Links

( another in the long a** series of posts )

The 4th, and last, Major of the year, the PGA Championship, begins tomorrow at Hazeltine. Given his performance this past weekend, Tiger is of course the favorite. Especially since he will be trying to erase the memory of missing the cut at The Open. 

Speaking of which…during his wonderful performance at The Open it was frequently mentioned that Tom Watson is one of the greatest links players in the world. Tiger is a great golfer, but he is not necessarily a great links golfer. Which, I think, contributed to his missing the cut.

And now some of you are nodding and saying ‘Um hmm.’. And some of you are saying ‘what the heck is a links golfer’? I shall endeavor to enlighten you.

There are two kinds of golf courses, generally referred to as ‘links’ and ‘parkland’. 95% of the courses in America are parkland. It is rare to find a true links course here ( although a new one just opened up here in The Wild West ).

As for an actual definition of ‘links course’…well links courses have a lot of things in common, but there aren’t specific criteria laid out in a rule book or anything, about what is or is not a links course. It’s one of those ‘you know it when you see it’ kind of things.

Back in the Beginning golf courses were laid out on top of the land. There was no earth moving equipment, so you couldn’t design a course from scratch. You had to design around what was there. Which meant for the most part, every little mound, every patch of sand, every place it was to steep or to uneven to mow, pretty much had to be left in place and worked around. There was no evening out of land on the fairways or greens. No planting of special grasses in fairways vs roughs vs greens. And when you did this on a piece of land next to the ocean, this meant dealing with the fact that generally speaking, no trees grew there. Which was actually a good reason for putting a course next to an ocean, the designer didn’t have to worry about moving, or removing, trees. Which was a much bigger deal back then. And they didn’t want to use up valuable farmland( Jack Calthorpe aside). So they put courses on narrow strips of land next to the sea, where things didn’t really grow anyway. Which meant they didn’t have a lot of room to set the holes up in a nice wind-y parkland way. So the holes were generally laid out 9 holes straight out, and 9 holes straight back. And being next to the sea there was lots of sand, patches of which would accumulate in deep pockets in the land, otherwise it would be blow away by the constant winds. And thus pot bunkers were born. And in the areas they didn’t plant grass and maintain as fairways and greens the native grasses grew. And these tended to be thick and tall and reedy. These were the original links courses.

So to recap, generally speaking a links course:

- Is laid out more or less on top of the land. Not a lot of massive earth moving. Although mounds and knolls are added to give odd bounces and angles.

- Is built on sandy wind swept soil.

- Has deep pot bunkers as opposed to sand traps

- Doesn’t have much, if any water. Except of course for the sea next to the holes.

- Is treeless.

- Has deep, nasty, rough made up of tough reedy grass.

- Goes out and back.

You can build a links course any place there is sandy soil in a wind swept location. And there are inland links courses. But most of the world’s links courses are along a coast.

As far as playing a links course goes. You either love it or you hate it. When playing most parkland courses length is what matters. How far can you hit the ball. The longer your drive, generally speaking, the better off you are. Most parkland courses are so thoroughly designed and landscaped that unless your ball goes out of bounds, you are never really left with an un-playable shot. And sand traps tend to be shallow and open. Hence the term ‘the beach’.

On a links course it’s not length that matters, it’s accuracy. If you miss the fairway you are in a world of hurt. You will be lucky to find your ball. And if you do you may want to take an un-playable anyway, just so you don’t have to hit out of the nasty stuff. Did you see how many players in The Open took two or more shots to get out of the rough? Did you see how they shook their wrists to shake off the sting of hitting the ball hard enough to get it to pop out of that crap? And there is a world of difference trying to hit out off a nice flat sand trap, as opposed to a pot bunker that comes up to your shoulders. On a parkland course landing in the sand is unfortunate, but not too bad. On a links course you want to avoid the bunkers like the plague. Also that whole ‘wind swept’ thing comes into play. The fairways and greens tend to play hard and fast and bouncy.

Playing a links course takes a whole different mind-set, a whole different strategy. You have to think about every shot, and where it’s going to land, and what kind of bounce it will take. You can’t just hit the ball as hard and as far as you can and hope for the best. Remember, the farther the ball goes the more it moves off course. The more the chance it will end up in a bunker, or take a little bounce off that knoll you didn’t notice and land in the crap. Lay-up is a dirty word to a lot of golfers, but a lot of times on a links course the smart shot is a lay-up.

A lot of people don’t like to expend the extra mental energy it takes to play a links course. They just want to take out their driver and pummel the ball. Other people love playing a thinking game. They like having to use a bit of strategy. If you don’t like playing links courses they can be the most frustrating rounds of your life. Instead of recovering from a bad shot to make par, a bad shot can easily lead to double bogey.

A good golfer can play a links course without being a great links player. Tiger has won The Open on a links course, so he can certainly play them. If your game is just a little off on a parkland course, and you miss most of the fairways, and over shoot a green here and there, you can recover. And we have all seen Tiger win, even when he wasn’t hitting the fairways. But if your game is a little off on a links course, things can go south in a hurry. Which is fine for someone like me. My game goes south no matter where I play. I get no more frustrated on a links course than I do on any other. And a nice gin-and-tonic does wonders for that. But when you are the best, and are used to being able to play through the bad shots and save par, and all of the sudden you are in the crap and the bunkers and the ball keeps taking bad bounces off of mounds and knolls and you are dropping shots right and left, I can see how you would get so frustrated that it would effect your whole game. And you might be so competitive and so focused that you can’t get beyond it. And I think that’s what happened to Tiger. My little insight on it anyway, FWIW.

Tom on the other hand. Tom is the consummate links player. Tom thought about every shot. Tom could see every bounce the ball would make, every spot the ball needed to land in to miss a bunker. Every hook or slice that needed to be made to miss the crap. Tom knew when to make the lay-up, and when to blow the ball past the trouble. Tom knows how to read and play a links course better than any other player on tour. Which is how he managed to out play all those kids, who are great golfers, but not great links golfers. Most times being a great golfer is enough. But sometimes being a great links golfer is better.

This week the PGA Championship will be played on a nice long parkland course up by Minneapolis. Tigers game was not off at all this past weekend, and I don’t imagine it will be off this weekend either. And even if it is, with a parkland course, the results won’t be nearly as disastrous as they were at The Open. Considering the way The Open went, and how competitive he is, I imagine he will be a man on a mission. I will be mildly surprised if he doesn’t win the PGA Championship.

And for the record, I have played links courses. In Scotland even. And I love them.