JLadenburg:Oppy:
You obviously have never been to Chambers Bay.
Oh, just played Kapalua Plantation and Bay courses and two of the Wailia courses. Chambers is better. If you haven't played true Links golf in Scotland or Ireland,then you probably cannot appreciate it. It's like Port Marnought in Dublin. It got the US Amatuer and US Open faster than any course in history for a reason.
First of all, Port Marnought is not a golf course, it is Portmarnock, which first shows that you are lacking knowledge of real links courses. Chambers Bay is nothing close to a real links style golf course. Let me quote the true definition of links golf:
"A 'links golf course' refers to the type of soil and terrain on which it is built. Only 92 of the golf courses in Scotland (17%) are true links courses, although this includes most of the historical courses. Another 10% of Scottish courses are coastal with some properties of 'links' courses and moorland vegetation. Apart from links courses, the other main types of Scottish golf courses are parkland (61%) and moorland (17%).
A Links is any rough grassy area between the sea and the land and the word itself is derived form the Anglo-Saxon word 'hlinc', of about 931 AD, meaning a ridge.Later the word was used to denote any common grassy area in a town and now the term 'The Links' is used to refer to any golf course.
True links soil is sandy and because of the lack of its moisture, the grass tends to have short blades with long roots. The grass in the rough is often the wispy long grass which makes play very difficult even in a good lie. Links courses drain well and provide a very firm golfing surface all year round, and are thus the preferred choice of most good golfers.
Links land is common on the east coast of Scotland from Wick to Berwick, but it is also found in the south-west coast and the Hebridean islands. Early golf developed on links land. In time the golf links were cultivated and the sand and burns (small rivers) that crossed the links were shaped into the hazards that they are today, especially the sand, putting it in holes called bunkers, a particular Scottish term. They may also have been inspired by the quarry pits which proliferated on some links, such as Aberdeen and Bruntsfield. When courses were created inland they incorporated the tradition of these hazards, as the Bunker and the Water Hazard.
Links terrain was ideal for golfing in the early days for several reasons. The land is naturally undulating and extensive but of little agricultural value and thus very suitable for this kind of use. A form of golf was once played on the continent but died out, possibly because of the lack of such a suitable safe area on which to play.
Because there were no mechanical grass cutters before the mid-nineteenth century, golf was played in winter when the grass was naturally short by animal grazing. The links area on the east coast was accessible to the golfers of the time and coincides with the area of minimal rainfall in Scotland. With its better drainage, links land is therefore more suitable for winter play."