Do you know all the different styles of golf course? You might be surprised to discover just how many exist. Chances are you have already heard of Links, Parkland and Desert. But other styles are more niche. Have you ever played a Woodland Golf Course? How about Heathland, Sandbelt or Snow?
We put together the ultimate list of golf course design styles. How many have you played?
The Famous Three Styles Of Golf Course
Links Golf Courses
This is truly the original style of golf course. Whenever you play a Links Golf Course, you play golf as it was invented to be played.
To qualify as a Links Golf Course, it must be located within sight or sound of the sea. Golf links have open layouts with very few trees, rolling undulating landscapes and sandy soil. They blend into the natural landscape. But be warned, despite the lack of trees, they have plenty of hazards such as gorse bushes, long wild rough, dreaded pot bunkers and the sea itself. These hazards keep with the design principles of blending into the landscape.
The most dangerous guardian of a Links Golf Course is mother nature. On a windy day, they can be unplayable as Bobby Jones found out when he famously stormed off St. Andrews midway through his round in the 1921 British Open.
Links golf is most famous for The Open Championship. The most famous links course of them all being St. Andrews, the home of golf. Other examples include Carnoustie, Royal Troon and Pebble Beach.
Parkland Golf Courses
A Parkland Golf Course is the opposite of a Links Golf Course. While Links’ are built on the coasts and blend into the wild terrain, a Parkland course is built inland and is clearly maintained by man.
Playing a Parkland Golf Course will feel like you are playing golf in a park. They have lush, green, well-manicured fairways and greens. You will even find the rough cut to a uniform length. They have no set elevation criteria meaning some are flat, and others have significant elevation changes. However, the fairways will not have the natural bumps, mounds and rolling terrain style of a links golf course. These courses contain all the traditional hazards such as trees, water and bunkers. However, the golf course designer will usually add them to the landscape.
As the elements are less of a factor, Parkland Golf Courses reward golfers for distance and accuracy. Golfers are free to play in whatever style they like rather than forced to play according to the weather.
Parkland Golf Courses host the majority of PGA Tour events with the most famous being Augusta National, home of The Masters. Other examples include Muirfield Village, Riviera Country Club, The Belfry, and Wentworth Golf Club.
Desert Golf Courses
It should come as no surprise to learn that Desert Golf Courses are built … in the desert! If Parkland Golf Courses are artificial, well, Desert Golf Courses take it up a notch. But in a good way, they are like a beautiful lush green oasis in a sea of yellow and white sand.
A Desert Golf Course will bring the natural desert terrain into play. The contrast can be quite remarkable and at times, breath-taking. You have the typical lush tee boxes, fairways, rough, and greens but all around is semi-desert complete with all the sand, cacti and lizards. However, they are often considered controversial. All that green grass requires a tremendous amount of water and deserts are not famous for their plentiful water sources!
Internationally, great golf destinations such as Dubai and Morocco have no shortage of excellent Desert Golf. These include Jumeirah Golf Estates and Royal Golf Dar Es Salam which both feature on the European Tour. PGA Tour fans will know TPC Scottsdale in Arizona, the home of the Phoenix Waste Management Open.
Some Lesser-Known Styles
It is important to note that some of the courses fitting these styles are often hybrids. For example, one can argue that Pinehurst Number 2 or even Augusta National are both Parkland and Woodland/Forest Golf Courses.
Woodland/Forest Golf Courses
Typically, a Woodland Golf Course is carved out of a natural forest. Hence the name. However, any course with a significant number of trees would qualify. Forest Golf Courses reward accuracy as any mishit shots are likely to end up blocked out behind a tree.
A great example is Pinehurst Number 2. The land where they built the Pinehurst Country Club was initially a flourishing Pine Forest. The forest was cut down, not for the golf course, but its timber. They replanted the pine trees when they built the golf course on the barren plains that were leftover.
