When it comes to discussing what makes a golf course a true “links” course, much heat is generated, but alas, little light.
According to scottishgolfhistory.org, “a links golf course refers to the type of soil and terrain on which it is built. Only 17 per cent of the courses in Scotland are true links courses, though this includes most of the historic courses.”
The word links comes from the Scottish dialect via the Old English word hlinc, which referred to rising ridges of coastal sand dunes that were of little use for agriculture but good for grazing sheep and absolutely perfect for the obscure pastime of knocking a little ball around.
By any definition, the only true links golf course in Western Canada is Kings Links by the Sea on the western shores of Boundary Bay in Delta, just south of the Boundary Bay airport. Holes 4, 5 and 6 run right along the seafront, separated from the incoming tide by a local public trail.
Developed in the early 1990s, Kings Links by the Sea has been under the dedicated ownership of the Newell family for almost a decade. Brad Newell is an avid golfer and has a strong sense of the game’s history and traditions.
The family have invested significantly and improved on the original design, drainage and turf care to the point where Kings Links by the Sea is as good a test of your shot-making and imagination as you will find anywhere in the world.
Anywhere else, Kings Links would be regarded as one of the premier golf destinations available for public play. Yet with the embarrassment of riches available to local golfers and its relatively remote location, it is one course of many trying to attract local players.
Some golfers are put off by the lack of a clubhouse. That is about to change.
In about a month, Kings Links’ brand new 4,200-square-foot clubhouse will open to the public and provide golfers with a pre- and post-game experience heretofore unavailable. The views from the patio of the mountains that ring the Lower Mainland and the tidal flats of Boundary Bay promise to be spectacular, and I anticipate the experience inside the building will match the view.
I like a course that makes you think, and at 6,797 yards from the back tees, this is a course that gives you plenty to think about. If the wind is up, you have to calculate every shot to allow for both the velocity and direction of the breeze as well as your own natural hook or fade. With the rolling fairways and thick fescue on the verges, it rewards good shots and makes you pay if you stray.
It had been a number of years since I last played Kings Links and arranged to meet up with friends to see how it was coming along. The four of us were part of a group who made the trip to Scotland in 1999 to play St Andrews and Carnoustie. They had never played Kings Links before so I was interested to get their opinions.
One of the big differences between Kings Links and other local courses is the likelihood of having to play in a strong breeze or better. Our tee time was on Saturday, Aug. 29, the day of the big storm.
The morning began with a slow drizzle on the North Shore, but Delta gets significantly less rain than we do, and the closer we got to the course, the more it began to clear.
“Gee,” I said to my companion, Dan Rothenbush, “I wonder if the clearing skies means we are in for some wind?”
Well.
We were joined by friends David Hanley and Lance Olsen in the Kings Links parking lot and the wind was blowing at about 40 kilometres an hour. Swarms of small birds soared in the gale and the wind-whipped fescue whistled and flapped.
We opted, under the circumstances, to play from the white tees.
Holes one, two and three led us to the southeast, into the full force of the storm. I remembered the wind coming into play, but this seemed a little unusual. Tee shots that would normally go a good couple of hundred yards hung in the air, were pushed to the right and died well short.
The opening hole, a 389-yard par-4, was a slight dogleg left and it was all we could do to keep our shots from greedy clutches of the fescue. The force of the wind even came into play when putting and you had to calculate your stroke very carefully.
Holes four through six ran along the bay and by the time we hit the par-3 fourth tee, we were getting the hang of playing the wind. It was actually a lot of fun. We would each estimate how far left we would have to aim to make the fairway and our plans worked out reasonably well.
Hole 7, a 472-yard par-5, led back toward the clubhouse and the wind was blowing to the left from our backs. As most of us were slicers, it helped keep tee shots long and straight. We walked off the green with two pars and a pair of bogeys.
Number 8, a 308-yard par-4 took us back into the wind, but our confidence had grown and we all recorded bogeys, a very good result in the increasingly strong tempest.
The back half of the course began with the 355-yard par-4 10th hole. With the wind at our backs, tee shots were spectacular but putting was a real challenge. Carefully judged strokes with the wind kept running past the hole. Shots against the wind died well short.
One of the most delightful sights was a pair of revetted bunkers to the right of the landing area on the fairway on the 495-yard par-5 11th. It reminded me very much of The Spectacles, a pair of fairway bunkers on the 14th hole at Carnoustie in Scotland, and added to the real links feel of the course.
Scores reflected wind direction: number 12 into the wind, result misery. Number 13 with the wind, result happiness.
Revetted bunkers made another appearance guarding the 14th green. By the time we were on the 14th fairway, rain was added to the elements and just carrying on was the biggest challenge.
The final three holes, the par 421-yard par-4 16th, the 327-yard par-4 17th and the 375-yard par-4 18th are ranked first, third and fifth most difficult on the course and would present a significant challenge in mild weather.
That day, we managed to hold our own, but we left anxious to return when the weather was in a better humour and the clubhouse was open.
We get spoiled in British Columbia. Most public courses have to be in superb condition to attract paying customers, and most are, but layouts are similar and variety is generally a function of topography: mountain golf or parkland golf.
To play links golf, real links golf, is almost another sport entirely. The wind, the fescue, the rolling dune land are unlike anything else you can experience. It gives you insight into the heartbreak and triumph experienced by the best golfers in the world when they play courses like St Andrews, Carnoustie and now Chambers Bay in Washington state.
People pay thousands of dollars to visit the United Kingdom and plan years in advance to play what we have in a quiet corner of Delta. Take advantage of it while you can. Once the clubhouse opens, its popularity will go nowhere but up.
