Links (golf)

Links land is typically characterised by dunes, an undulating surface, and a sandy soil unsuitable for arable farming, but which readily supports various indigenous browntop bent and red fescue grasses.

This reflects both the nature of the scenery where the sport originated and the limited resources available to golf course architects at that time.

[citation needed] On the other hand, some courses located hundreds of miles from a seacoast, such as Whistling Straits, near Kohler, Wisconsin, on the Great Lakes, can have all of the characteristics of a seaside links except for proximity to saltwater.

The first exception to this was the 2004 PGA Championship, which was played on a links-style course, Whistling Straits, located near Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

The challenges links traits present fall into two categories: topography, which tends to be characterised by uneven fairways, thick rough, and small, deep "pot bunkers"; and climatic, dominated by windy conditions created by their coastal location and lack of trees, and frequent intermittent rain squalls.

As many traditional links courses consist of an "outward" nine in one direction along the coast, and an opposite "inward" nine returning, players often have to cope with contrasting wind patterns in each half of their round.