Definition of "links"

but what worthy golf links is not intolerably hard of access?

1894, “The Golfer in Search of a Climate”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, page 570

The royal and ancient game of golf may now claim to be the universal game of the world, as in every part of the habitable globe links are to be found.

1919, Harold H. Hilton, “Golf Courses at Home and Abroad”, in The Windsor Magazine, number 296, page 173

All over the country, links are scattered — club links, public links, and private links — and every year the number grows.

1920, Walter Hines Page, The World’s Work, page 393

The links are the property of the town, the Courses being under the management of a joint committee representing the R. & A. Golf Club and the City.

1967, Litellus Russell Muirhead, Scotland, page 278

A true links is built on linksland […]

2002, Forrest L. Richardson, Routing the Golf Course: The Art & Science That Forms the Golf Journey, page 95

A links is best when it’s really firm and when the wind is really up.

2003, Lorne Rubenstein, A Season in Dornoch: Golf and Life in the Scottish Highlands, page 168