|
Brydestone Golf Club
by Mitch Sirk
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 1089 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2002-09-11 |
40,271,507 bytes |
72 |
7246 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
FICTIONAL |
LINKS |
Brydestone.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| 48e059035f6b4cdead6cce96ac656f09 |
410520ff9946f7082b04097ea18eec46 |
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by Joseph G Reynolds CPA
September 2002
FORMAT FOR REVIEW:
Intro/Overview/Conclusion/Hole Descriptions/Issues/Notes for the Designer
METHODOLOGY:
Play test one round from each tee at breezy/medium/moderate, one round from back tee at windy/firm/fast, and one practice round for inspection, hole descriptions and screenies.
Introduction
Brydestone Golf Club was released on September 11, 2002, amid much anticipation and excitement. The Links community had seen the 5 star beta version for a month, and the offline league KISS Tours held a beta tournament for this design. This is Mr. Sirk's third APCD course and fourth release, and each has found a small legion of fans. Van Zandt Kanaal was released in November, 2001, with a User Review rating of 4 stars and an Official LC score of 86. Six weeks later Kanaal New Course (Version 2) was released and improved it's score to 93 (yup - different reviewers). Aitch Heath, a fictionalized version of a par 69 municipal near Heathrow Airport, followed in May, 2002, and was warmly received at 4 stars and an 85. Mitch's current course has a top User Review rating of 5 stars, and in two weeks has already been downloaded over 2,500 times.
There are some golf courses where on the very first tee you take a deep breath, look around, and say 'Wow..I have never seen anything like this before..this is going to be a fun round' I felt that way the first time I saw Kiawah Ocean IRL, and the feeling returned as I prepared to start playing Brydestone Golf Club. This fictional links style course (forgive me purists, we need a simple classification here) is set in English high moorlands, presumably near Yorkshire where actual bridestones are found. The terrain setting features sparse trees, numerous rock outcroppings, winding streams and tumbling creeks, islands and peninsulas jutting out into rivers, and nearly always, a howling (haunting?) wind.
This par 72 plays at 7,246 yards from the farthest back of the three custom tees, and you will find the 'personalized' hole previews most helpful when determining the correct line of play. In fact you'll find virtually every extra you've come to expect as standard fare in a good design except a tournament option. Occasionally you may think a ghost has splashed across the screen in a cameo appearance, in which case you may want to ensure your video drivers have been updated.
Before you grip and rip, though, take time to read the three-page readme. It rivals Jack Hartt's Tillicum Island novella as one of the best APCD fictitious histories ever seen. I don't want to spoil it for you, but here's a teaser:
THE HAUNTING
Those that play Brydestone find the course to be as challenging and uncompromising as Braid himself. But there is something intangible about the course that sometimes disturbs visitors. Some call it a bleak place, a godless place, some describe it as 'a feeling of being watched', some say it's haunted. Superstitions live long in small communities and even today Brydestone finds itself off the beaten track and largely unknown to the wider golfing community. Members like it that way, because in truth Braid created a fine course from unpromising terrain.
Collaboration between designers and players is one of the truly fine aspects of the Links community. For that reason I will repeat Mitch's appreciation list. Folks who help designers are truly special and deserve all the recognition they can get:
CREDITS
I am indebted to the following:
Links Corner for a thousand things
LC Web Board designers for help and advice
My Beta Testers & helpful advisors:
Shaun Arnold, Bob Colla, Flaz, William Gill, Oscar Hoff, James Macdonagh, Chad Mercer, Eric Mueller, Frank Perry, Bob Rees, Edward Rice, Ivan Schaap, Simon (Golfdevil), Kevin Tobin, Joe (Loner) Turner, Marc Van der Plancken, Roy White, Roger (Alliegator) Worsham.
Chris Gormley at Kisstours for arranging a beta tournament of Brydestone.
