Federation Golf and Country Club
by Stuart Kahle

Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 100 Release Date CRZ Filesize Par Course Length 2001-02-04  33,782,911  bytes 71  7061 yards Type Style CRZ Filename FICTIONAL  PARKLAND  federation.crz  Course ID Course Key 28cbb36cb341485d8ae34583827ce747  a9b7098c67ef0e88ede5d74f12ba965c  COURSE SCREENSHOTS LINKS CORNER REVIEW Reviewed by Pete Dixon February 2001 This is the second course of Stuarts that I have had to review in the last week or so, the last one being Victoria GC. Stuart has designed several courses and these being a mixture of real and fictional. This course is definitely fictional and can be best described as being built around a brooding black rock mountain range in the middle of a mangrove swamp on an Island somewhere in the Pacific. After playing the course several times I feel it would be better called The Jekyll and Hyde GC, or The Good, The Bad and The Ugly GC, as there are some really nice parts to the course and on the other hand there are some areas that are horribly wrong. This hits you immediately you get to the first tee, the view is excellent, just as a first hole should be to draw you into the course, you look at the overhead to see where you best need to line up your drive and.... Where's the green for the hole??!! It looks as if the green is the one to the left hand side of the screen, but it is in fact the one that is straight ahead of you, but because they share fairways it is not easy to work out, this is not the worst example of this, on some of the holes where fairways cross and several greens are in view it becomes a complete headache and is grit your teeth time, the 12th is a prime example and there are many more. Water? Did I mention the water, or swamp as it appears? The design is based around these swamp areas which are dark and lifeless with bits of dead wood floating about. Now this is a nice original idea but there is a lack of depth to the pools and finish to the banks. Because of the vast expanse of water there are a lot of bridges connecting areas of land, an area that could have really been pleasing to the eye, but they are sloppily placed and don't sit well in their positions. Finally, regarding the water, I feel the swamps are too dark and could have done with a little more livening up. Fairways are generally well contoured and do not look flat but some of the seams between the fairway and the rough could have been more detailed as could the finish on the tees. Greens are well contoured too and give a fair test of your putting skills, however Stuart must have shares in the company that make TV camera gantry's as they are in position around most of the greens as if invaders from War of the Worlds. It's not all bad though, the hazards have been carefully planned and well placed, there is the most devilishly placed bunker on the par 5 4th hole, which looks small on the overhead but is guaranteed to capture more drives than it doesn't. The colour and planting of trees is also very nice and the bunkers are finished off very well, they have nice lips and good texture, my only gripe with them is that they are a little too shallow overall, which spoils the look a little, and they fairly easy to get out of. There are some other areas that need improving on, the items of furniture etc by the tees could have been thought out better and the pathways although well placed have a tendency to lose scale and on the 6th tee it loses itself into the rough and looks as if a couple of trees are growing out of it. Best Hole: The par 4, 3rd which really is a very good hole all round, a nice view from the tee of a narrow fairway that doglegs right, an elevated undulating fairway greets you for your second shot to a green that is surrounded by 2 well executed large bunkers, this is rounded off by a good sloping downhill green. Like it! Overall: In my opinion this has the makings of a very good course, but seems to have lost its way somewhere along the line. It appears rushed in places and the layout is certainly confusing and suffers from maybe trying to be a bit too clever for its own good. The banks definitely need to be built up around the waters edge and I feel there should be more clarity in the water, even though it is a swamp. The bunkers are really very good but would be even better with some more depth and some general tidying up around the course in areas like the paths, tees, furniture and seams on the fairways. I have to say even with the negative comments, I liked the course for what it could be, not what it is. And even then there are some really positive things, the setting is excellent and the panorama spot on. Stuart, if you are reading this, I hope you take this course and re work it with a little more thought and I think you could have a winner. I will also look forward to seeing some feedback regarding this on the boards. Links Corner Design Analysis Bunkers do seem to be a good starting point on many courses, and some can be remembered well for each course too. Federation course has the middle of the road bunkers, smoothed extrusions into flat sand. Stray shots will find the sand, or roll nicely into them as many are found on this course. There are a few simple ones, and there are a few with edge problems too, the 1st hole shows this, and a couple on the 10th do too. On the 6th back green bunker there is a hard edge surrounding the bunker that needs softening too. Bunker creation isn't the whole problem though, there placement is where this course plays tough. The 18th hole makes it extremely tough to hit over the fairway bunker on this par 5, even with breezy wind behind. The 12th hole, also sees a bunker give a strong position for more luck than judgement shots. On this hole too, there appears to be a few bridges missing from the island fairway. Dirt roads are also found on the course and the road in front of the 1st tees could be better tweaked elevation wise. Other areas to contend with are the water height to the surrounding areas, it does appear that the water is the same level at times as the playing area, and would be better lowered. The other note being pin positions approx 6/7ft from the fringe on some greens, the 2nd and 14th were noted. An ideal position would be not less than 8ft. Filesize 33MB Course Summary Par 71 Tees : 5 Cameo Picture : Yes Splash Screen : Yes This course is available as a FREE download. 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