Interesting citations I found when researching the history of the term "links."

[Matt Schoolfield]

The first is from Robert Browning:


• Browning, Robert. A History of Golf: The Royal and Ancient Game. London : J.M. Dent & Sons, 1955, pp. 25.

A term that has given rise to a certain amount of controversy even in its native land is the word ‘links.’ There is a modern tendency to restrict this term to the natural seaside golf country among the sanddunes, and it is frequently suggested that the word has always been applied only to courses of this traditional type. But I can find no support for this contention. The noble expanse of turf on which the Royal Eastbourne course is laid out was known as ‘The Links’ long before anyone thought of playing golf over it, and it is high up on the downs. A similar stretch of down at Cambridge was long known as ‘The Links’ although nobody ever thought of playing golf there. Sir Walter Scott in Redgauntlet puts a definition into the mouth of the English Darsie Latimer:

‘I turned my steps towards the sea, or rather the Solway Firth, which here separates the two sister kingdoms, and which lay at about a mile’s distance, by a pleasant walk over sandy knolls, covered with short herbage, which you call links , and we English downs.’’ — Letter III.

I was able to identify and confirm both locations Browning cites here:

Eastbourne:

• Gowland, T. S. The Guide to Eastbourne and Its Environs. Sixth Edition. T. S Gowland, Eastbourne, 1863. Page 16. Available on Google Books, here.

Taking the road inland from the Holy Well, we pass through Meads, or Meads Street, a collection of cottages and farm - buildings of picturesque appearance, at the foot of the lofty hill. Here is Meads Lodge, the residence of R. M. Caldecott, Esq. From this spot the road commands a fine sea view. If we take the path in front of the farmhouse on our left, as we turn towards South Bourne on the right, and cross the field, we shall arrive at the Links - a wide undulation of soft green sward, across which is a pathway leading to Eastbourne Old Town.

and there is a map (max resolution here, smaller image below) in this book that apparently identifies the location, which is just the site of Royal Eastbourne:



Cambridge:

• Urban, Sylvanus. Gentleman’s Magazine. Volume 23. John Bowyer Nichols and Son, London, 1845. Pages 25-28. Available on Google Books, here.

IN the month of August 1842 I had the opportunity of making some notes, founded on personal inspection, of the structure of that very remarkable ancient military earthwork on Newmarket Heath, in Cambridgeshire, popularly called the Devil’s Dyke. As I am not aware that any particular survey of this strong and very extensive line of defense has been make, the report of my examination of it may not be unacceptable.

I surveyed it at a spot called The Links, where it remains very bold and perfect, about a quarter of a mile south of the turnpike gate, which stands where it is crossed by the high road from Newmarket to London and Cambridge.

and later:

I have hitherto omitted to mention, that I observed some fragments of Roman tile scattered near the dyke, and it appears to have been cut through in forming the present high road from Newmarket to Cambridge. That is some evidence for its very high antiquity. I recommend the explorator of this interesting fortification not to fail to visit the dyke at the Links, to descend into the foss, and obtain the view I have given of its course, ascending the rising grounds southward in the directions of Wood Ditton.

Included in this article,  there is also a map:

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The next citation I want to share is the full entry for "Links" from Jamieson's etymological dictionary from 1800:

• Jamieson, John, et al. An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language: To which is Prefixed, a Dissertation on the Origin of the Scottish Language. N.p., A. Gardner, 1880. p. 154. Available on Archive.org, here.

LINKS, s. pl.    1. The windings of a river, S.
   “Its numerous windings, called links, form a great number of beautiful peninsulas, which, being very luxuriant and fertile soil, give rise to the following old rhyme :
   “The lairdship of the bonny Links of Forth,
   Is better than an Earldom in the North.”
         Nimmo’s Stirlingshire, p. 439, 440.

2. The rich ground lying among the windings of a river, S.
Attune the lay that should adorn
   Ilk verse descriptive o’ the morn ;
Whan round Forth’s Links o’ waiving corn
   At peep o’ dawn,
Frae broomy knowe to whitening thorn
   He raptur’d ran.
      Macneill’s Poems, ii. 13.

