Types of Courses - Links, Country Club, etc.

[tbarlow11]

So maybe I'm a newbie with this, but I've heard all sorts of names for the types of golf courses. Links, Parkland, Country Club, and so on...

 

I was thinking we could maybe establish a list for fellow WRXers like myself who have no clue what they all mean. (obviously I know the general idea of a links course haha).

 

So feel free to chime in different course types and their descriptions! Thanks guys!

 

 

[6thFairway]

Country club is not a type of course.

I can think of:
Links
Parkland
Mountain
Desert

They seem pretty self-explanatory, except true Links golf is played on land reclaimed from the sea, and lots of courses pretend to be links when they really aren't.

Hmmmm, anybody think of other types?

[FLOGMR]

Links is not actually reclaimed land ....It originally was the unusable land that is along the shore that "Links" the sea and the farm land. In days gone by that was the only land available for golf courses in the UK....farm land and forest lands were too valuable to the economy of the times.

There are very few true links courses anywhere but the name abounds at every turn....there is a course that claims to be a Links in Canada that is about 300 miles from the ocean.....I don't think that qualifies

Don't forget Pasture golf..... I think the names kinda says it all. [color=#0000ff][i][b]http://www.pasturegolf.com/[/b][/i][/color]

[henricogolfer]

I would classify my club as woodland or tree lined, not sure if that is a term, but it is tight. I have also heard of ocean and lake courses, usually means bring a lot of balls.

[DaveLeeNC]

I would add 'target golf' courses to the list. These are most commonly found in Florida, lots of water, and typically small landing areas off the tee and not much open ground around the greens. These courses are often shorter than 'normal' (whatever 'normal' is).

dave

[ruascott]

Florida courses......includes almost every type of course there and several other nearby states. Mainly water dug out on every hole, otherwise it would be marsh land.

[jli2636]

Dog Track

And a country club is a type of course, its just not a style of a golf course. Types of courses include Country club, semi private, public, muni, resort, etc. Styles of courses include Links, Parkland, Desert, Mountain, etc. Thats just my 2 cents though lol

[tbarlow11]

Jli2636 is right.

I guess I should've used the word style, rather than the word type!

[oneunderbogey]

Types:

[b]Country Club, Equity Membership:[/b] Fully private. You buy in with some inanition fee and you get stock in the club, when you quit the club you can sell your stock or sometimes transfer to a family member or another person rules vary by club. You also generally pay some monthly payments and there may be assessments for capital projects. Club is owned by the members.

[b]Country Club Non-Equity:[/b] Fully private. May or may not have an inanition fee. Some sort of monthly payments as well. Members do not own the club and generally memberships are non-transferable.

[b]Semi Private[/b]: A course which has memberships but also allows public play. They may have rules about when the public can or cannot play they, may not.

[b]Public:[/b] Anyone can play at any time. Make a tee time pay the green fee.

[b]Muni:[/b] A public course owned by the city or state. Ranges from goat farms to Bethpage Black

[b]Resort: [/b]A course owned by a resort, you may have to stay at the resort in order to play, or to get a good tee time. Expect 5 hour rounds and carts required.



Style (note courses may be a combination of styles):

[b]Links [/b]“It originally was the unusable land that is along the shore that "Links" the sea and the farm land. In days gone by that was the only land available for golf courses in the UK....farm land and forest lands were too valuable to the economy of the times.” – FLOGMR

[b]Parkland: [/b]Inland course usually has some trees lining holes but not as many as a woodland course. Usually just a single line of tree between holes. Man made pond or two is frequent on these courses.

[b]Ocean: [/b] A course along the ocean, may be links style but it is possible to be ocean but not links.

[b]Mountain: [/b] A course built into the mountain, frequent style for resort courses.

[b]Woodland: [/b]A course cut into the woods, trees everywhere differs from parkland in that when you miss a tee shot you end up truly in the woods, not on another fairway with a line of trees in the way.

[b]Lake aka Florida Style: [/b] Courses where it seems like every hole has water on it.

[b]River: [/b] Course that runs along a river.

