When sheep huddled in hollows of the Linksland sand to shelter from the icy North Sea winds off the coast of Scotland, the first golf bunkers were created. When roaming cattle grazed on the tough grassy fields, man saw an opportunity to mark out tough greens and fairways for a new sport called golf.
To this day, playing backcountry golf, in Scotland and Ireland, or at one of the prestigious Open Championship venues, is the golf tour of dreams. Many golfers travel from all over the world on a pilgrimage to the best golf courses in the world.
If you’ve never battled a stiff sea breeze, or if you’ve never aimed down a gorse-bush-lined alley, you’ll probably feel like you’re playing a different game.
Global Golfer’s editor, Matthew Moore, a one handicap golfer, lived in St Andrews for four years and dedicated himself to learning the art of links golf.
Here is a practical guide to playing links golf.
Learn to kick the ball off the tee
Fairways on links courses can be narrow and bordered by gorse (a dense, hard thorny bush), pot bunkers, and thick, tall, coarse fescue grasses.
When the wind is blowing hard, it’s hard to keep the ball in play and out of trouble, especially if you’re used to throwing the ball through the air with lots of spin and form.
To play well on the links courses, you need to drive the ball low and straight, into the wind, with less spin for it to drop and race down the fairways.
You can do this by hitting the “knuckle ball” with your driver. This shot creates a low-ceiling spin flight that drops and runs upon landing.
That is how:
Hit the ball low, pretty close to the grass
Choke right in the grip
Drive the ball from the middle of your stance
Stack 60% of your weight on your left side
Swing three-quarter length at an easy pace, resisting the urge to hit the ball hard and concentrating on hitting it sweet
Remember, as with all full shots into the wind, the harder you hit the ball, the more spin you create and the higher you hit it, exposing it to the wind.
The knuckleball drive will be shorter than the usual drives, but you’ll make up for it by running the hard link fairways. Best of all, it’s precise and great at beating the wind and keeping the ball on short grass instead of gorse, which almost certainly equates to a penalty.
Play with Punch no Ego
It’s not unusual to find yourself facing a 125-yard shot on a small elevated green with a gale-force wind blowing in your face. This is when you have to leave your ego behind, forget that you hit the 130-yard gap if you swing hard, and play smart by choosing a much longer club and hitting it to keep the flight low and reduce spin.
To play links golf well, you have to accept that sometimes you’ll hit a 4-iron from 140 yards or an 8-iron when you only have 85 yards left. You do this by playing the slam dunk – the links golfer’s best friend.
Punching the shot means playing with a shorter backswing, taking the loft off the club for a lower flight and using the forearms and body together to shorten the follow through and punch aggressively through the ball at impact.
Top tips for fist bumps:
shaft grip
Place the ball further back in your stance towards your right foot
Move your hands a little further in front of the ball
Shift 65% of your weight to your left side
Swing ¾ long and hit the shot with a shorter follow through below shoulder height
The lower the flight, the less likely it is to be affected by the wind.
Adjust for the ball to fly lower and aim to land near the flagpole and allow it to escape into the hole.
practical implementation
If you usually play indoor golf courses or golf resorts, you’ll probably use your lob wedge and sand wedge when bounding around the green, launching the ball high and landing softly.
On a links course, strong winds can whip the ball from very short distances and make precise chipping difficult. Also, it is rare to find thick rough around a links green, the most common hazards being bunkers, run-offs, bank sides and holes, making it possible to store the wedge and use the putter from outside the green. green.
In The Open Championship you will have seen the best professionals putting from 25 yards from the green with great results. This is because putting off the green is one of the best short game choices you can make on a link. The fairways are often extremely narrow, making getting the ball out of hard turf a precise skill, and it’s easy to thin, cut, or nail the shot.
Your worst putt will always be better than your worst chip, so watch the slope and undulation of the terrain, be practical and use your putter to move the ball up and down.
Bump and Run makes the game fun
You will have heard of the Scottish hit and run or seen it played. This low-flying shot lands near the green or right on the green and rolls into the hole like a putt.
If you don’t have anything between you and the pin, then hit and run is a brilliant option because once it lands it starts to behave like a putt and can keep going towards the hole. Link greens can be undulating and sloping, so landing a high chip or pitch on a steep slope can cause inconsistent rebounding and erratic results.
How to crash and run:
Tackle the ball with the right foot
Use anything from a five iron to a 9 iron
Weight 70% on the left side
sternum in front of the ball
Heads ahead of the ball, stick sitting upright
Make a putt stroke and hit down hard on the back of the ball.
Pick a spot right on the green to land and let him run for the hole.
lie of the earth
A caddy at The Old Course at St Andrews, Turnberry or Troon would tell you that it takes time to learn the subtleties and nuances of links and to learn the bounce of the ball. Often slopes and natural features can funnel the ball into the hole, squeeze extra yards out of a drive, or prevent the ball from going into a hazard.
Buying a yardage chart and studying the contours and slopes of each hole is a good idea, but there is nothing better than being alert and observant when playing the course. Watch how your teammates’ balls bounce, watch the sloping fairways and anticipate if you need to play right to kick left.
Sometimes on a shooting range the last place you’ll aim is the flag, because you may have to hit it 30 yards to the right to catch a shot that funnels the ball into the hole.
hybrid sky
The worst thing you can do when playing links golf in the wind is hit hard at the back of the ball with a hard shot that squeezes it out of the air and puts backspin on it. The shot will swell and the wind will exaggerate the turn, forcing you into trouble.
A good way to avoid this is to have several hybrid sticks or utility sticks to choose from. By using a hybrid with a flatter, shallower swing, you can pick the ball up off the top of the grass and sweep it towards the target.
It’s easier to hit lower shots that have less spin and are more accurate when hitting hybrids rather than trying to push hard with long irons.
Make the wind your friend
Chances are it will be windy on your links golf course. It is vital that you make the wind your friend, not your enemy. The easiest way is to play with the wind and not against it. Instead of trying to cut a 3-iron into a right-to-left wind, take a 5-iron and aim more to the right allowing the ball to ride the wind. It’s the same with a driver, cutting a ball into a right-to-left wind can take 80 yards off your tee shot, but setting it up for a right-to-left draw and aiming more to the right can result in great drives and second shots. simpler. .
Use the wind in your favor and remember that the harder you hit, the higher it flies and the stronger the effect on the ball and its spin.
Take your medicine in Bunkers
Our final tip for playing links golf is to be able to take your medicine and play safe when you are in bunkers. Have you heard of the “Nakijima Sands”, more commonly called the “Road Hole” bunker on 17th at The Old Course at St Andrews.
It is typical of the deep bunkers with riveted faces common on golf courses in Scotland, Ireland and Wales. I mention it here because it’s a classic example of how a round can come unstuck when a golfer tries to pull off a miraculous recovery from a deep bunker. If he’s not at least 90% sure he can clear the lip, don’t risk sticking him in a clinched face and dropping him straight into an even worse spot.
There’s no shame in playing sideways or even backwards from a links pot bunker if it means you can avoid a bogey or, better yet, stop by making a quad or scoring double figures.
Go for the conservative shot which will guarantee you have at least a chance of getting a reasonable score; if not, you might find a bunker named after you.
Once again, here is the short version of Global Golfer’s best tips for playing Links Golf.
Knuckle ball your units
Play with punch not ego
Be a practical putt from the green
Hit and run to make the game fun
Learn the lie of the land
Hybrids are heavenly on links.
Make the wind your friend
Take your medicine in the bunkers