Your First Hole of Links Golf

[Brent Hutto]

OK, a little poll. Think back to the first time you played links golf. We'll accept your definition of "links", whatever you think qualifies. Describe the course, the hole, the occasion and who you were playing with. Did you immediately like it?

I'll go first.

Littlestone Golf Club, first tee right under the clubhouse windows, morning of Friday June 16, 2006 with my host Craig Disher. I was pretty sure walking down the first fairway that I liked links golf. By the time I played my second shot on the next hole I was absolutely positive that I loved it.

A clear sky, a slight breeze, skylarks chattering, firm tight fairways and true running greens. What's not to love?

[Tom Dunne]

I started out with a snap hook OB on the first tee of the Old Course (I'm a lefty). I was absolutely quaking in my boots--to find a little gallery of spectators milling around despite it being about 7 AM was way too much for me to handle.

Having played about 15 or so more links courses since then, I have to say I wish I hadn't played TOC first. I felt like I was a third grader being asked for a book review of "Gravity's Rainbow". TOC is so inscrutable to the first-timer, and if you have no experience hitting shots off super-tight lies or dealing with the countless other ins and outs that make links golf so great, you just don't get as much out of it.

I remember the round really well, of course. Played a fourball with my host, his son and the teenage captain of the Eton golf team. The young Etonian shot even-par on the front and I'm pretty sure we'd lost the match by the time we reached the Long hole. I also happened to play the entire round without once entering a bunker-- I almost feel like I can't even say I played TOC because of this!

I'd love to get back there, of course. Any round on TOC is worth savoring, but I honestly had no idea what I was getting into (how can you, really?) and with all of the ghosts, the aura of the place, I pretty much had my head in the clouds all morning.

[Phil McDade]

A pulled drive onto the beach on the 1st hole of Shiskine at Blackwaterfoot, on the island of Arran. Maybe what did me in  was the 8-hour flight from Chicago to Glasgow, followed by the drive down to the Ayrshire coast (on the wrong side of the road!) to catch the ferry to Arran, and then the drive round half the island to get to the course. Or maybe I was just anxious for my first taste of links golf. Anyway, the course was a wonderful introduction to links golf, the opening shot notwithstanding. A course full of quirk and fun, and terrific views.

[Larry_Keltto]

Cool question. My first was the first hole at Pyle and Kenfig in Wales. I was playing with a Welsh pro who grew up at P&K, a real treat.

Anyway, we had the first tee time of the morning, because we were playing Porthcawl in the afternoon (yes, very sweet). The June day was warm, sunny, breezy. We showed up and I learned we'd be going out in front of a weekly men's league -- older guys who, I was told, "like to play fast."

The first hole is uphill, with random bunkers, if memory serves. I wasn't nervous, but gosh my heart was racing because I was so excited. I pulled my drive, narrowly missing a nasty bunker on the left. I remember that I made par, but I can't recall the details.

One other thing I remember about that first hole was the gorse -- it was the first time I'd seen it, and I was amazed.

That men's league played really fast, and we were determined not to be passed. I think we finished in about 2:30 -- way too fast to savor the occasion. But the Porthcawl round was much more leisurely, and it ended with a Pimm's on the veranda. Man, what a day.

[ForkaB]

Turnberry, April 17 1978, straight off an overnight flight from San Francisco to Prestwick.  I felt like Neil Armstrong, taking his first step onto the moon.  It was love at first sight.  It changed my life.

[peter_p]

    My first hole was probably forty+ years ago and is the 2nd hole at Gearhart (OR) Golf Links. The first hole doesn't count, it is biliously green from over irrigation. I think the operator figured he needed it green so most people would decide to play.
    The second was a slight dogleg left where you needed to play to the wide side and the ridge to open up the green and avoid a deep bunker guarding the left side. It was great because your drive on #1 would go 200 and 260 on the 2nd.

[Chris Kane]

At this stage it looks like it could be Silloth-on-Solway in three weeks time.

[Ed Tilley]

At this stage it looks like it could be Silloth-on-Solway in three weeks time.

Chris - I've got some great pics of Silloth from my trip there last week (Windermere too). It really is an absolutely wonderful course and at £35 pounds for a day is unbelievable value. I'll post them very soon. The first hole is a cracker - blind approach to a green in a dell - heaven!

Ed

[Eric Franzen]

Played Kingsbarns in 2001, a couple of years after I picked up the game. I went there to host a fellow swedish guy who won a magazine competition for an all expenses trip to St Andrews. We were paired with two american guys (father and son) who were quite good players but insisted on kicking their balls out of the rough.

Hole no 1: snap hook with driver into the deep rough. Pushed the second drive way to the right but at least I had a ball in play.

After that it kind of klicked right away for me. Just loved the whole thing with the ground game.

Played TOC the next day. Five years later I've almost been back to Scotland on a yearly basis. Made it up to Dornoch earlier this year and had a couple of amazing days up there.

[Marty Bonnar]

Crikey, Brent,
this one had the old memory bank a-wheezin' and a-splutterin'!

