JP:
Some people insist that linksland has to be closer to sea level than it is at Bandon, where the courses are 100-175 feet above sea level. However, the real expert on the subject, the Scottish geologist Robert Price, had this to say in his book:
"Since the source of the sand is the adjoining beach and the mode of transport is on-shore winds, the distance the sand extends inland is not great. It tends to accumulate in dune ridges which are usually 10 to 30 feet high, and, on average, blown sand rarely occurs higher than 75 feet above present sea level. There are limited cases, however, where blown sand occurs between 200 and 300 feet above sea level."
I think that would qualify the courses at Bandon as true links, or at least, as much as the courses at Gullane or Pennard are considered links -- and most people in the UK call those courses links, until you start using them to justify the membership of an American course in the same club. Price himself says of Gullane that "the hill has a covering of blown sand up to about 120 feet above sea level and large parts of the three courses have been laid out on the links land."
There is also a definition of linksland used by some people that the land was shaped by the receding seas, but I believe this is an inaccurate description. If it WAS accurate, then Ballyneal and Sand Hills would claim to be true links, because there was a great inland sea in that part of the U.S. eons ago, which resulted in the sand deposit there today.