W A Poucher's 'Peak and Pennine Country'
For visual reference and ideas
Overview
How many APCD courses have you downloaded? How many stay on your HD or end up burned to a CD? Do you sometimes find it difficult to choose from so many great designers? What about MS/Access releases - how do you know which ones are truly great without purchasing them all? Don't have time to read the 500+ reviews at Links Corner? There's a web site that will answer all of these questions and more. Since 1999 Crusaders Course Profiles has been one of the top Links community web sites. Recently the site owner, David Russell, wrote an excellent review of Brydestone Golf Club:
'Mitch Sirk has become one of the most established designers. He is also I believe is one of the most creative around, always managing to design something a little different. Van Zandt Kanaal was his Dutch debut, and Aitch Heath was a local municipal course style. Brydestone is an English moorland course, retaining flavors of Mitch's design style but with yet more variety in play. This course is extremely hilly, flowing around mounds and rocky outcrops and cut by many river creeks. The quality of the rivers is outstanding with good textures used, and rocks and stones making them look very realistic for the location. Scrub trees and bushes grow over the hillsides, looking a little dry and weather beaten. This is a tough course to play. It isn't unfair at all, but the terrain slopes and river creek hazards will definitely test your play. The lay out of the holes is clever and often exciting. The course additionally has great atmosphere, with sounds a key feature, with bubbling brooks and howling winds to accompany you. If you like a challenge then this course will really appeal, however it may also haunt you if don't concentrate on every shot. The clubhouse and crypt looks superb at the back and to the side of the 18th green. The course has something extra special to give you too, other than the black and white previews, in the way of a superb background history, which has never been bettered. '
More than a decade ago Pete Dye opened a controversial Myrtle Beach course called Moorland Legends. That course bears little resemblance to Brydestone save one aspect, that each is the epitome of target golf design. Slivers of fairway, blind shots guided by directional markers, small saucer bunkers, rocks galore, and water used liberally all combine to dictate you bring your 'A' game to BGC. The barren landscape and narrow winding fairways bear a resemblance to Gooseneck Bay. Unlike that course - or for that matter Kanaal - there is ample opportunity for the wayward golfer to recover from light rough, provided your ball has stayed dry. The greens are smallish, with interesting but fair undulations. At times BGC drifts into a fantasy realm - such as the island 6th green, some 85 feet below the fairway, and featuring stepping-stones in lieu of a bridge - but never for long. Rock outcroppings and beautiful creeks are frequently in play if you've misjudged, which you may well do with such dramatic elevation changes.
Given the terrain, it should come as no surprise many of the holes have heroic qualities. The challenge of playing this type of course is testing your ability to pull off the required shot. Rarely is the player offered a safer alternative, the key to success is simply succeeding more often than you fail. I suspect many players will hardly notice the lack of strategic options, given the risky nature of the average Linkster.
The outstanding quality to Brydestone Golf Club is its visual appeal. The custom textures - all 93 of them - are breathtaking. The variety of thoughtful object placement, the quality of the tumbling streams, the unique mixture around bunker lips (in 1.1? Outstanding Mitch!), are all simply unparalleled. There are hidden gems everywhere. Try a practice round and knock it all over - you will be delighted with the eye candy tucked throughout this singular effort. What a treat for the Links community to have such an artist in our midst!
Unfortunately, there are slight problems with the transitions and mid/far views that sometimes make the delineation difficult to discern. In addition, the quality of the custom panorama, both in matching the texture and quality of definition, does not meet the excellence achieved elsewhere in this design. You'll either not notice the flaws at all or be unbothered by lack of perfection. The pluses far outdistance the drawbacks.
Though visually beautiful, you will rarely derive comfort from what you see on the tee. If you play 'natural golf' (sans top cam and grid), you will struggle for a long time at BGC. Remember, the landing areas are sometimes narrow, you will seldom have a level lie, and the wind has been cranked up. There is a preferred route here, trust me, but it is not intuitive. But don't expect to score well your first couple trips around Brydestone.
Think of it this way: Fazio, RTJ and JN have convinced us for years that golf courses should lay it all right out in front of you so you can plan your route from the tee. Golf architecture didn't always follow this questionable rule, and Mitch Sirk has revived many forgotten concepts in this outstanding design.
Conclusion
Download it. Play it. Enjoy it? If so, then keep it. But I guess you knew that already.
