Links Corner Forum

Hi -

Was curious as to Links 2003 player's favorite Top 10 downloaded courses...The ones that have found a home on your hard drive and you always enjoy playing.
I've been playing Links for at least 14 years but always seem to be playing the same handful of courses (River Highlands,St Andrews,Pebble Beach to name a few).
Went on a Real Course 'downloading binge' the other night but not really sure which ones to add to the game.
Was hoping to get an idea of what are some of the better courses.

Best wishes to you & yours,
Ray

Recommended round setup: B M Fc or higher, using the indicated tournament pin positions.

1.Download the course and put it in your /Links 2003/Courses/ folder.
2.Set each round up using "E-Mail Tourney Setup" in Links (Open Links, choose "Options", then "E-mail Tourney Setup")
a. Choose your course,
b. the Tees you're going to use ("Custom" if you want to choose mixed Tees)
c. Choose "Record all players" if you want to go back and play against yourself sometime after you finish
d. Click the "Custom Pins" button and choose your pin number for each hole,
e. Choose "Mulligans not allowed" (use them if you're chicken )
f. Choose "Gimmees not allowed"
g. Choose round Conditions: (ie. Breezy, Moderate, Fast Challenging) (Links 1.07)
h. Choose "Save" and give it a name. Suggested: (space after each): Your player name, Course name, Round number (for more than 1 round at that course, round conditions (ie. BMFc)

When you're ready to play, start Links, choose "Play Golf", then "Email Tourney", and choose one. Use whatever player you want. Remember to enter a name for the daved game when you finish.

If you would like, PM me to send me the rounds and I'll give you my Email address plus a recorded round for each of the rounds listed so you can go back and watch yourself play against it (you have to use the indicated pins for it to work) - or don't and just enjoy the rounds!

-------------------------------------------------
Some of my top courses - random order:

Augusta National 2009-2010 (the 2010 version) (pins: 12,3,9,13,0,11,3,14,4,12,3,3,7,1,7,7,11,12)
Crooked Creek HD - Play once from the back tees, then select these ladies tees on 3,4,5,8,11,14,16,17. Play again.
(pins: 8,12,14,6,1,11,2,0,14,14,13,3,6,14,16,12,9,15)
Whistling Straits HD - play once from back tees, then select ladies tees on 2,4,8,9,11,12,13,16,17. Play again.
(pins: 11,5,10,2,10,2,10,10,6,5,5,10,2,3,9,8,8,2)
Pine Valley Golf Club - play once from back tees, then select ladies tees on 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,15,16,17. Play again.
(pins: 0,1,6,9,10,6,1,4,4,1,1,7,4,5,7,4,9,1)
Wentworth West 2014 PGA (pins: 3,1,12,15,2,11,9,15,10,3,9,10,13,2,14,16,7,17)
Firestone-South Course 2016 (pins: 18 11,7,11,7,9,4,5,8,3,10,9,6,10,7,8,7,4,11)
Oakmont Country Club 2010 Beta (pins: 9,6,5,8,11,6,11,3,4,10,6,7,9,4,6,5,12,9)
Bay Hill 2016 - TE (pins: 7,3,10,4,6,4,6,6,7,10,11,6,6,10,6,0,11,0)
Pinehurst #2 Restoration HD (pins: 1,7,1,8,10,4,7,3,7,0,4,3,10,6,4,9,0,4)
Bro Hof Slott - Stadium Course Final (pins: 7,1,4,7,7,6,4,4,11,8,5,8,11,7,7,6,8,8)
TPC of Scottsdale - Stadium 2022 (pins: 9,1,9,4,5,5,9,6,11,7,7,10,9,5,9,4,4,9)

All Mike Jones courses!

Newer:
Amedal (pins: 3,7,7,11,7,8,8,0,14,17,9,11,9,8,7,11,1,7)
Wade Hampton (pins: 13,17,12,8,15,15,7,5,8,5,8,9,4,9,2,7,4,11)
Wakonda (pins: 7,4,5,3,10,6,10,17,10,6,12,6,8,3,16,9,3,16)
Close House Colt Course (pins: 7,3,7,11,7,15,12,8,16,6,10,13,9,0,5,12,5,17)
Pasatiempo GC (pins: 3,15,15,15,10,8,17,6,16,3,2,10,15,15,1,14,14,15)
Peachtree (pins: 15,3,8,13,1,5,11,4,6,3,4,2,2,16,5,7,12,5)
Nine Bridges at Jeju Island (pins: 10,17,3,3,13,14,17,7,15,12,15,4,11,2,2,13,14,11)
Coeur d'Alene Golf Resort (pins: 7,10,11,13,2,17,2,13,12,2,1,2,7,15,17,1,6,0)

Enjoy!