Almost certainly the first Hole of Links Golf I ever SAW was TOC! I have VERY vague recollections of going to St A with my golf-daft Uncle as a side trip to a Leuchars Airshow. That would have to have been sometime in the late Sixties, so I would have been 7 or maybe 8. I think I recall the ice-cream more than the Golf Course!

The first true 'Links' Hole I actually played was probably as a young Stoodent at Uni in Dundee. That would have been Spring/Summer of 1979 (27 years ago! - surely not?) and would have been at Monifieth Golf Links (just outside Dundee). I remember playing with a good mate from Uni - 'Big Jack' Aitken - who is still a dear friend and a heckuva 9-h'capper!

Thanks for helping me dredge that one out of the deep, dark morass that is my brain. Great memories!

FBD.

[Tom Roewer]

It was a beautiful morning.  Had just been treated like royalty in the clubhouse.  Drove the 1st green @ Gullane 1 and made a 12 footer for eagle.  I thought taht was pretty cool until I walked onto the 3rd tee and saw the rest!!!!!!!

[plabatt]

Monday, Sept 30, 2002 at 10:30. First tee Crail Balcomie.  Clear sky with a breeze off the North Sea.  My wife's last words at DTW, "Peter do you have your sunglasses?"  "Hell no, I am going to Scotland, not Arizona!"

Is there a better first tee in Scotland?  You tee off on the top of a hill with International flags flapping in the wind and what seems like a drivable green laid out before you.  Topped the drive to the bottom of the hill, hit a 7-iron into the bunker in front of the green.  Entering the bunker, the whole world disappeared into a wall of sod.  So, this is links golf!  Two blows to get out sideways. Chip on and two putts. Seven.

Did I return, you bet!  May 2004.  Through GCA meeting Bill McBride and his brother in May 2004.

[Tom_Doak]

Mine was thirty years ago this week, when I was 15, playing with my mom, dad and brother on the Old Course at St. Andrews before my dad went to London on business.  I thought about that last week when I had my son with me in Scotland at the same age.

The Old Course was our first only because our game at Royal Troon had to be canceled because no one under 18 was allowed to play the Old course there.    But we did walk the course and I will always remember how wide-eyed my mom was about how rugged the course was.

[Andrew Mitchell]

It must have been North Berwick in the summer of 1985 - what an introduction! An opening par 4 with the beach hard right and a fairway which disappeared after about 200 yards! Then the climb to the green and the 2nd tee where another knee trembling drive awaited!  Loved links golf ever since!

[Kevin Pallier]

Brent,

This got me thinking - so I checked my records and my initial thought was right.....Royal Dornoch in June '99.

I feel goosbumps just thinking about it. I remember ringing up for a game the week before and they said "sure - you can tee-off at 6.30PM" I said are "you sure you don't mean 6.30AM ?" and he said no - "you'll have the course to yourself...you'll be fine". What little did I know then - hey I was from Australia, I had never hit off at that time before !!

I had obviously read up about the course and decided to get there a little earlier as I still didn't trust the pro-shop's information;) I'm glad I did as I was able to absorb the tranquil setting and ambience of the surrounds.

It was a nice day and had a "slight" breeze. The staff were very friendly and I went to the first tee full of high expectations right on 6PM

The starter wished me luck - the course was indeed empty - and I hit a nice little 3 iron down the left hand side of the fairway. My next shot was a little long over the green and I was then given my first test of the famed crowned Dornoch greens. I played a nice little flop wedge to a foot and sunk the putt for a par.

For the next 3+ hours I was spell-bound and couldn't wipe the smile off my face. I was addicted. Links golf is so "pure" and so cerebral and there's so many ways to play shots into the holes eg: #5 I took 1 iron but there's a number of clubs one could take off the tee. I took my time - taking photos as I went and had an up and down round. 3 birdies out and I thought what's the fuss all about ?

Needless to say I struggled home into the wind and hit driver and #3W  into #11 and was still short of the green !!

I look back now and am glad that Dornoch was the first links course I played - it remains one of the yard sticks with which to compare all the other courses I've played. I even called my friends back home and had to tell them of my experience.

Needless to say - I had to have another game the very next day before my trip to Brora.....

[Andrew Thomson]

At this stage it looks like it could be Silloth-on-Solway in three weeks time.

you wouldn't classify Barnbougle Dunes as Links golf?

As for me.  Old Course 1993 as a 12 year old.  I bunted it about 20 metres off the first tee with my persimmon "East Bros" 2 wood.

[Sean Walsh]

Thommo,

Forgive the oversight I think the boy is just a little excited about his trip..

My first hole of links golf would be the 3rd at Port Fairy.  A short par 4 with and elevated tee followed by a wonderfully rumpled uphill fairway.  My experience at Pot Fairy and Paul Daley's "Links Golf" cost me about $3,000AUD in green fees when I made it to europe in 2003.

[Jin Kim]

June of 1994, the Old Course at St. Andrews.  I found the hazard on the right side of the fairway.  Shot a 50-39.  That back nine was the first time I ever broke 40 and to do it at the Old was a treat.

