played my first real links course and now Troon makes sense

[RoughRider_Rick]

So I finally played an actual links course this weekend. Not a parkland track with some wind, an actual links. Firm turf, zero trees, wind that switches direction like it's mad at you.

Shot 94. Which for me is honestly fine. But the thing that wrecked me wasn't the wind, it was the ground. Everything runs. My normal 8 iron that stops dead at home rolled out like 20 yards past the green. Did that three times before I caught on.

Ended up hitting 5 iron from 130 just to keep it low. Felt stupid. Then I watch these guys at Troon hit low stingers that land 30 yards short and trickle up to 6 feet and I'm just sitting there like... how long does it take to actually trust that shot? I kept wanting to hit the pretty high one and kept getting punished for it.

Anyone else grow up on soft parkland courses and get absolutely humbled the first time they played real links golf? Still thinking about that round.