| Many people believe that the word 'links' refers to | | | | drive straight up the fairway only to have it finish |
| the way the end of one golf hole defines the | | | | up on a hanging lie with three huge bunkers |
| beginning of the next - rather like the links of a | | | | between you and the green two hundred yards |
| chain. This is not so but it actually comes from | | | | away. |
| the Old English word 'hlinc' meaning a stretch of | | | | The distances on your scorecard will be accurate |
| flat ground along the seashore. And that is | | | | but useless. I have played at Turnberry where |
| exactly what it is like. Sea on one side, land on | | | | one of the par threes is an eight iron in the |
| the other (often the houses on the edge of the | | | | morning but a three wood in the afternoon - and |
| town form the boundary). It is a naturally | | | | it was nothing to do with the port at lunch. |
| occurring terrain usually on a well drained sandy | | | | Playing out of the rough is a different game; the |
| soil. | | | | whins and other grasses can twist your clubhead |
| The parkland course on the other hand is 'purpose | | | | and make the ball behave in quite a different way |
| built' and is often much more hilly and varied in | | | | when trying to chip on to the green from the |
| terrain than the links course. Also, the presence of | | | | rough. Don't expect to play to your handicap on |
| trees offers a different kind of hazard from | | | | your first visit to a links course - even in sunshine |
| those found on a links. Each course has its own | | | | and no (apparent) wind. You need to be able to |
| type of problems and challenges but the links | | | | 'read' the elements and this comes only from |
| course probably calls for rather more 'invention' or | | | | experience. Why do you think so many canny |
| 'adaptation' in the way the shots are played. | | | | golfers chip and run from so far off the green? |
| Parkland courses are usually set in an area not | | | | Unlike the parkland course where the course is |
| infrequently wooded to some degree and often | | | | manufactured, the links course demands that the |
| with heather, gorse, sand bunkers and sometimes | | | | shot is manufactured. |
| water in the form of ponds or lakes. However, | | | | But all in all it's a great challenge - never the same |
| the main difference between links and parkland is | | | | from one day to the next. One compensation |
| that the latter is much more obviously | | | | however for these difficulties is that you will not |
| manufactured. This is not said by way of criticism | | | | encounter many trees. Which brings us back to |
| since inland courses by definition have to be | | | | parkland golf. |
| manufactured. The quality of the course though is | | | | Essentially, unlike the natural design of the links, |
| more to do with the skill of the designer and how | | | | this is down to the skill of the architect. |
| much this "manufactured-ness" shows. The | | | | Everybody accepts that golf courses are |
| optimum use of the space available and the | | | | 'constructed' but the trick is to make them look |
| incorporation of existing natural features - woods, | | | | as natural as possible and, in the case of some of |
| trees, water, ups and downs - are where the | | | | the great inland courses, it works! It requires a |
| architect can bring his creative powers to bear. | | | | number of criteria to be fulfilled: first and |
| A links course on the other hand is usually a much | | | | foremost it must be a challenge to the world's |
| more rugged proposition. It's a completely natural | | | | best - and must be accepted as such. It must |
| setting - too 'natural' for some people - where the | | | | have variety - every hole must be individual but |
| wind from the sea plays a much more prominent | | | | the 'whole' must have a personality. It must be |
| part in the game. The nature of the terrain forces | | | | fair and not just playable by top championship |
| you to adapt your shots to the prevailing | | | | players and, lastly, it must be aesthetically pleasing. |
| conditions and the lie of the land. One great | | | | Such a course would be Sunningdale - a club |
| advantage though is that being on sandy soil it | | | | blessed with two of the great courses where |
| does tend to drain well and very quickly so the | | | | every hole is a world unto itself. So whether your |
| surface remains firm and playable all year round. | | | | preference is for links or parkland I hope you |
| Nevertheless it is no place for the complaint 'It's | | | | manage to get the round you've dreamed about |
| not fair'. Life isn't fair on a links and you have to | | | | on the course of your choice. |
| brace yourself for that. You could hit a perfect | | | | Good golfing! |