Would you rather play a traditional or modern links course?

Traditional

The classic links courses of Britain and Ireland embody the true heritage of golf and present the most authentic and complete test of golfing skill. The Golf Monthly Top 100 course rankings provide a clear indication of the quality of older, revered links courses these isles possess. There are 11 traditional links on the list before you reach the first modern creation at number 14 – Trump International near Aberdeen.

I’m fully in agreement that courses like Trump International and Doonbeg are extraordinary to look at, with exceptional routings and views to elicit oohs and ahhs all the way round. I just don’t think they’re as fun to play as our classic older links layouts.

The shots demanded by a modern links are not always, to me at least, especially linksy. I want to run shots in low from 100 yards, thread balls between bunkers and putt from off the green. On a modern links, you’re often asked to play shots more akin to those on a stadium course via raised greens that demand a high shot with spin, tee shots that call for a launch rather than an arrow-straight ball flight and putts with audacious rather than subtle slopes.

I think that word ‘subtle’ sums up why the classic links always win for me. Our established old seaside tracks are not brash and boastful, they’re just quietly brilliant – nuanced by small adaptations made over years of play, resulting in a steady enhancement of test and playing experience.

I love playing golf and hugely enjoy games on the brilliant modern links built in recent decades. But given the choice, I’d select something a little older. I head to St Andrews quite frequently to play, and occasionally venture up for some fun on the Castle course.

But if I really want to play golf, I’ll stick to the links in town.

I’m sure many will think it heresy that a wellseasoned golf journalist with nearly all the classic old links courses under his belt could possibly argue for ‘modern’. And before I go any further, I should stress that I have loved playing all our venerable old links, from Royal Dornoch down to Royal Troon, Royal Lytham, Royal West Norfolk and Royal St George’s.

But if push came to shove, I would plump for one of our modern links marvels for a game tomorrow if it had to be one or the other. When asked – as I frequently am – what my very favourite courses are, eyebrows are often raised when I mention Doonbeg or Trump Aberdeen in the same breath as Royal Birkdale or Royal Aberdeen.

Yes, I love the history of our great old links, but reject the idea that a course has to be at least 100 years old to be worthy of attention. I just love the way modern links courses play in and through the most breathtaking, towering dunes, leaving you shaking your head in disbelief at almost every turn.

My visit to the opening of Doonbeg almost 20 years ago was one of my very first trips for Golf Monthly and I had quite simply never seen anything like it before. It is an experience that has lived long in the memory. The likes of Doonbeg, Trump Aberdeen and Carne have no qualms about getting up, into and through the tallest of dunes, leaving you open-mouthed as you play along steep-sided valleys or up to dramatic amphitheatre greens.

I may be wrong, but I like to believe the great designers of old might have taken on more such routings had it not posed major logistical issues in those more primitive course-building years. Either way, I absolutely love a stirring 21st-century links.