that doesn’t necessarily make it so as “links” has started to be used as a fancy name for any golf course.
I don’t play gold but my uncle is a golf freak and we were talking about this a few weeks ago. Around here there are several coursed that bill themselves as ‘links’ curses. The unique factor is that they are all smaller courses with low pars. They are all fairly new, small courses, and most are located in the middle of cities. One here in Little Rock is on the grounds of a new apartment complex. Here are two links (pun clearly intended). Link #1, Link #2.