3. The sandy flat ground on the sea-shore, covered with what is called bent-grass, furze, &c., S. This term, it has been observed, is nearly synon. with downs, E. In this sense we speak of the Links of Leith, of Montrose, &c.
‘‘Upoun the Palme Sonday Evin, the Frenche had thameselfis in battell array upoun the Links without Leyth, and had sent furth thair skirmishears.” Knox’s Hist., p. 223.
“In his [the Commissioner’s] entry, I think, at Leith, as much honour was done unto him as ever to a king in our country.—We were most conspicuous in our black cloaks, above five hundred on a braeside in the Links alone for his sight.” Baillie’s Lett., i. 61.
This passage, we may observe by the way, makes us acquainted with the costume of the clergy, at least when they attended the General Assembly, in the reign of Charles I. The etiquette of the time required that they should all have black cloaks.   
     “The island of Westray—contains, on the north and south-west sides of it, a great number of graves, scattered over two extensive plains, of that nature which are called links in Scotland.” Barry’s Orkney, p. 205. ‘Sandy, flat ground, generally near the sea,’ N. ibid.

4. The name has been transferred, but improperly, to the ground not contiguous to the sea, either because of its resemblance to the beach, as being sandy and barren ; or as being appropriate to similar use, S.
   Thus, part of the old Borough-muir of Edinburgh is called Bruntsfield Links. The most probable reason of the designation is, that it having been customary to play at golf on the Links of Leith, when the ground in the vicinity of Bruntsfield came to be used in the same way, it was in a like manner called Links.
   In the Poems ascribed to Rowley, linche is used in a sense which bears some affinity to this, being rendered by Chatterton, bank.

Thou limed ryver, on thie linche maie bleede
Champyons, whose bloude wylle wythe thie
watterres flowe.
Elin. and Jug., v. 37, p. 21.
This is evidently from A.-S. hlinc, agger limitaneus ; quandoque privatorum agros, quandoque paroecias, et alia loca dividens, finium instar. ‘‘A bank, wall, or causeway between land and land, between parish and parish, as a boundary distinguishing the one from the other, to this day in many places called a Linch ;” Somn.
According to the use of the A.-S. term, links might be q. the boundaries of the river. But, I apprehend, it is rather from Germ. lenk-en, flectere, vertere, as denoting the bendings or curvatures, whether of the water, or of the land contiguous to it.
Sir J. Sinclair derives links ‘‘from ling, an old English word, for down, heath, or common.” Observ., p. 194. But the term, as we have seen, is sometimes applied to the richest land.

The last is a map, titled Plan of the Environs of Edinburgh & Leith, probably from 1710 (more info in this PDF), about the same time as the Elegy on Maggy Johnston, which shows the Bruntsfield Links clearly demarcated:





That's it, just wanted to share these citations, as I think they are interesting enough and some of them challenge the common ideas we have on the history of the word.

[Adam Lawrence]

There's absolutely no doubt that, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the term 'links' was used to mean a golf course in general. BUT I think it is also pretty clear that this is because pretty much all the very early courses were on the 'links', and when the game first moved inland, the terms were essentially synonymous, and therefore adopted for inland ones too.

I haven't yet been able to work out when 'links' began to be restricted to courses that were on linksland. My guess is around 1910, but it is only a guess.

[John Kavanaugh]

From ChatGPT:

The author's point in presenting the various citations and discussions around the term "links" is to challenge the commonly held notion that it solely refers to seaside golf courses. Through Robert Browning's observations, alongside historical references from other texts, the author illustrates that "links" has been historically used to describe various types of landscapes, including inland areas, and is not confined to coastal regions. By providing examples from literature and etymological sources, the author aims to broaden the understanding of the term's usage and origin, highlighting its application to different geographical contexts and thereby enriching the discourse on the history of golf and its terminology.

[Matt Schoolfield]

There's absolutely no doubt that, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the term 'links' was used to mean a golf course in general. BUT I think it is also pretty clear that this is because pretty much all the very early courses were on the 'links', and when the game first moved inland, the terms were essentially synonymous, and therefore adopted for inland ones too.

I mean, this is the typical refrain, but I've yet to see actual evidence -- and I'm very open to that evidence -- to back it up.