There are technical and aesthetic issues, which probably will not affect playability or enjoyment, preventing Brydestone Golf Club from being a top-level design. I can say without qualification Mitch Sirk is one of the best graphic artists ever in the Links Community. His technical APCD skills and golf architecture sense, however, are a small step below the elite 'best of the best'. While I could not rate this course among the greatest APCD designs ever, I would heartily recommend downloading, playing, and drawing your own conclusions.
The course description is followed by a discussion of problems in the Issues and Oddities section. Notes for the Designer, my humble attempt at improving APCD methodology, concludes the review. While it is specific to this course, it is written with the objective of helping all designers.
Hole-by-Hole Description
NOTE: I found the symmetrical balance in the routing pleasing. Given the Balybunion/Old Head -type elevation changes, the variety of shot values found at BGC is outstanding.
1st Hole 459 Yards Par 4
A stern test greets you from the start; the lesser of two evils is to favour the left fairway, steering between the stream on the right and sheer faced hill on the left, and perhaps clicking up or using your 3W to avoid the small saucer bunker just off the end. Too complicated and you're feeling brave? Then carry the water with a perfect tee shot that just avoids the bunker complex, on to the beginning of the right fairway. A tributary of the creek tumbles in front of the tee, runs along the right side, splits the fairways, and continues to its post as guardian of the left side of the green. Front and left on this small, elevated green will yield a birdie, back and right undulations are a challenge. Bail right to find the chipping area if you are faint hearted. Another small saucer bunker front left - with a beautiful texture called rock rough ringing the edge - will be frequented often, whether on the fly or from bounding off the ring of rock wall outcropping on the far right and immediate back. Another longer bunker, largely out of play, lies in back. If the visuals haven't blown you away already, exit and go home, there's no hope for you.
2nd Hole 321 Yards Par 4
The hole preview suggests the easier route is to carry the rock cross bunker (ah, so nice to see this variation of a lost bunkering method), but I submit laying short and flopping onto this elevated, tricky green will suffice. It's a birdie hole - go out and get it! You won't see another for a while.
3rd Hole 422 Yards Par 4
A well-placed tee shot carries the water and negotiates the 5-pot bunker complex guarding the winding fairway. Wild elevations surround the green, if the pin is left have some fun and bounce it off the hill. Otherwise, coming from the left side with a short to mid iron will offer a chance to stick one close. A fascinating green area that should be appreciated for its subtleties.
4th Hole 420 Yards Par 4
Moderately difficult tee shot, you'll find the left side is more rewarding. The water is in play there, as it will be on the approach to the angled green. With plenty of rock and a cape green jealously guarded by the lake, there is no shame in playing for the center of this green, which slopes from back to front.
5th Hole 161 Yards Par 3
Regardless of pin position, I would suggest bold play at both the BGC Par 3s. Take plenty of club here, and enjoy reading the subtle slope.
6th Hole 460 Yards Par 4
Up to now we've been confronted with quirky, unique, fun and challenging golf. Here BGC jumps off the deep end into fantasyland. The idea is to carry the drive beyond the sheer rock wall to the lower shelf. Difficult enough, and if you fail consider laying up. From the top level you will rarely find or hold the severely sloped island green. Sans bridges, so the rocks are presumably sufficient access. Each shot features a drop of around 75-80 feet, but overall it's just a poorly designed hole. This is the #3 handicap hole - good lord, what else is in store for us?
7th Hole 543 Yards Par 5
How quickly we step back into a real golfing experience. Here is the paradox of BGC - it revives classic, forgotten concepts, sprinkles in some modern day target golf, with a little bit of over the top tackiness. Take the good with the bad. Here on the 7th we find another concept rarely seen in the modern game. The blind tee shot, over a hummock topped with a directional marker, will often find the huge fairway. This might have been designed by Mother Nature centuries ago. The elevated second will struggle to find the putting surface, especially in the prevailing wind, but if you are long enough then take care to avoid the large rock outcroppings right and rear. The mounding and bunkering as you climb this slope are spectacular. While your lining up your red number putt take in the beauty of this land. All is forgiven for that distasteful 6th, and you realize there is much to be appreciated here.