[Geoffrey Childs]

July 1996

After an overnight flight to London and a hopper to Inverness, I met the rest of the group and drove up to Dornoch.

I was on the first tee at Royal Dornoch after checking into the Burghfield (?) Hotel and lunch.  A 3-wood and little pitch later and I knew that I found the real game.  My first birdie in Scotland came at the short par 3 tenth.

[JC Urbina]

September 1987.  I played golf at Prestwick golf links with Petes son Perry Dye.  He told me this is what links golf is all about and that I should copy as many features as I could when building courses for him and his dad.  I was not influenced by many modern day golf courses since I really didn't play prior to me visiting Scotland so to me this was the real deal.  I came back to the U.S ready to do real creative stuff only to be stifled by many influences during my next 4 years working for the Dye family.  Little did I realize it would take almost 13 years to be able to use what I had learned in concept from Prestwick and the links courses and apply it. Tom Doak has never stifled me and has allowed me to suggest some pretty bizarre stuff sometimes he looks at me weird but still allow me to make suggestions.  I have many more ideas cooking in my head all from my first visit to Prestwick and touring other links courses with Tom over the past 14 years.  They have a lot of dramitic features and some very subtle land forms that you would never think to create.  The genius of links golf

[Bob Jenkins]

In May of 1991 we arrived at Turnberry, checked in and looked down at the Ailsa course. My first impression was just like that you get from seeing links courses on TV, ie. flat and dull, what is all the fuss about?

It being after dinner time and exhausted following flights from western Canada, we walked down and onto 18, and I searched for the spot from which Jack Nicklaus hit his approach from the edge of the gorse (whins?) during the final round of the duel with Tom Watson. 18 is not a great hole, however and only once we wandered on and found the 5th hole, did it hit me. Huge dunes bordering each side of the fairway, firm, sandy turf. At that moment I realized that the dull appearance one gets from the TV (which seems to need trees, water and colour contrast to make a hole look interesting ) is so deceiving. There are so many contours to links golf, no need for trees, the wind, etc. I was in love with it from the moment I walked around the 5th of the Ailsa course.

Bob Jenkins

[Yannick Pilon]

August 2006.

First Hole of the Prestwick Golf Club, one of the best holes in the world....

All by myself, and wondering if I would be able to find my way around the course, not knowing exactly what to expect....

One thing is for sure.  The moment I saw a glimpse of the course I knew one thing:  This is the real thing!

After my round, I just confirmed it.  It was the real thing, and I loved every single minute of it.

[John Chilver-Stainer]

JC Urbina

What a great introduction to Links Golf – if images of Prestwick waft around your head as you are shaping you can’t go wrong.
It would be really interesting to know what other golf courses shook your universe.



On a  personal note my first Links experience was on the Isle of Arran in 1963 at Brodick Golf Club. As a wee boy I just remember the only Par 5 being endless but found hitting the ball over water 3 times (a burn twice and the sea) really cool. By the way the 18-Hole Course, Par 65, 4747 yds is quite fun as far as I remember.

[Travis Ripley]

In May of 1991 we arrived at Turnberry, checked in and looked down at the Ailsa course. My first impression was just like that you get from seeing links courses on TV, ie. flat and dull, what is all the fuss about?

It being after dinner time and exhausted following flights from western Canada, we walked down and onto 18, and I searched for the spot from which Jack Nicklaus hit his approach from the edge of the gorse (whins?) during the final round of the duel with Tom Watson. 18 is not a great hole, however and only once we wandered on and found the 5th hole, did it hit me. Huge dunes bordering each side of the fairway, firm, sandy turf. At that moment I realized that the dull appearance one gets from the TV (which seems to need trees, water and colour contrast to make a hole look interesting ) is so deceiving. There are so many contours to links golf, no need for trees, the wind, etc. I was in love with it from the moment I walked around the 5th of the Ailsa course.

Bob Jenkins

mine is a combo of this and Rich Goodale's.  walked off the all-night flight into Glasgow with a 1:00 o clock tee time at the Kintyre course.  wind was blowing about 40 mph...not in gusts, just straight 40.  sleptwalked through that round....was exhausted.  played with two wonderful older Irish gentlemen, from Ballybunion.  with my Dad, i might add.  his fourth or fifth trip over.  

the next AM in the mist at Ailsa.....decent teeball off number one in the left rough.  fan an 8 iron into the right front bunker.  and just stepping into the bunker i looked around and the dunes of the coming holes, the Ailsa Craig, the sea....and it washed over me....this is "it".  fell in love.   that night after dinner and a couple glasses of wine went down and walked most of the course as the sun went down....it was something i'll never forget.

i hit 5 or 6 shots that day that i remember standing over the ball thinking that in 20 years of playing i've NEVER even dreamed of practicing a shot like this....and i loved it.  

the absolute clincher was playing Western Gailes in a downpour that even the caddies seemed a little worried about.  my headcovers were still wet 4 days later.

 

[Bill Gayne]

Ballybunion Old on one of the worst weather days I've ever had an Ireland. The tee shot was fine and what followed especially around the greens I was not properly prepared for.