There are “links” courses all over the United States. There are a few in the St. Louis Metro Area that I have played a ton. Some of them even look something like what you see during the British Open for a least some of the holes. However, I have never been on one and thought I was experiencing what the pros or the lucky duffers who have made the pilgrimage to Scotland to play on those true links courses feel. Acorns Golf Links in Waterloo, Illinois changed that today.

For the first official day handicaps open back up in the St. Louis area under the new system, the weather looked gorgeous. Temperature and Sun wise it was a beautiful day. However, the wind broke my spirit today.

Links courses are generally beatable. They are usually not very long and mostly flat with some undulations. They rely on the weather and the speed and slope of the greens to protect them. Acorns is beatable. It’s less than 6800 yards from the tips. It’s not a true links course. Especially on the front, it has a mix of modern holes with elevation changes and a decent amount of water on both sides. I had a pitching wedge or less into most greens. However, the wind played better defense than the ’85 Bears.

My driver was on again today. I was crushing my low ball flight right through the wind with just a few balls that went right with a slight block and a push from the wind. The problem was when I had to hit into a green.

They were the fastest and firmest I’ve seen in months. I’m glad I played Incline Village yesterday because I would have been even more lost without that incremental step. That wouldn’t have been a huge issue if the wind hadn’t been a sustained 20 mph usually cutting straight across the green gusting up to what had to be 35-40 mph. The pins were bending at 45-degree angles. I had at least 5 irons in, most being knockdown or full pitching wedges, that were shoved at least 15 yards away from the green even with an attempted adjustment to counteract the wind. I had two 8-irons on Par 3s that flew the pin by 20 yards and went at least 180 yards because of the jetstream. Anything with spin today looked like it was shot out of cannon. Thankfully I had my driver dialed in with an upward swing because if my driver was spinny like it can be when I’m off and hitting down on it, I would still be on the course.

Between the wind and the green speed, my short game suffered and I wasn’t able to get up and down like I have been. I don’t think I made a single putt outside of 4 feet. If I had been as good with those as yesterday, I might have broken 80.

One interesting thing is whoever did the hole handicaps did a great job with this course. On some courses, you walk off the “hardest” holes and think, “Who could this possibly be hard for?” Not the case at Acorns Golf Links. I double-bogeyed the two hardest holes. The No. 1 is the 503-yard Par 5 7th. It has the most intimidating tee shot I’ve seen in a long time (pictured above) and it ate my lunch with a block to the right into the tall grass. The second hardest hole is the 18th. Like most holes, it’s not hard if you hit it right, but the 18th punishes you severely if you don’t. You have to carry it about 230 to get to the fairway and then carry water again to hit the green. I missed my line with a bit of a push and plopped it right in the water.

As I mentioned previously, today is the first day to post scores under the new World Handicap System. Acorns Golf Links will be a good test for it. There is a Playing Conditions Calculation. or PCC, now that is supposed to take into account weather and such that impacts player scores and adjust overnight. For example on a day like today, it would see that everyone shot higher scores because of hurricane-force winds and adjust the differential accordingly. The course was packed, so it should have plenty of data if even a quarter of the players have a GHIN. It’s a new thing in the States (my understanding is that this is a British contribution), and I am all for it. However, if no adjustment is made after that extreme, I’ll know it’s completely pointless and not to count on the PCC doing anything unless you play someplace like Pinehurst No. 2 or Pebble Beach in an actual hurricane because everyone playing those has an active handicap.

ScoreCard from Tim Kaiser on Acorns Golf Links (Acorns) – 18Birdies https://18birdies.com/s/AKbh1ZY69Fw