[b]Heathland:[/b] essentially wide open layouts, like links, but inland off the sea - MikeMcM

[b]Target Golf: [/b]Usually a negative term to describe a short course which forces irons off the tee by having lots of hazards and severe dog legs. Also they frequently have small greens.

[b] Goat Farm: [/b] A run down course where it is hard to tell fairways from rough becuase the course is in such bad shape.

[tbarlow11]

[quote name='oneunderbogey' timestamp='1341492981' post='5219988']
Types:

[b]Country Club, Equity Membership:[/b] Fully private. You buy in with some inanition fee and you get stock in the club, when you quit the club you can sell your stock or sometimes transfer to a family member or another person rules vary by club. You also generally pay some monthly payments and there may be assessments for capital projects. Club is owned by the members.

[b]Country Club Non-Equity:[/b] Fully private. May or may not have an inanition fee. Some sort of monthly payments as well. Members do not own the club and generally memberships are non-transferable.

[b]Semi Private[/b]: A course which has memberships but also allows public play. They have rules about when the public can or cannot play they may not.

[b]Public:[/b] Anyone can play at any time. Make a tee time pay the green fee.

[b]Muni:[/b] A public course owned by the city or state. Ranges from goat farms to Bethpage Black

[b]Resort: [/b]A course owned by a resort, you may have to stay at the resort in order to play, or to get a good tee time. Expect 5 hour rounds and carts required.



Style (note courses may be a combination of styles):

[b]Links [/b]“It originally was the unusable land that is along the shore that "Links" the sea and the farm land. In days gone by that was the only land available for golf courses in the UK....farm land and forest lands were too valuable to the economy of the times.” – FLOGMR

[b]Parkland: [/b]Inland course usually has some trees lining holes but not as many as a woodland course. Usually just a single line of tree between holes. Man made pond or two is frequent on these courses.

[b]Ocean: [/b]A course along the ocean, may be links style but it is possible to be ocean but not links.

[b]Mountain: [/b]A course built into the mountain, frequent style for resort courses.

[b]Woodland: [/b]A course cut into the woods, trees everywhere differs from parkland in that when you miss a tee shot you end up truly in the woods, not on another fairway with a line of trees in the way.

[b]Lake aka Florida Style: [/b]Courses where it seems like every hole has water on it.

[b]River: [/b]Course that runs along a river.

[b]Target Golf: [/b]Usually a negative term to describe a short course which forces irons off the tee by having lots of hazards and severe dog legs. Also they frequently have small greens.

Goat Farm: A run down course where it is hard to tell fairways from rough becuase the course is in such bad shape.
[/quote]

+1 Great Post - Exactly what I was looking for!

Definitely like this list and the point you mentioned that course can fall under more than one style.

I think I've played courses of each of these types which is pretty cool. Also, someone made a comment about "true" links courses and the frequency of "fake" links courses. Sure maybe golf courses aren't "true" links courses where they link farmland and the sea, but I think courses should still be considered links style if they have all of the features of a links course, minimal trees, large deep bunkers, fescue, lots of wind, etc.

[MikeMcM]

You might also consider adding Heathland, which are essentially wide open layouts, like links, but inland off the sea

[teejaywhy]

[quote name='tbarlow11' timestamp='1341510801' post='5221600']
Also, someone made a comment about "true" links courses and the frequency of "fake" links courses. Sure maybe golf courses aren't "true" links courses where they link farmland and the sea, but I think courses should still be considered links style if they have all of the features of a links course, minimal trees, large deep bunkers, fescue, lots of wind, etc.
[/quote]

Some other important features of links courses would relate to conditioning (firm/fast) and design (use of natural features; options that encourage the ground game).

Indeed, the term "links" is mostly overused, however there are courses that can be justifiably be considered links yet are many miles from any ocean. Sand Hills for example, set a precedent for modern golf with its location and throwback style and perhaps created the beginning of a paradigm shift in the way we look at course design.

I am encouraged by the (hopefully) resurgent growth of "links type" golf. So much of modern golf design has been focused on style over substance where the goal is to use a primarily visual aesthetic to sell real estate or hotel rooms, and a high slope rating is a desired sales pitch. It is refreshing to find golf design that focuses on the actual game of golf.