Links Golf History
A history of links golf
Would you ever think that only for rabbits we wouldn’t have links like Tralee and the other one hundred and fifty-nine true links in existence today? They (links) are precious in the extreme. “Links” derives from the Old English hlinc, meaning lean. It was known a thousand years ago as comparative level ground or undulating sandy ground near a seashore, covered with turf and coarse grass. Such land was called hlinces in a land charter of 931. What sets links apart from the lush inland variety of courses is the unmistakable desolate (or lean) appearance throughout the terrain.
How links were formed
When the sea gradually receded, leaving sandy wastes in bold ridges, furrows and channels, the channels left by the sea dried out. As time went on, by the action of the winds, these were formed into dunes, ridges and knolls, gullies and hollows of various height, width and depth. In the course of nature, these channel-threaded wastes became the resting, nesting and breeding places for birds; this meant manure which, with silt brought down by ancient streams and rivers, formed a base for the vegetation that then came from seeds germinated by the birds’ droppings. The whole of these areas became grass-covered – from the coarse marram on the exposed dunes, ridges and hillocks and the finer bents and fiscues in the sheltered dunes, gullies and hollows, to meadow grasses at the mouths of streams and rivers. Out of the spreading and intermingling of all these grasses which followed was established the thick, close-growing, hard-wearing sward that is such a unique feature of true links turf wherever it is found. Heather, whins, broom and trees then took root and flourished. But the rabbits can be thanked for the next phase.
They linked up by runs and burrows in the dunes and ridges with their feeding and frolicking grounds in the sheltered oases, flanked and backed by whins and broom. The runs were then gradually formed into tracks. The foxes and man, the hunter, in his turn, widened the tracks and the paths. Generations later these warrens provided for the fundamental and traditional characteristics of today’s golfing terrain. The sheltered enclaves, used by the rabbits for their feeding halls and dancing floors, presented the obvious sites for greens.
In the 18th century the area that is now Tralee’s golf course was referred to as “the warren of Barrow.” The Tralee Golf Club environs are home to a plethora of bird life – herons, whooper swans, brent geese, curlews, oyster catchers, widgeons, lapwings, herring gulls, black hooded gulls, great black-back gulls, black-tailed godwits, mallard and teal all visit at various times throughout the year. The emotional appeal of Tralee and nearby Fenit Island and Barrow Strand was not lost on Hollywood director, David Lean. Some of his most memorable shots from the film “Ryan’s Daughter” were taken here. Thank you to; Paul Daley, author of “LINKS GOLF – The Inside Story”