Pete

1) Kiawah. Lately, I cannot wait to play this game. I play at full blast sound to hear the sound of the winds and the waves. Some hate it, I love it.
2) TPC Sawgrass . This is is the kind of course with the variety of holes that I love the most.
3) Pebble Beach . Another course I absolutely love. I play it for the views, for the challenge. I even send the balls inside homes to go and look at pools (no scantily dressed ladies, yet, but there are still a few houses I have not visited. Still.. It is cold up there)
4) The Ocean Course at Cabo del Sol . I loved it from the first time I played on it. Happy place for me and I relax, unless I miss a few too many shots, that is.
5) Oakmont . The challenge is real (at least for me). Hate the color of the grass, but love pretty much everything else about this course. The greens in challenging settings are nightmare, but I like it challenging.
6) Augusta . It is something one has to like. There are a few holes (2 perhaps) that I wish I was Jeff Bezos rich and I would buy the course to raze those with a bulldozer, Still, I play it often. For some reason I do better when I set it up really fast. On slow settings it feels totally fake and unrealistic
7) Bethpage Black . It is not a course where I do particularly well, but I go for hard ones
8) Chateau Whistler . It is too old and would need a good restoration or a new version of it. The views take my breath away. Driving downhill,l on the second half, mostly is bliss. Once I played 4 games in a row
9) Brabazon at Belfry . I do not think that this course is particularly beautiful, no. But the challenge is great. Hole 18 with strong headwinds in windy settings is nearly impossible. Hole 10 is fascinating as, unless there is a strong headwind, the green can be reached on first shot. Hole 12 is nasty and even 8, I believe, is pretty scary with the wrong kind of wind.
10) Kauri Cliffs . I always consider it a treat to be able to play here. Enjoy every hole, but one.

special mention
St. Andrews' Old course . I am quite volatile on it and I am not in love of links courses, but for old St. Andrews I make an exception.
Banff Springs Thompson Course I love this course. I do not believe it is the most beautiful or the most challenging at all, but it is an area where I spent time and it brings back many memories. Beautiful panoramas.
...........................
Least favorite course. Congressional . Nothing wrong with the course which is actually fascinating. But Congressional does not like me and I do not like Congressional. It is the course where I play my worst games and when they go wrong, they really go wrong. Not sure why I can play all other courses under par, but at Congressional if I have a +2 or +3, it is an exceptionally good game for me. Can end up in water even 2-3 times in one game. And I am not trying to get there on purpose. One day I caught myself thinking "how about nuking it ?

There are perhaps other 10 courses that I like and play often. Only 3, 4 at most are fictional. I am sorry but I like real courses as I cannot stand imaginary holes built like hourglasses with a mid section so narrow that it reminds me of the "camel through the eye of a needle", etc.... However, If I were to state my 3 favorite fictional courses:
A) La Joyas
B) Millano Lakes
C) Cara Brae

All in all, I play 85-90% of my games on the same 25 courses, more or less.

Considering your Many Post's - How do you manage to get Time to Play ?

Blade wrote: ↑April 9th, 2022, 5:55 am Considering your Many Post's - How do you manage to get Time to Play ?

Perhaps I write very, very fast? Did you think about that possibility ?

The previous post about the top 10 courses probably took 8 minutes and that because I formatted it a little bit. Otherwise, ... I am truly super fast at writing and reading.

Furthermore, I do not much. Waste of time, frankly. Once I am dead, there will be plenty of time to sleep. Also, playing alone saves a lot of time.

As with Pete (pmgolf) I also typically play B/M/F(C), although with Augusta I up to M(C) for firmness, much to my detriment. Where available, I play using the pin and tee locations that billw used to provide on the old forum, and for recent years I use my own versions taken from pgatour.com or the sites for the majors.

My courses:
1. Augusta 2009/2010
2. Bay Hill-Glenn Braden's 2016 excellent update
3. Bethpage Black-my IRL "home" course off and on from my mid-teens to early-thirties (oh so long ago), well before the USGA turned it into the real gem it is today. Back then it was pretty scruffy, being a state park course, and I could get on cheaply, usually in 30 minutes or less, mostly as a single (during the week of course). I can confirm that the Links depiction is VERY accurate from tee to green.
4. East Lake tournament version (Mr. Braden again).
5. Innisbrook Copperhead tournament version-this course can provide more of a challenge, at least to me, than one might think.
6. Muirfield Village-long with penalty rough, as with courses 2-5 above.
7. Oakmont-one time, I did pull a Johnny Miller, but usually shoot in the 70-75 range.
8. Riviera-even though it's an old Links course, I just love playing it. It still holds up after all these years, and the hole yardages are still good for the most part. The trees and rough can be killer.
9. TPC Sawgrass-this may be a bit controversial, but I use the original (50-meg) Bessermann version because it is the only one with penalty rough. You can play the 12th at both the regular and shorter yardages featured in 2018 and 2019, and even though the pond extension is not included, it does have an O/B close to the left side. Yes, the greens can be kinda crazy for M/F(C) conditions, but it's a great challenge. I've gone as low as 63, and have also shot 80.
10. Valhalla PGA edition-another Braden masterpiece.

Hi MT. FYI there are actually 4 courses at the Whistler Resort:
Fairmount Chateau Qhistler { R.T. Jones)-the Links course
Whistler Golf Course(Arnold Palmer)
Big Sky (Robert Cupp)
Niklaus North

I did not know that Jimbo. I only played the one in Links. Whistler for me is skiing and never visited it outside of the Winter time. I suppose those other courses must be nice too.