[Garland Bayley]

My wife expressed an interest in the lake district of England, so I got on Google Earth to examine the coast line.
First discovery is Seascale, which Peper and Campbell list as a links.
Further examination finds Silecroft, Furness, Morecambe, Heysham, and Knott End all touching the beach are not listed as links. The first links south of Seascale are Fleetwood and Royal Lytham and St. Annes.
Heading north I find St. Bees, Mayport, and Blitherlees before Siloth on Solway.

Is anyone familiar with why Silecroft, Furness, Morecambe, Heysham, Knott End, St. Bees, Mayport, and Blitherlees would not be classified as links?

When I first looked I missed the entry for Fleetwood in the book, and I missed Siloth on Solway on Google Earth as it shares a boundary with Blitherlees on Google Earth, so I thought there was a larger linksless area even though there were all these courses touching the beach, which Royal Lytham and St. Annes doesn't do. Are any of these an oversight of Peper and Campbell?

[Clyde Johnson]

They missed two, by my reckoning...from North to South:

Maryport - has about 6 links links holes on the seaside of the Silloth road; they added 9 rank holes at some point.

St Bees - pastoral 9 holer, above the beach/water; belongs to the private school.

Silecroft - as above (minus the school ownership.)

Dunnerholme - 10 hole links, first time around you play onto a rocky promontory for a par-three and then a short-four with a green hiding beyond a limestone wall and amongst the marshes...something a little different!

Furness - Exposed links, back and forth, stepping closer towards the Irish Sea.  (3rd Oldest in the country.)

Morecambe - hemmed between the west coast mainline and promenade; MacKenzie influenced parkland.

Heysham -   (Not-descript parkland, by all accounts.)

Knott End - Sub-6000 yard, early holes follow the River Wyre; gently rolling parkland.

[Garland Bayley]

Thanks Clyde,

Dunnerholme is not marked by the usual boundary on Google Earth, so I overlooked that one.
The Furness name comes up from time to time, so I wondered why the notoriety if it was not a links.

I assume these two meet all of Peper and Campbell criteria for a links, sea, undulation, sand, fescue and bents, fine textured tight turf.

[Garland Bayley]

Is Blitherlees simply a name for one end of the links at Siloth?

[Garland Bayley]

Sounds to me like if they were going to call the Riverside course at Portstewart a links, they should also call Maryport one from Clyde's description.

[Duncan Cheslett]

Sounds to me like if they were going to call the Riverside course at Portstewart a links, they should also call Maryport one from Clyde's description.

I've not played Maryport but I stopped and had a look from the road while passing a couple of years ago. What I could see certainly looked like a links course to me.  I believe that what was a decent 9-hole links course has been spoiled by the addition of 9 holes in an adjacent farmers' field. This is far from unusual, and only goes to show how special true links turf and soil is. Even in coastal areas it is a rare commodity.




Why only one links near the Lake District?


Because the coast is largely rocky and is not blessed with long stretches of classic linksland. Additionally, the area is remote from large areas of population so the demand just wasn't there in the late 19th century to develop more golf courses on the pockets of linksland that do exist.


However, with courses as good as Seascale and especially Silloth on the doorstep I would say that The Lakes is pretty well served by links golf.


Don't ignore the inland delights of Windermere, Ulverston, Carlisle, Brampton, and Penrith either.

[Duncan Cheslett]

How about this though, for a site for a golf course?  Just near Ravenglas...


 

[Thomas Dai]

Not sure how many, if any, links are included here but once-upon-a-time there were other courses - see -http://www.golfsmissinglinks.co.uk/index.php/england/north-west/cumbria
atb

[Garland Bayley]

It looks like candidates for missing links that may have been links are St. Bees, which was about a mile south of the current course on the coast. Seems that when the school built their course, they let the townspeople join. I suppose that may have let the original course die.

The other missing links that may have been a links is at Siddick. Google Earth shows windmills on the old site. The Google Earth image also shows a dressage meet happening on the site, with what appears to be old bunkers off to the side of where the meet is being held. It seems the site may not have met the undulation criteria if they hold dressage there.
 

[Garland Bayley]

Nice find Duncan,

Someone should tell Mike Keiser.

How about this though, for a site for a golf course?  Just near Ravenglas...


 

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