It seems to me that the the myriad alternate definitions, and the Eastbourne and Cambridgeshire examples are problematic for this assertion. That the Bruntsfield Links is called "links" all the way back to when you start getting into middle english, with alternate letters and typefaces, is also troublesome. It seems entirely plausible that folks could have referred to the Bruntsfield Links as links unrelated to the golf, even if we don't know and it seems unlikely.

[David Kelly]

It seems entirely plausible that folks could have referred to the land as links unrelated to the golf, even if we don't know and it seems unlikely.

People did refer to land as links unrelated to golf for a couple of hundred years before links was associated with golf.  At least according to the Oxford English Dictionary.

link:

b. In plural (Scottish) Comparatively level or gently undulating sandy ground near the sea-shore, covered with turf, coarse grass, etc.
First citation - 1487

c.  In plural. The ground on which golf is played, often resembling that described in b. In modern usage sometimes treated as a singular.
First citation - 1728

[Matt Schoolfield]

It seems entirely plausible that folks could have referred to the land Bruntsfield Links as links unrelated to the golf, even if we don't know and it seems unlikely.

People did refer to land as links unrelated to golf for a couple of hundred years before links was associated with golf.  At least according to the Oxford English Dictionary.

link:

b. In plural (Scottish) Comparatively level or gently undulating sandy ground near the sea-shore, covered with turf, coarse grass, etc.
First citation - 1487

c.  In plural. The ground on which golf is played, often resembling that described in b. In modern usage sometimes treated as a singular.
First citation - 1728

I'm specifically referring to the Brunstfield Links in the pull quote you have. I've been able to find citations for links/linkes and even the Leith Links dating back to 1586, and the early 1500s in general (without even spending much time looking). I suspect that Oxford's citations will start creeping backward with the advent of computer vision becoming increasingly able to read through these old and obscure texts.

[Adam Lawrence]

I've certainly always wondered about Leith...

[Neil_Crafter]

Interesting stuff Matt.
Adam, here in Australia I have a number of references to golf courses being called "golf links" in the 1920s and 30s, and I expect for a few decades after that.
Many examples of the road to the local golf course being named Golf Links Road, still with that name today.

[Simon Barrington]

I've certainly always wondered about Leith...

[Niall C]

That's it, just wanted to share these citations, as I think they are interesting enough and some of them challenge the common ideas we have on the history of the word.

Matt


Out of interest, what are the common ideas that you refer to ?


Niall

[Simon Barrington]

From ChatGPT:

The author's point in presenting the various citations and discussions around the term "links" is to challenge the commonly held notion that it solely refers to seaside golf courses. Through Robert Browning's observations, alongside historical references from other texts, the author illustrates that "links" has been historically used to describe various types of landscapes, including inland areas, and is not confined to coastal regions. By providing examples from literature and etymological sources, the author aims to broaden the understanding of the term's usage and origin, highlighting its application to different geographical contexts and thereby enriching the discourse on the history of golf and its terminology.

Hello John

I'm afraid ChatGPT won't give us answers.

This output is merely a (concise) rephrasing/summary of the information in Matt's great detailed opening post.

AI has a strong recency bias, as well as a primary focus on what it has been asked to analyse.
There was nothing novel or insightful added, above what Matt wrote initially.

AI scrapes the internet but does not corroborate, weight, or chronologically order responses in itself.

Also, if "facts" are repeated often enough (regardless of voracity) they will feature heavily, as will most recent, and most of all self-inputted data. All of which can lead to incorrect, or non-value added output.

Over to the humans...we are not redundant...yet!

[Simon Barrington]

...
It seems to me that the the myriad alternate definitions, and the Eastbourne and Cambridgeshire examples are problematic for this assertion. That the Bruntsfield Links is called "links" all the way back to when you start getting into middle english, with alternate letters and typefaces, is also troublesome. It seems entirely plausible that folks could have referred to the Bruntsfield Links as links unrelated to the golf, even if we don't know and it seems unlikely.

Matt,

Hope this helps (Ref. Various Websites, Google Maps & General/Local Knowledge)

Cambridge (originally Grentebridge) was once a significant Port at the head of the Granta River (later renamed Cam), which flows out onto the extensive Fen ecosystem (1,500 sq miles in area) much of which lies below sea level, and runs out across Suffolk & Norfolk to "The Wash" estuary and thence the North Sea.

