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29.02 Links-baner Av: Brian Phillips

Asbjørn,

I thought I would write a short reply to Reidar who asked about the definition of Links golf courses and the the definition of it.

14,000 - 10,000 years ago much of the land in Scotland was covered or depressed by the weight of the last ice sheet. Much of the frozen seas in the areas such as the Firths of Moray, Tay, Forth and Clyde all stood some 50-120 feet above the present sea level.

The ice sheets started to melt and dissappear from the highest elevations revealing the hills and canyons as they are today in Scotland. As the Ice melted around 8,500 years ago the sea level started to rise. This increase in sea levels was so great that it overtook the still rising land along the coastline of Scotland.

The sea level reached a maximum around 6,500 years ago until it started to retreat to it's present level. The rise in sea level followed by the subsequent fall to present levels, had a profound effect on the character of much of Scotland's coastline and on the provision of land subsequently used for golf courses. During this high level of the sea, marine clay deposits were left in the estruaries. When the sea level later fell these marine clays were exposed to form extensive flat lands which now border the present shores of the Scottish estuaries.

On more exposed coasts the high stand of the sea cut new cliff lines and deposited raised beaches of sand and gravel. As the sea retreated from this old coastline (a process that began some 6500 years ago) large sandy beaches (the technical name in English is strands!!) were exposed. These intertidal sands became the source of vast quantities of sediment which could be picked up and transported by the wind to a new location further inland. The windblown sand was then then spead across older raised platforms or raised beaches and frequently shaped into dune systems. One of Scotland's most distinctive golfing enviroments - the links - was therefore a product of changing sea levels which were in turn brought about by a period of glaciation.

Blown sand in the form of coastal dunes and 'links' occupy about 300 miles of Scotland's coastline. The total length of Scotland's coastline is about 7,500 miles, so the links only occuy four per cent!!

Scottish linksland occupies a realtively narrow zone along the coast. 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 30 feet high, and on average, blown sand rarely occurs higher than 75 feet above present sea level.

If you look at a soil map of Scotland which shows linksland you will notice all the great golf courses such as Turnberry, Royal Dornoch, The Old course etc are all on what is called linksland. Linksland is basically sand that was left behind by the retreating ice age and seas and then was blown by the winds to form linksland and dunes that we are so familiar with in Scotland.

The term 'links' golf course comes from the fact that golf was first played on these areas called 'links'. Linksland is unique and is not found in many other places around the world. If a golf course near the sea is played on fertile argicutural land then it should not be classed as a links golf course. Even in America that has a large coastline does not have what is correctly termed as linksland or links golf courses.

One of the reasons the 'linksland' became available to the local people of Scotland to play golf on is because it a low quality agricutural land so no rich land owners wanted to buy it or use it. It drains far too well for it to be useful for farming! That is why many of the Scottish links courses are played on public property. The Old course in St.Andrews closes every Sunday so the public can walk the land. One of the greatest mistakes made in golf course construction is that farmers insist that their piece of land drains well, and it probably does for agricutural use. However, the drainage used in agricutural work around the world and especially in Norway is not worth very much, as it doesn't drain fast enough for a golf course. You can never drain a golf course too much if you have good irrigation installed.

Miklagaard was one of the first golf courses in Norway to use catch basins for drainage. This is the best method of surface drainage for a golf course as it removes the rain water from the surface and does not rely on ground drainage 80 cm below the ground. The ground is shaped to these catch basins and runs off into the drain instead of soaking the soil first and then dripping into the subsurface drainage left behind by the farmer, this can take many hours.

One other important relationship with 'linksland' is the USGA green. If you analyse the sand from a USGA green and test the particle size of the grains it is remarkbly similar to the linksland sand of Scotland!! A USGA green drains fast enough to remove surface water but still retains moisture in the profile to feed the grass with water exactly like the sand found on the great courses of Scotland.

I hope this helps.

Brian Phillips

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