Playing Links Golf—Tips On Strategy, Setup And Shotmaking

If you’re planning a trip to any authentic links course, here’s what you need to know. Because the golfer who tries to play links golf the same way they play their home course is going to have a very long, very frustrating day

The wind isn’t your enemy. Your Ball Flight Is

One of the elements that makes links golf confounding is trying to hit your standard high, floating ball flight that works on your home course into a 25-mph crosswind. Or down wind. Or up wind.

You need to learn the knockdown shot before you arrive. Take one or two clubs more than normal, grip down an inch, put the ball back in your stance and make a three-quarter swing with an abbreviated follow-through. The goal is a ball that flies low, penetrates the wind and releases forward when it lands.

Practice this at home. Hit 50 knockdown 7-irons on the range until it feels comfortable. On a links course, this is your new stock shot. The golfer who can flight the ball low owns the links. The one who can’t will lose a dozen balls to gorse bushes and tall grass.

Forget target golf. Play to zones

At your home course, you probably aim at flags. You think in terms of precise yardages and landing spots. Links golf doesn’t work that way.

The greens are massive, contoured and usually very firm. The fairways may be twice as wide as you’re used to but there are contours that funnel balls into terrible spots. You can’t fly it to a number and expect it to stop. The ball is going to bounce and roll maybe 50 or more yards after it lands.

Instead of aiming at the pin, aim at zones. Where’s the widest part of the fairway? What side of the green gives me the easiest two-putt? If I miss, where’s the miss that still leaves me a chance?

Links golf rewards strategic thinking over precise execution. The golfer who plays conservatively to the fat part of every green will shoot better than the one firing at tucked pins all day.

Embrace the ground game

On links courses, the turf around the greens is mowed tight. There’s no thick rough to worry about. That means when you’re 40, 60 or even more yards from the green, you can take a 7-iron or 8-iron, land the ball well short and let it release up onto the putting surface.

This is golf the way it was played for hundreds of years before modern agronomy made soft greens possible. And honestly? It’s way easier than trying to hit a high lob wedge into the wind.

Get comfortable hitting these running shots before your trip. Go to the chipping green, grab a mid-iron and practice landing the ball on the fringe and letting it roll out. You’ll use this shot a dozen times per round and it will save you strokes.

Your putter is your best friend

On a links course, you’ll putt from off the green more than you ever have in your life. Thirty feet off the green on a tight fairway? Putter. Fringe, fairway, even some light rough? Putter.

The ground game applies to everything and your putter is the most reliable club for keeping the ball low and controlling distance.

When in doubt, putt it. You’ll be shocked at how often this works.

Final thought

Links golf isn’t harder than “regular” golf. It’s just different. The golfer who accepts that, adjusts their strategy and leaves their ego in the clubhouse will have the round of their life.

Stop trying to overpower it. Play smart, stay below the wind and embrace the ground game. Learn to love the links.