Downland Golf Courses
You can find Downland Golf Courses on hilly terrain in the South of England. Britannica encyclopedia defines a ‘down’ as a “rounded and grass-covered hill in southern England that is typically composed of chalk“. While the conditions are not mountainous, a golfer may face extreme elevation changes.
The greatest challenge a golfer faces playing a Downland Golf Course is judging distance due to sudden elevation changes. Unexpected bounces and blind shots into greens are common.
A beautiful example of a Downland Golf Course is Goodwood Downs (Downs Course) found in West Sussex.
Heathland Golf Courses
Heathland Golf Courses are another style typically found in England. The most famous of them all is Sunningdale Golf Club. Other examples include The Berkshire and Walton Heath. In a way, they are like inland Links Golf Courses due to their brownish colour, gorse bushes and sandy soil. They may lack the same wind levels of links golf, but you will have much tighter fairways and many more trees to navigate.
Heathland Golf Courses are found on … heaths! Oxford dictionary defines a ‘Heath’ as, “An area of open uncultivated land, typically on acid sandy soil, with characteristic vegetation of heather, gorse, and coarse grasses.“
Sandbelt Golf Courses
Sandbelt Golf Courses are exclusive to the state of Victoria in Australia on the Melbourne Sandbelt. The area is so famous for golf courses that the first line of the Wikipedia for the Melbourne Sandbelt states, “The Melbourne Sandbelt is a region to the southeast of Melbourne Australia known for its sandy soil. Several significant golf courses are located in the region.“
Alister MacKenzie founded the Sandbelt Golf Courses. MacKenzie is better known for helping to design Augusta National alongside Bobby Jones. In 1920, he wrote, “Every golf course architect should imitate the beauties of nature so closely as to make his work indistinguishable from nature itself.” Therefore, Sandbelt golf courses feature plenty of the ground’s natural undulations along with bunkers cut directly from the surrounding areas.
Melbourne Sandbelt boasts some of the best tracks globally, including The Royal Melbourne Golf Club and Kingston Heath Golf Club.
Truly Unorthodox Golf Courses
Technically we are drifting away from ‘real golf’ now, but there are plenty of people who have found inventive ways to play golf on all sorts of terrain.
The World Ice Golf Championship takes place in Greenland each year. As you probably guessed, the golf takes place in the snow. The idea is the same, but terminology is different. Snow golfers don’t putt on ‘greens’, they call them ‘whites’. But you don’t need to go all the way to Greenland to play. Each year they host the Snow Golf Cup in Switzerland and the Winter Golf Cup in France.
If you are not a fan of the cold, you could check out Urban Golf (not to be confused with indoor golf simulators). Urban golfers tee it up in city centres using golf balls that are slightly less damaging to cars, windows and people!
The Sub-Categories
The final two are not stand-alone golf course design styles. You will never have one of these in isolation. An Executive Golf Course or Stadium Golf Course will always match one of the design styles previously highlighted.
Executive Golf Courses (aka Par 3)
Executive Golf Courses consist exclusively of par-3 holes. That does not mean they are ‘pitch and putt’ courses. Many of them consist of full-length par-3 holes. Nor does it mean they are guaranteed to be easy, some executive golf courses are more challenging than their traditional full-length counterparts.
Many golf clubs will build a par three course alongside their championship course. Augusta National hosts a mini competition on their Executive Golf Course at the start of each Masters tournament.
Stadium Golf Courses
A Stadium Golf Course is designed with spectators in mind. They feature plenty of excellent vantage points and allow the heavy foot traffic associated with a professional golf event to flow smoothly.
The best-known Stadium Golf Course is The Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. According to their website, “As the first true “Stadium Course,” it was designed to improve the overall on-site fan experience.“. Another great example is The Stadium Course at TPC Scottsdale, the only golf course in the world to feature an actual stadium. It is known as the coliseum, and you can find it on the par-3 16th hole.
So how many from this list have you played? If you think we missed something out, please contact us at info@golfclubstyle.com!