5 Shots Every Golfer Needs to Master Before Playing Irish Links
Reading time: 4 minutes
You’ve booked the trip. The flights are confirmed. Ballybunion, Lahinch, maybe Royal Portrush - it’s happening. Now comes the question every American golfer asks before their first links trip: how do I prepare?
The honest answer? You can’t fully prepare for Irish links golf. The wind, the terrain, the firm turf, the creative shot-making - it all has to be experienced. But there are five specific shots you can practice at home that will save you strokes and frustration when you get there.
The Low Punch Shot
This is the single most important shot in links golf, and most American golfers rarely hit it at home.
The wind on an Irish links can make your normal ball flight useless. A stock 7-iron that flies 160 yards and lands softly will get knocked down, pushed sideways, or ballooned up into the gale. You need a shot that stays under the wind.
How to practice it: Take your 7-iron, grip down an inch, play the ball back in your stance (middle or slightly behind), and make a three-quarter swing with an abbreviated finish. The goal is a penetrating, boring ball flight that peaks at maybe 60% of your normal height. Practice this until it feels natural, then do the same with your 6-iron, 8-iron, and 5-iron.
You’ll use this shot on at least half of your approach shots in Ireland. Maybe more.
The Bump-and-Run
In the States, we’re taught to pitch the ball to the flag with loft and spin. On soft, watered greens, that works. On firm, fast links greens, a pitch shot that lands on the putting surface will bounce and roll twenty feet past the pin.
The bump-and-run is the antidote. It’s a running chip that lands short of the green and uses the firm turf to roll up to the hole - like a long putt that starts in the air.
How to practice it: Find a firm, tight lie at your home course or range. Take an 8-iron or 9-iron, set up like you’re putting (narrow stance, ball back, hands forward), and make a putting stroke with a little wrist hinge. The ball should pop up a few feet, land on the fairway, and roll. Experiment with different clubs - a 7-iron will roll farther, a pitching wedge will check up sooner.
In Ireland, you’ll use this shot from 20 to 60 yards all day long. It’s low-risk, high-reward, and it feels brilliant when it rolls up to three feet.
The Fairway Bunker Escape
Irish links bunkers are not like the bunkers you’re used to at home. Many of them are pot bunkers - small, deep, and often with vertical faces made of stacked sod called revetments. Some are so deep that your only option is to play sideways or backwards.
But even the more conventional fairway bunkers play differently on links land. The sand is heavier and coarser, the lips can be high, and the wind makes club selection trickier.
How to practice it: The key skill isn’t some fancy technique - it’s discipline. Before you swing, assess whether you can actually clear the lip. If you can’t, take your medicine, grab a sand wedge, and get it back to the fairway. That sounds obvious, but in the heat of a round, most golfers try to be heroes. In a pot bunker with a four-foot lip, the hero shot doesn’t exist.
For bunkers where you do have a clean exit, choke down on a mid-iron, play the ball slightly back, and focus on catching the ball first. Clean contact is everything.
The Long Lag Putt
Links greens are large - much larger than most parkland greens - and the slopes are subtle but relentless. You’ll regularly face putts of 40, 50, even 60 feet, and three-putting from that range is how good rounds fall apart.
The goal isn’t to make these putts. It’s to get them within three feet so you can tap in for par.
How to practice it: On your practice green at home, pick the two holes that are farthest apart and putt back and forth between them. Don’t aim at the hole - aim at a three-foot circle around it. Focus on distance control, not line. On links greens, pace is almost always more important than break.
If your home practice green doesn’t have enough space, putt across the green to the fringe. The goal is to develop a feel for rolling the ball a long way with a smooth, rhythmic stroke.
The Tee Shot with Less Than Driver
On American courses, the default on most par-4s and par-5s is simple: grip it and rip it with the big stick. On Irish links, that strategy will get you into trouble fast.
Many links holes have fairway bunkers placed at common driving distances, and the firm ground means your ball will run into hazards you thought were out of reach. Other holes have blind tee shots where placement matters far more than distance.
How to practice it: Spend time at the range hitting tee shots with your 3-wood, hybrid, and even long irons. Get comfortable with the idea that a 220-yard tee shot in the middle of the fairway is better than a 280-yard drive in a pot bunker.
On the course in Ireland, you’ll often stand on the tee and your caddie will hand you a 3-iron. Trust them. They know where the trouble is, and they’ve seen a thousand golfers make the same mistake with driver.
The Bonus Shot: Accepting the Bad Bounce
This isn’t a shot you can practice at the range, but it might be the most important one.
Links golf is not always fair. A perfectly struck approach can hit a hard spot and bounce sideways into a bunker. A drive down the middle can catch a slope and roll into the rough. The bounces are part of the game, and the golfers who play links best are the ones who accept them, adjust, and move on.
The Irish have a word for this attitude: craic. It means fun, enjoyment, good times. And the best craic on a links course comes from rolling with whatever the course gives you, laughing at the bad breaks, and celebrating the good ones.
Practice these five shots, pack your sense of humor, and you’ll be ready for Ireland.
The Royal Links pairs you with expert local caddies who’ll help you navigate every links challenge. Plan your trip at theroyallinks.com