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Firesome's Forest Haven
by Rand Herron
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 103 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2001-05-17 |
59,690,949 bytes |
72 |
7451 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
FICTIONAL |
MOUNTAIN |
FFHaven.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| a19d4e33cc6744879cde439b8fb58767 |
986f13c29883fc0430f75b82aa660cf7 |
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by Dave Campbell
Expectations: Forest Haven brings to mind a beautiful dense woodland course.
First Impressions: This design is Rand's first design and was posted at the Links Corner on 5/17/01. It's a fictional mountain/woodland setting and is a par 72 that plays 7,451 yards from the back tees. It is a huge download at 56 meg and the short readme included with the zip file apologizes for that. For a first release it is a surprisingly crisp, thoughtful and creative course. You can tell he was trying different things throughout the design and the course lacks a bit of continuity because of this. It was curious to watch as hole by hole he seems to discover different things about the APCD and implements them very skillfully. You could almost picture him spreading his wings and getting more confident as the design progressed.
It seems like you get a glimpse of every texture and planting in the APCD libraries on this course, this probably explains the file size. On the 18th hole for example I noticed the following textures; Tee, green, fairway, sand, rough, bushes, clover, fringe, wild grass, deep grass, dry grass, pine needles, mulch, buttercups, ivy and all sorts of trees and flower plantings. A lot to look at to be sure. In the same breath I'll say the 18th hole is one of the most unusual and creative holes I've ever seen. The fairway starts out straight and branches out to a 'Y' at about 200 yards and you have a choice to drive either side. The green is in between the split part of the 'Y' with all the textures and bunkers I mentioned in between. It's something to behold in the top cam. My screenshot is from the 2nd hole and shows my approach second shot to this par 5. There is a little island lay-up area you might have to shoot for if you don't drive cleanly. I'm sure you'll agree this is a unique looking hole. The course is chock full of such goodies, too many to touch on all of them.
Views from the tee are nice but varied. On the first few holes you see flowerbeds, buttercups and ivy surrounding the tee boxes. Then they become more sterile with bushes and trees plantings. On the back nine the floral influence is back and then some. The layout explodes with textures of all kinds (as I alluded to earlier). For the most part the driving areas are generous with subtle to sweeping elevation changes.
The same can be said of the greens, generous in size with subtle elevations present throughout. There is no such thing as a gimmie putt here, they will get your attention.
The bunkers are interesting on this course. Two distinct types exist and I believe would be very noticeable to anyone playing this course, not just someone looking with a critical eye. The front nine appears to have standard, extruded bunkers with a nice lip. Then on the back nine the bunkers start getting an interesting fringe of dry grass/ivy/rough or clover/deep grass/dry grass, this sounds strange but looks surprisingly good. Every bunker up to the 18th uses this technique. I guess Rand thought it would be too much trouble to go back and change the bunkers on the front nine.
The water looks great on this course. In some cases a more distinct elevation from the water surface might have looked better, or some type of bank, but the reflections were beautiful and looked natural. Here again many different techniques were used around the water. I saw a brick wall and a sandstone wall edging the water on back-to-back holes.
A few objects were evident such as ball washers, wastebaskets, benches, a moose grazing to the right of the 13th tee, and some extremely well done concrete cart paths. The cart paths have a fringe path from many greens that run right into the concrete texture. I thought this looked very good and was quite realistic (since you wouldn't see a concrete path run right up to the green).
Drawbacks: Some of the things I'll note here are actually executed well in the APCD but it's the varied use of so many things that becomes a drawback on this course. Let me just rattle off a few examples. The bunkers for the most part are flat and fairly lifeless and are done in different styles (as mentioned earlier). There is a running water creek right next to the 4th tee with not a single water sound. The autumnal trees on the 4th and 10th didn't seem to fit. One side of cart path would be one texture and the other side another (rough, deep grass). A lake split the 14th fairway and one side had a mowed texture and the other didn't. Heavy floral and texture plantings on the opening tees and doesn't resume until the back nine. Some greens had a fringe and others didn't. A first cut of rough on some fairways and not others. Too many contrasts to make it seem like the same course. Taken individually all the holes are well done, as a whole it seems a bit disjointed.
The aforementioned use of brick and then sandstone walls on successive water holes really stuck out, particularly the sandstone. Didn't work in a mountain setting. Virtually no under planting in the forest areas. Some trees do not appear in the top cam.
There is a punishing set of obstacles in the landing area of your drive on the par 4 5th hole. The fairway ends with a ring of rocks and OB wild grass that is hard to miss. Be warned that you may want to club way down to miss this hazard.
Best Hole: As I've mentioned all are good in their own way. I will opt for the par 5 2nd hole I used to capture the screenshot at the beginning of my review. This is one example of this designer's creativity. A real fun hole to look at and play.
Comparable courses: Sequoia Ridge by Pierre Rivais, Pitchford Hall by Eric Pitchford
Overall: This is an exceptional first effort and I would have rated it higher from a design standpoint if it didn't seem to jump from one technique to another. Even so it is an interesting and enjoyable course to play. Rand has some serious talent and I will anxiously be waiting for his next release. Some real thought provoking and creative stuff going on here. As far as a download recommendation it all depends on your connection. If you have cable or DSL and a bit of hard drive space it is definitely worth a look. This is a hairy download for a modem user so hopefully I've went in depth enough with my review and you can make an informed decision. Good job Firesome, I'll be looking forward to your next course.
Course Info :
Cameo Screen? Yes
Splash Screen? Yes
Panorama Used? ?
Text file? Yes
Hole Previews? No
56mb
Reviewed May 2001 |
This course is available as a FREE download.
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