Top 9 U.S. Links Style Golf Courses

You don’t have to fly to Scotland and Ireland to hit great bump and run shots, dig out of pot bunkers and play through the wispy stuff.

You can do all those things on American soil.

We’ve got a great menu of options, too.

If you’ll read the title closely, though, you’ll notice the courses I highlight are “links style”.  The nine mentioned aren’t links courses in the strict definition and some of them are actually hundreds of miles away from the nearest ocean.

That said, you’ll find lots of links golf features on these exceptional layouts like rolling dunes, subtle movement in the terrain, few water hazards, limited if any trees, knee-high grasses and deep pot bunkers.

Not sure if the snoo-tay purists are still reading, but for the rest of you who want to play some fascinating and superbly designed links golf inspired courses, here’s my list:

1. Bandon Dunes (Bandon Oregon)

“Hey, did I Just parachute into Scotland with my golf clubs?” might be your first thought as you step to the first tee on one of Bandon Dunes’ six courses. No, you’re actually on the stunning southern Oregon coast. Here, the courses take full advantage of terrain with massive sand dunes, giant shore pine trees and Pacific Ocean panoramas. You’ll love the tight lies, tall grasses, undulating fairways and other engaging elements of these phenomenally designed courses in a drop dead gorgeous setting.

2. Whistling Straits (Kohler, Wisconsin)

Framed by two miles of Lake Michigan shoreline, the Pete Dye designed Straits course at The American Club Resort is a masterpiece with imported fescue grasses, rolling dunes topped with tall grasses and amazing links-style bunkering. If you want even more authenticity, there are sheep roaming on the property. Dye also designed the resort’s Irish course, a tribute to the great links courses in southwestern Ireland. Whistling Straits will host the Ryder Cup matches September 24 to 26, 2021.

3. Ocean Course at Kiawah Island (Hilton Head, South Carolina)

Site of the upcoming 2021 PGA Championship, 2012 PGA Championship and the legendary “War on the Shore” Ryder Cup Match in 1991, this Pete Dye virtuoso design at the Kiawah Island Resort has everything you’d want in a links style golf experience. There are sometimes fierce Scottish-like winds and ten holes that play along the Atlantic Ocean. Dye throws everything but the kitchen sink on the Ocean Course with mounded fairways, steep-walled waste bunkers, deep pot bunkers, undulating plateau greens and high grasses.

4. Chambers Bay (University Place, Washington)

A walking only, links-style golf experience with a Puget Sound backdrop, this Robert Trent Jones II gem capitalizes on its stunning coastal setting, windswept dunes and native fescue grasses.  Chambers Bay  hosted the 2015 U.S. Open won by Jordan Spieth and 2010 U.S. AmateurChampionships.

5. Nags Head Golf Links (Outer Banks, North Carolina)

While it may only measure 6,126 yards, the constant winds at Nags Head make it play much longer. Some holes are routed along the Roanoke Sound and rolling dunes and wild sea grasses add to its links-style personality.

6. The Prairie Club (Valentine, Nebraska)

Situated on the rim of the Snake River Canyon, this Tom Lehman/Chris Brand design has dramatic elevation changes, high grasses and innovative rugged bunkering. When the wind blows, as it often does in this part of the Cornhusker state, you can close your eyes and swear you’re in Scotland. The Prairie Club is a fantastic golf vacation destination with accommodations at a rustic-looking, amenity laden 31-room lodge, four separate cabins and two other golf courses.

7. Erin Hills (Hartford, Wisconsin)

Site of the 2017 U.S. Open, Erin Hills is a major challenge, especially if you don’t play the correct set of tees for your skill level. Luckily there are 7 sets of tees, so no excuses for a scorecard dotted with double bogeys on this walking-only layout. The entire course is fescue grass with wavy rough framing the greens. You’ll get the full links-style experience with long undulating fairways, penal bunkers, well protected greens and high rough just off the fairways.

8. Streamsong Resort (Near Lakeland, Florida)

Step onto the back terrace of the Streamsong clubhouse, and  the scene in front of you doesn’t look like Florida the wild, exotic sand mounds– some as high as 75 feet– conjure up images of Ballybunion in Ireland or the somewhat bizarre Tobacco Road in Pinehurst. The unusual terrain looks ominous, but it’s definitely an inviting setting for golfers. You’re in Florida, alright. Smack in the middle of nowhere. Streamsong is an 80 minute drive from Orlando and about an hour from Tampa. The Red and Blue Streamsong courses are Florida’s links golf answer to the British Isles and a very good answer I might add.

9. Arcadia Bluffs (Arcadia, Michigan)

Designed by Rick Smith and Warren Henderson, the course rests on the bluffs above the shore of Lake Michigan. A daily-fee layout open from mid-April to mid-November, Arcadia Bluffs looks as if it has been air-dropped in from Ireland. Enhancing the Irish links ambiance are high native grasses, wide, rolling fairways, 50 sod-walled bunkers, huge greens averaging 8,000 square feet and 3,100 feet of shoreline.

Easy Plan Golf Vacations to U.S., Scotland, Ireland and Beyond