In a League of Its Own

For many first timers from outwith the British Isles, the courses are quite unlike anything they have experienced before. The difficulties that lies in wait - from unlucky bounces to nasty pot bunkers, possible foul weather and treacherous rough - means that links golf favours the golfer who plots his way round the course and will make a fool of the player who believes he can overpower it.

Links golf provides the greatest test of control, with even the slightest mistake likely to be punished. The subtle shift of mindset - to elevate course management above all else - comes more quickly to some than to others.

Phil Mickelson, winner of The Open at Muirfield last year, and regarded as the most creative player of his generation, hoisted the Claret Jug only on his 20th attempt, and readily admits that it took him those two decades to fully grasp the nuances of golf in the United Kingdom.

"It took me a while how to figure out how to play links conditions," he explained moments after collecting his fifth major title. “It has been the biggest challenge for me to overcome, but now that I have done it I couldn’t be happier."

Pinpoint accuracy and a strong mindset whereby one is able to accept the vagaries of links golf are other valuable assets in the golfer’s bag, especially when the high winds and driving rain hit the course. Luck plays a greater role in the Open Championship than in any other major, in the form of kind bounces, favorable lies in the rough or even something as simple as teeing up on the right side of the draw to avoid the bad weather.

Anyone who has been lucky enough to play golf on the coasts of Britain or Ireland - and these courses should be on your bucket list - will argue that this is the purest version of the game and as far away from the manicured fairways and ‘target golf’ of America as one can hope to get. The rules of parkland golf simply do not apply to links golf, where the bumps and mounds take the need for imagination and shot visualization to a new level.

Competitors will certainly need to utilize all the tricks in their bag to conquer Royal Liverpool. Tracing its roots to 1869, it is the second-oldest seaside links course in England, trailing only Westward Ho! in Devon.