So it is quite possible that Newmarket was once a "link" between land & water-logged fen/marsh/sea, and therefore may not be problematic as it might seem from looking at modern maps (post the extensive agricultural drainage of the Fens which occured post 1630, but may have started on a smaller scale way back in Roman Times)


In terms of Eastbourne, "inland" is a generous (possibly convenient) description.
The 12th Green at REGC is less than 1-mile from Eastbourne Beach and the land between is now heavily developed thanks to the Victorians and Edwardians love of the healthier sea air (to escape the pollution post Industrial Revolution).
From the old map this area was a section of land (possibly mostly sand?) "linking" the Chalk Downland above to the Beach and Sea...

Added Edit - Notably - The original 9-hole course was laid out by Horace Hutchinson which I believe may be his only course design credit, and then the Club gave up the land for development (presumably the parcel between the current course and the sea) in 1890 for a new course.

Cheers

[Ryan Book]

Nothing to add to the history...just kudos to Matt for this work.

[Michael Morandi]

From ChatGPT:

The author's point in presenting the various citations and discussions around the term "links" is to challenge the commonly held notion that it solely refers to seaside golf courses. Through Robert Browning's observations, alongside historical references from other texts, the author illustrates that "links" has been historically used to describe various types of landscapes, including inland areas, and is not confined to coastal regions. By providing examples from literature and etymological sources, the author aims to broaden the understanding of the term's usage and origin, highlighting its application to different geographical contexts and thereby enriching the discourse on the history of golf and its terminology.

Hello John

I'm afraid ChatGPT won't give us answers.

This output is merely a (concise) rephrasing/summary of the information in Matt's great detailed opening post.

AI has a strong recency bias, as well as a primary focus on what it has been asked to analyse.
There was nothing novel or insightful added, above what Matt wrote initially.

AI scrapes the internet but does not corroborate, weight, or chronologically order responses in itself.

Also, if "facts" are repeated often enough (regardless of voracity) they will feature heavily, as will most recent, and most of all self-inputted data. All of which can lead to incorrect, or non-value added output.

Over to the humans...we are not redundant...yet!

Isn’t it possible that John fed Matt’s post into ChatGPT and it summarized the post’s content and arguments?

[Mark Pearce]

From ChatGPT:

The author's point in presenting the various citations and discussions around the term "links" is to challenge the commonly held notion that it solely refers to seaside golf courses. Through Robert Browning's observations, alongside historical references from other texts, the author illustrates that "links" has been historically used to describe various types of landscapes, including inland areas, and is not confined to coastal regions. By providing examples from literature and etymological sources, the author aims to broaden the understanding of the term's usage and origin, highlighting its application to different geographical contexts and thereby enriching the discourse on the history of golf and its terminology.

Hello John

I'm afraid ChatGPT won't give us answers.

This output is merely a (concise) rephrasing/summary of the information in Matt's great detailed opening post.

AI has a strong recency bias, as well as a primary focus on what it has been asked to analyse.
There was nothing novel or insightful added, above what Matt wrote initially.

AI scrapes the internet but does not corroborate, weight, or chronologically order responses in itself.

Also, if "facts" are repeated often enough (regardless of voracity) they will feature heavily, as will most recent, and most of all self-inputted data. All of which can lead to incorrect, or non-value added output.

Over to the humans...we are not redundant...yet!

I thought John's post was extremely funny.

[Charlie Goerges]

ChatGPT has a summarize function. It may have been that John needed/wanted some clarification and then thought others would benefit from it; and/or he's commenting on the length/style of Matt's post in a satirical way. Sorry for ruining the joke.


My own thought about it is whether or not the definition used to be more expansive than what many of us here now use is immaterial. Definitions of words can evolve. Now I'm happy to accept a more expansive meaning than I currently use, I'd just like to know what word I should use instead.

[Simon Barrington]

"Isn’t it possible that John fed Matt’s post into ChatGPT and it summarized the post’s content and arguments?"


Think so, I implied as much but perhaps I need to feed my own reply into ChatGPT so I can understand myself...

