Thursday, March 24, 2011

Linksland


.... Linksland is the old Scottish word for the earth at the edge of the sea - tumbling, duney, sandy, covered by beach grasses. When the light hits it, and the breeze sweeps over it, you get every shade of green and brown, and always in the distance, is the water. The land was long considered worthless, except to shepherds and their sheep and the rabbits, and to the early golfers. You see, the game comes out of the ocean, just like man himself! Investigate our linksland, get to know it. I think you’ll find it worthwhile....
The above is almost an exact quote from Michael Bamberger in his book To the Linksland: A Golfing Adventure, another title on the required reading list before we depart for Scotland.


Links – traditionally linksland, is coastal ground with unproductive soil. Therefore linksland is not used for agriculture, so it separates the farm fields from the sandy beaches and is said to link land and sea. Water moves readily through the porous, permeable, sandy soil producing the characteristic dry, firm turf. The indigenous grasses are a blend of fescues that many say forms the perfect surface on which to play the game of golf.

It’s common in the States to refer to any golf course, or at best a treeless course as golf links, but unless the course found on windswept coastal land with grass covered sand dunes, characterized by dry, firm, turf it's a misnomer. Most Americans are totally unfamiliar with links golf, and that’s exactly why we are headed to Scotland.

Linksland has no trees, so you are subjected to the full force of the wind that can easily blow 30 mph. In addition to the wind, bunkers, gorse, grass and burns are the only hazards, but they're plenty enough.

Because the turf is firm and uneven, expect bad bounces when you play links golf, but expect good ones as well. Golf on the links involves chance. Embrace links golf and realize that neither golf nor life is fair, just get on with it and embrace the challenge!

DLux of Maine

1 comment:

  1. It seems that Americans--albeit with the the purest of intentions--have had a long history of taking very romantic ideas from far away lands and adopting them as their own.

    While a links course in the American inland and a traditional links course in Scotland are both technically “golf courses” a close look will no doubt quickly confirm that the two are about as different as they can be while still share the same name.

    Much the same way that drinking AndrĂ© “Champagne” provokes only a shadow of the experience of sipping a single vintage Cuvee on the chalky slopes of the Champagne region in Northern France...

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