8th Hole 493 Yards Par 4
This isn't the easiest tee shot to negotiate, but if you find the short grass you'll love the result! Most of the 90-foot drop takes place in the landing area, and anytime you have a mid or short iron in your hands odds are a birdie awaits. Miss the target and you'll have a difficult second from a multitude of locations. That's the nature of heroic design - success or failure, with scant alternatives and little hope for recovery. The undulating green is interesting and entirely fair.
9th Hole 369 Yards Par 4
The right fairway offers a superior approach angle, and infinite choices depending on the club selection. Driver will bring the left and right fairway bunkers into play. I cannot imagine under what circumstance a player would deliberately aim at the shelf landing area on the left, which is essentially a duplicate of the first hole (steep hill left, river creek right). The green is surprisingly benign for the very short second, but don't look a gift horse in the mouth. Wash the birdie down with an ale from the clubhouse (a short walk off the right back of the green), and head off for the inward side.
10th Hole 349 Yards Par 4
Back-to-back birdie holes at Brydestone? Are you kidding me?? Perhaps that stout ale at the turn clouded my vision? What your mind questions your sticks will confirm. You'll nearly always do three things here: 1) find the wide fairway, 2) have an uneven lie for the approach, and 3) stick it close enough to roll home a three.
11th Hole 434 Yards Par 4
Unless you lay up and leave a long second, this is a treacherous tee shot, which must avoid the wide river left, carry the narrow stream, and avoid the bunkers that litter the landing area. The slightly uphill second will seem like a breeze after the harrowing first. Oh, and you want to know about this green..hmmm...diabolical comes to mind. Winning the lottery is only slightly harder than making a red number here.
12th Hole 313 Yards Par 4
Still steamed about that last hole? Calm down..this hole earned its #18 handicap rating. Options abound..long iron right if you follow your caddie's advice (and the APCD hole path). Otherwise, go for the flag, aiming right down left edge (3W if the wind is at your back). The punchbowl green - wait, is this a MacDonald/Raynor or a fictional? - lies 45 feet below the tee, guarded by two bunkers front and one left. Gem of a hole - pure classic, golden age style that has aged well. May well be the best hole on the course in terms of architectural design.
13th Hole 452 Yards Par 4
For perhaps the first time its all right in front of you in beautiful panoramic glory. If you find the fairway, the 45-foot uphill climb will all be negotiated with your second. Short and right will be kicked aside from this crowned green; left and rear will find the bunkers. It's the #1 handicap hole. Quit whining and go see if you're up to the challenge.
14th Hole 152 Yards Par 3
Remember Harvey Pennick's admonishment: TAKE DEAD AIM. Stream left, lake size river front and right, but with a 8 iron in your mitts, no worries. Benign green, though from above the hole subtle breaks may frustrate you. Requires a suspension of disbelief about flooding - the putting surface is perhaps 20 inches above the water - but you do it every week in the movie theater, and after all , this is a fictional design.
15th Hole 589 Yards Par 5
Aim between the second and third bridestone and draw your drive away from the bunkers and onto the ample fairway. Lay up with the club of your choosing - my personal preference is a 3W to the swale fronting the green - then flip on the green, hole out and move on. You don't want to tarry at this part of the course. Hit it right and your best bet is to just re-hit. Trust me - this is not a place you want to stick around for very long. Best to keep your eyes front and quicken your pace.
16th Hole 360 Yards Par 4
Since you're an intelligent player don't bring the water left or bunker right into play by hitting driver. 3W lands in the widest of fairways, sand wedge - over the sheer rock wall face fronting the green - will make this your last relaxing hole of the day. Roll in your birdie. Ready for the 1-2 punch finish?
17th Hole 482 Yards Par 4
Very tough driving hole, especially into the wind, but balanced by a wide fairway. Alternately, lay short of the creek. Either way the approach is blind, 40 feet below your ball. Green slopes from left to right. Oh, yeah the stream reappears left and rear. Good luck.
