Tish Island
Designed by Steve Mihelarakis
Designer: Tish Island is Steve Mihelarakis’s first 2003 course, but having designed two courses previously, one of which received a Links Corner Recommendation, it should be interesting to see his advancement since his last course was released.
Course: As a tropical styled course situated amongst sand dunes and large amounts of water, Tish Island has an excellent design that results in great playability, with beautiful scenery to match. Early on in the round, the holes become quite challenging, with many holes being quite lengthy. As mentioned in the read-me, laying up can actually result in a harder second shot, so use the hole previews where possible to help plan your shots. The front nine as a whole was more innovative than the back nine, and I found that there were too many straight Par 4’s of a similar length, with sand dunes on one side and water on the other, which got quite repetitive. Even though the course is classed as being an ocean course, it barely comes into view, and perhaps could have incorporated into the design more. The design is many ways is quite unrealistic, but I think this course was designed to allow players to enjoy aesthetics and a tough design all in one package.
Favourite Hole: The Par 4 Hole 2 was my favourite hole on the course, as it allowed two options off the tee, to either lay-up, or to take a difficult shot at the green, setting up a great risk/reward situation. The hole is highly appealing visually, but was also very well designed, as even with a great shot into the green, putting is going to be difficult on the curvy green.
Playability: Even in easy conditions, this course is a true test of any golfer’s game, as with numerous hazards waiting to swallow any mistimed hit, accuracy and placement is key to a successful round. If you like to play in high winds, then breaking par on this course will be quite a difficult task, with so much sand and water found on each hole. Once on the green, due to the pin placements, putting can be quite hard, as the greens often are tiered in combination with high amounts of curve and slope. The fairways are generally good in width, so the only trouble a player will tend to have is with their accuracy and the length of the holes. If you’re interested in a challenging round, irregardless of your skill or swing type, then this course will certainly offer that in any conditions.
AI Performance: The AI Golfer ‘Simon’ shot an E (72), with 28% Fairways and 38% Greens in Regulation, with a total of 23 putts.
Difficulty Index: 1.16
Technically: From first sight it is obvious that the designer has put a lot of work into the course, with the sand dunes and planting being of an exceptional nature. If you are a straight hitter that tends not to venture off the fairways, make sure to go into practice mode and take a closer look at the marsh land and pine forests, while with so much water found around the course, the designer has done very well with the blending of textures and planting on the shoreline. The bridges, cart path and structures were very good additional features, while there was also a clubhouse located behind Hole 18.
On closer expectation, there are some minor flaws to the course, but none of which affect the playability of the course. Many of the tee boxes had tees that were not centered, some of the outer area textures were not named properly, while it seems that the green and fairway bunkers used a different lip technique to those of the sand dunes, and in many instances, seemed to be cut rather sharply. The dirt texture located near water areas actually bounced the ball high up into the air, while if you landed on it, a sound implied like the ball had landed in water, but then you find out that you can hit off it with no penalty. Almost most visible areas are seam blended, but even so, sometimes there is clear cut line between textures, which somewhat minimized the look of the actual seam blend. Even though in such an area, bugs tend to make a lot of sounds, it would have been better if the sounds were more random, as after 18 holes, the same continual sound can get quite annoying. Overall, it seems that more attention was actually paid to the aesthetic outer areas than what was done so with the fairways and greens. The advanced APCD techniques used around the course far outweigh any negatives found on the course, with a great selection of textures and impressive amount of technical work, so overall, the designer has come along way since his previous designs.
Other: The zip file includes the course file, a read-me, and a recorded round, while the course includes a cameo, custom flag, handicaps, hole previews and a splash screen, all of which are of a high quality nature. The only fault I found in them was that some of the hole previews had basic grammar and spelling mistakes, but visually, were all very pleasing to look at, along with that of the very good splash screen. Rendering may be quite slow depending on your system, however, the beautiful scenery and playability will make it all worth while when playing a round on the course.
Download Value: At just over 90mb, the course is quite large, but considering the few tropical courses that tend to be released, if you are a fan of this style of design, then you will probably love Steve’s creation. If you enjoy playing this course the first time around, then it’s likely to become a favourite, and it is certainly a course that I will be saving to CD.
Information:
Course Statistics:
2003 - Fictional Ocean - Par 72 - 5 Tees
7381yds (Back) - 6607yds (Forward)
Par 3’s: 4 - Par 4’s: 10 - Par 5’s: 4
File Statistics:
Zip: 90.5mb - Crz: 91.1mb - Sha: 20.4mb
Round Statistics:
AI Skill: 79 - Settings: Champ/Classic/Back Tees/Breezy/Moderate/Medium/Moderate
Other:
Designer: Steve Mihelarakis - SGM10@aol.com
Design: 3
Reviewer: Simon Kent - Simon@linkscorner.com
Review: 44
(This review is based on the playability for users of Links Golf. It is only my opinion, but comes from a thorough analysis of the course. Disregarding my opinion, I know the difficulty involved in designing a course and I congratulate the designer on a job well done. My comments are objective, are based on a number of criteria, and any comments are from a players stand point and not from a designers).
Screenshots |
Copyright © 2010 | Links Corner