Links golf courses are some of the most popular in the world and if you have ever watched the Open Championship, you will have seen links golf at its finest.
However, playing a links golf course, such as the Old Course at St Andrews or the Championship Course Carnoustie, which will host the 2018 Open, is a different challenge to parkland style courses.
Today, we are going to share with you three shots you must know on the links if you are to play well, starting with the drive.
You must keep the ball on the fairway when playing links golf, especially off the tee. The fescue grass and gorse bushes may add to the splendour of the course but they are not very enjoyable to play from. Playing balls from fescue grass leaves a lot of uncertainty and even if you can see a lot of the ball, the results are rarely as planned.
So, to give yourself the best chance of finding the fairway off the tee, try teeing the ball low and grip down on the driver. Make a shorter swing if it helps you keep control of the shot and always keep the clubhead low on the follow through. The main reason for doing this is to prevent the ball from travelling high in the air, where it is most likely to be caught in the wind.
Thanks to the firm fairway on links courses, your ball will roll quite far on the ground, so it does not need to be in the air for very long to achieve a good drive.
The second shot you must know on the links is the bump and run. Much the same as with the drive, the more often you can play the ball along the ground close to the green, the better.
The best approach shot to the green is to get the ball rolling along the ground towards the hole. Try using lower lofted clubs such as a 7 and 8 iron when practicing the bump and run as they will naturally give your shot less loft. The more you practice with them the better you will become at judging the distance you can hit the ball with each club.
The final shot you must know when playing links golf is split into two and involves playing from the bunker.
Some the bunker walls on links courses are huge and you will need to play a high shot to escape. Open the club face a lot and try to contact the sand before the ball to achieve the loft required to get the ball out of a deep bunker.
The second type of bunker shot you will need to play is the medicine shot. In other words, you must be prepared to play away from the target if necessary to escape some bunkers. It seems a painful way to play but it is better than attempting the impossible and dropping several shots before accepting you need to play away from the green to escape.
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