The Five Main Types of Golf Course on Planet Earth

There's a wide variety of golf courses out there, and plenty of descriptive jargon gets tossed around. Here's a clarification of the five main types of golf courses you just may (hopefully!) bump into on your golf travels.

LINKS:

We’ll start with links as it’s one of the oldest styles of golf course. The links course originated in England and Scotland, the cradle of golf, in the 1400’s. Most links, or links-style courses, feature flat land with rolling undulations along the coast, with sandy soil. They usually have little tree growth or cover, and are notorious for windier-than-normal play conditions.  

Some well know links courses are The Old Course at St. Andrews, Bandon Dunes and the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island.

HEATHLAND:

A “Heath” is by definition a “a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterized by open, low-growing woody vegetation”. Heathland courses are somewhat similar to Links courses, but with more undergrowth, wildflowers, heather, grasses, a few extra trees and a bit less wind as they are not generally coastal. You will find some undulations on this type of course as well.  

Many of the best known Heathland courses are in Britain, including everyone’s favorite example - the Sunningdale Golf Club in England (Old Course).  

PARKLAND:

Parkland courses are located inland, and generally feature lots of trees and lush grass. This is the most common type of course in the United States. Some Parkland courses are flat, some are hilly, depending on the natural topography of the area. These courses are usually well manicured, with man-made sand bunkers, water features and elevated rough.

The inland nature of this type of course, along with it’s tree cover, usually means less wind-play issues and more post-slice ball-locating issues. Augusta National is the most famous Parkland example.  

SANDBELT:

Sandbelt golf play is linked to a small group of courses in the sandbelt region of Melbourne, Australia. These courses are open year-round, and feature loamy soil with undulating terrain, fast greens and sheer bunkers. 

Sandbelt courses are among the world’s most cherished, including the Royal Melbourne, which is commonly ranked amongst the world’s greatest golf clubs.

DESERT:

Desert courses (featured in photo above) are mostly found in the southwestern United States and the Middle East. They are built over sandy desert terrain, with grassy areas being commonly reserved to only the tee boxes, fairways and greens.

The Palm Springs/Indian Wells/La Quinta area of California is a great place to sample desert style golf (or Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah). Try and stay in the fairway, the surrounding sandy rough can make it difficult to get back on track with just a single shot.

There you go, the five main types of golf courses, have fun playing them all. Keep in mind as you do that there are other classifications out there that help a golfer decipher quickly what kind of course is being presented. Some of those qualifying terms below:

Championship Course:  18 holes, fairly long, fairly tough for interesting and challenging tournament play.

Stadium Course: Championship Courses that are also laid out to accommodate spectator flow (I.e. TPC Stadium Courses).

Par-3: Shorter courses that take up less land, great for kids and beginners. 

Executive Course: Like a par-3, but with a few opportunities to hit an actual drive.

9 Hole: We won't insult your intelligence by providing a definition here...