[Simon Barrington]

ChatGPT has a summarize function. It may have been that John needed/wanted some clarification and then thought others would benefit from it; and/or he's commenting on the length/style of Matt's post in a satirical way. Sorry for ruining the joke.

My own thought about it is whether or not the definition used to be more expansive than what many of us here now use is immaterial. Definitions of words can evolve. Now I'm happy to accept a more expansive meaning than I currently use, I'd just like to know what word I should use instead.

Sorry if I missed the "joke"...

[Simon Barrington]

"I thought John's post was extremely funny."

My bad for missing the joke...

Does that mean that ChatGPT has passed the Turing Test of us humans think its funny?

[Matt Schoolfield]

That's it, just wanted to share these citations, as I think they are interesting enough and some of them challenge the common ideas we have on the history of the word.

Out of interest, what are the common ideas that you refer to ?

The Jamieson citation was especially interest. Firstly, of the definitional meanings, the common meanings we use were definitions 3 and 4, level the primary definitions -- totally unknown to me -- as being the thrust of use (if we believe Jamieson). That the word primarily refers to fertile ground is pretty wild. Then on top of that, when we see that definition show up in the Cambridgeshire example (the example only found by a helpful person over at the /r/Cambridge subreddit), makes me think that it's possible that "links" was related to river systems, with the linksland we know to day as just the terminus of these systems, when these rivers dump the sand into the beaches.

Now, that does seem unlikely to me, but it seems possible, and if it were, it would explain why you have links show up everywhere at the start of the game, and not just on beaches. If the word was related to rivers more than beaches, and that could explain many of the early inland courses (by rivers) may be called links, granted this is extremely speculative.

What I find notable and interesting is the insistence on prescriptive language rules from Jamieson, when talking about things established literally 300+ years in the past with little written record. That would seem miraculous, especially when when we commonly see false language histories popping up all the time, even today; e.g., football vs soccer distinction, which is a wonderful history of how language changes, and people are very insistent about nonsense. My skepticism tends to perk up as the intensity of "that usage is wrong" grows (even if I realize the ridiculousness of skepticism when an authority specifically points to a meaning as incorrect).

The only reason why this was of interest to me, was that I was writing about what we mean by "links" and "links golf" and how it's less certain than some very serious people would have us believe, so I needed to run through the etymological arguments for the footnotes, even though they weren't directly relevant to what I was doing. I had this pile of interesting stuff, so I thought I'd share it with other intellectual golf nerds.

[John Kavanaugh]

I copy and pasted the entire original post, maps and all, into ChatGPT and it gave me back a summary that I could understand. It’s funny on many levels.

[Simon Barrington]

"I thought John's post was extremely funny."

My bad for missing the "joke"...

Does that mean that ChatGPT has passed the Turing Test if some us humans think its funny? (Not me BTW)

[Forrest Richardson]

links A seaside golf course constructed on a natural sandy landscape that has been shaped by the wind and receding tides (from the Old English “lincas”, meaning the plural of a ridge, a Scottish term to mean the undulating sandy ground near a shore ); also used more generally as a synonym for a “seaside golf course” or a golf course that is configured with nine holes extending outward and nine holes returning to the clubhouse; often incorrectly used to describe any golf course

[Craig Sweet]

I get asked all the time if "I've been hitting the links" and there is not a links land course in Montana....yet.

[John Chilver-Stainer]

 Dr. David Hamilton, historian for the R&A, has devoted the opening chapter of his book "Golf Scotland's Game" to describe "The Scottish links are  the  undulating sandy land close to the Scottish shoreline. Often close to the lowest point of rivers before they reach the sea, the glacial alluvium deposited by the rivers joined the sand of the bay to form broad fertile deposits. The prevailing off-shore wind and storms constantly blew sand inland, creating the uneven grassy land immediately behind the beach, known as the links."
 
 
He also goes on to explain that the "Links" were generally common land and so when the game of stick and ball/stone was banned from the church yard, the game then carried on to the common land and evolved from there.
 
 
 I'm wandering how much the word "Links" is also associated with the definition of common land.
 
 
 I'm sure Dr. Hamilton has extensive reference material, why not give him a buzz at www.davidhamiltonstandrews.com

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