Links PGA Tour 2026 - PGA Championship

[dwg]

I have doubts that this course was built to cope with challenging settings, most of the holes tend to work but some do not.

For a course to be able to mimic the real world conditions the greens have to be close to the real thing. That means using something like a DEM to build the course or books like the Stracka guides. Otherwise I think a course would have to be tested to see what conditions it can cope with, for this course I would think the settings needed to make hole 11 workable would be what you have to use for the whole course. For quite a lot of courses we have no indication of what information was used in the building of the course.

I decided to play using the posted settings.

At M/F I think the course would be quite playable.

[Ian Wells]

Jim,
A terrific round. Keep it going tomorrow and we will have a new PGA Champion.

Gentlemen,
I played the third round again with the same course conditions, using Linksters rendition. Based on Thomas's pin sheets I set the pins as follows:

linkster rnd 3.jpg (17.2 KiB) Viewed 1533 times

(Please note that I did not spend the time and effort selecting the positions as Thomas does, so the pin position on every hole will not necessarily be exact.)

To my mind the difference was chalk to cheese. The putting with Linksters rendition was difficult but fair. It is possible, of course, that I may just have hit better approach shots to the correct locations, but not for all 18 holes. (Playing the approach shots off the fairway certainly helps. )

Linkster,
Thank you for the rendition.

Ian

[Ian Wells]

Des,

I know how Linkster generates his DEMs and for this download the accuracy was 2 meters (6.5 feet), i.e. a vertex every 2 meters.
A have no idea what John based his rendition on?

I decided to open each file in APCD to see the bare bones and I was very surprised.

Johns hole 11

JohnBrooks11Hole.jpg (395.97 KiB) Viewed 1532 times

Linksters hole 11

Linksters11Hole.jpg (459.43 KiB) Viewed 1532 times

Johns green detailed with only 13 vertices. Amazing.

I must emphasise that we were allowed to play this tournament only because John spent his time and efforts to build the course and upload it to Links Corner. Thank you John.

Ian

[dwg]

Ian,

That is quite a difference.

No criticism of John at all. My point is the conditions set need to match the course as it is.

Des

[Southcitygolf]

Des,

I know how Linkster generates his DEMs and for this download the accuracy was 2 meters (6.5 feet), i.e. a vertex every 2 meters.
A have no idea what John based his rendition on?

I decided to open each file in APCD to see the bare bones and I was very surprised.

Johns green detailed with only 13 vertices. Amazing.

I must emphasise that we were allowed to play this tournament only because John spent his time and efforts to build the course and upload it to Links Corner. Thank you John.

Ian

Maybe you and Linkster can look over Birkdale Simplified before The Open.

Birkdale Simplified by John Brooks
https://linkscorner.org/courses/course.php?crz=2306

To his credit, John does have 120 crz's. It seemed like he had so many courses in his head, and just wanted to get them down on paper.
I did a series on closed golf courses call "Gone But Not Forgotten".
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... m363QDWM04
Almost all of them need finishing touches. Most of his courses do, but some don't. He does have complete courses, just not as many as I would like.

[Southcitygolf]

2026 PGA Championship - Final Rd


Video link to Final Rd.
https://youtu.be/JzXcYtyO2-M


Next Weeks Course:
TPC Craig Ranch by Sage Vanni and Leo Allen
https://linkscorner.org/courses/course.php?crz=2738

Release Date 2022-08-24 : LC_ID # 2738
CRZ Filename: TPC Craig Ranch - GreensFix.crz
Cond. - Breezy - MC/FC = 13.0

[JimEvers37]

Started round 4, blocked the driver left on #1 but still able to run up onto the green and make par, bogey from the sand at #3, parred in to go out in 36 shots, back nine started and nerves started getting the best of me as kept spraying the ball off the tee mostly right like in real life, bogey at #12 drove right and then short of the green and didn't make par putt, bogey at #16 (that was a bad pin position but still gotta play it), drained a 35 foot putt straight up the hill for birdie at #17, parred #18 so came back in in 36 shots for 36-36=72, 2 over for the day, 4 under par for the tournament, 7 fairways, 10 greens, 30 putts. Fun experience now on down to Texas.

Jim

[Southcitygolf]

2026 PGA Championship - Final Rd - Final

Video link to Final Rd.
https://youtu.be/JzXcYtyO2-M


Next Weeks Course:
TPC Craig Ranch by Sage Vanni and Leo Allen
https://linkscorner.org/courses/course.php?crz=2738

Release Date 2022-08-24 : LC_ID # 2738
CRZ Filename: TPC Craig Ranch - GreensFix.crz
Cond. - Breezy - MC/FC = 13.0

[Ian Wells]

Thomas,

Maybe you and Linkster can look over Birkdale Simplified before The Open.

See https://linkscorner.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=2661

Post by linkster » Sun May 17, 2026 1:24 am

........ I am busy this summer working on Shinnecock Hills and Royal Birkdale.

Ian

[Southcitygolf]

Thomas,

Maybe you and Linkster can look over Birkdale Simplified before The Open.

See https://linkscorner.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=2661

Post by linkster » Sun May 17, 2026 1:24 am

........ I am busy this summer working on Shinnecock Hills and Royal Birkdale.

Ian

That's great Ian. I'll keep an eye out for his course thanks