18th Hole 467 Yards Par 4
Looking forward to the ale awaiting in the clubhouse off in the distance, just left and above this green? The road there is long and frustrating. Another fantasy design, as weak and absurd as the 6th. Perfect tee shots down the left side will carry the stream, otherwise you're in a watery grave. Laying short is perilous, as it is doubtful you can hold the long kidney shaped green which runs away from left front to right rear. An approach from the upper fairway is as likely to end up wet as it is to be on the gravel pathway backed by a stone wall. But not if you've executed the heroic tee shot. Then you'll find the 75-foot drop has turned this into an easy mid iron to a two-tiered green over a stream. After you hole out and trudge up the pathway to that eerily creepy looking clubhouse, and past the sheep grazing on the hillside with the Braid family crypt behind you, you'll wonder why you didn't score better today. While you're mulling over your scorecard inside, perhaps at the fireside table with a brandy to warm your chilled bones, you'll be thankful you've survived this godless place. You may even remember fondly the birdies you made, since the design does offer a balance of tough and easy holes. No doubt you are already thinking about when you will be able to make your next trip to this remote location. I guess when a course keeps you coming back, you know you've found a good one.
Issues and Oddities
Because of the severe elevation changes, you'll get some odd renderings (i.e., sky showing up on what should be ground). It's quirk of L2K1 having to do with the height of the cameras, and to my knowledge cannot be fixed by the designer or player changing the settings.
Rubber cups are an occasional annoyance. It's so common we tend to shrug it off, but it's a reflection of long APCD edges in the greens. Adding verts will fix the problem. For the player, just deal with it, whoever told you golf should be fair lied. Shame on you for believing them.
Portions of Brydestone barely resemble a real golf course. I would readily grant there are a couple of great holes; unfortunately, there are also a couple that are fantasy, a few bland holes easily overpowered, and a lot of heroic target golf completely lacking strategic options. To balance this, recovery shots are achievable as long as you stay dry. Let's put it this way: if BGC didn't have awesome textures and a truly unique look, the course itself would be average, or slightly above average at best.
Opening up the APCD is where true disappointment sets in. The lack of verts is astounding, and the mesh is quite stressed at points. Now don't misinterpret - neat freaks sometimes achieve an unrealistic cleanliness, and mesh is simply a means to an end. You can excuse the BGC hull by saying this achieves a rugged look. Some mesh isn't the greatest and actually shows undulations better through good mid/far mapping. I was pretty under whelmed with the mapping here, though, which shows up in the blurred transitions and mid/far textures. If you've been wondering how Mitch Sirk cranks out courses every three months, it's because he doesn't bother with the more tedious aspects of APCD (ring guards, multiple mappings). The result is evident to the keen eye when playing BGC.
The green texture and the transitions are thus muddled. It's hard to discern the transitions in places (e.g., rough from fringe to greens). I presume the inspiration for the custom pano came from the Pennine range in England. Whether it came from a book or Reader's Digest, it is too light, the green doesn't match the course spectrum, and most disappointingly, the quality seemed lacking.
The default wind has been changed from 15 to 35 mph, with overcast sky set to recreate the vagaries of the English weather system. There are 2 Par 3s and 2 Par 5s.
Notes for the Designer
Each of your courses has a unique, stylistic look and feel. Like a true artist, you are explorative and take chances instead of repeating what was successful in the past. As with another designer whose artistry is his strength, your readme rivals Jack Hartt in quality (though you are much more succinct than my dear friend from Washington).
There are some great textures found at BGC. This is clearly your strength. The entire Links community stands in awe of your creations. The mixed textures, the variations, the attention to detail - when it comes to textures, you have very few peers.
I just wish you spent more time getting the mid/far mapped correctly so we could see them better. Your countryman Mike Jones is as good as anyone at this skill, and if you haven't worked with him before you should consider contacting him. If you haven't already learned, he is like most APCD folks, very approachable and helpful.
Achieving excellence in one area (textures) does not, to me, a great design make. I could not rate this one high in playability or technical excellence. Looked at another way, if a tennis player won 4 straight French Opens, we would not declare them the best all around player, but would certainly given them their just due as the best clay court player.
The diverse architecture styles you invoke make your courses hard to play at anything besides Pro Clicker or soft greens. This is less of a problem with Brydestone, where recovery is fairly easy so long as you stay dry. But the strategic design is simply weak. It's not just that its target golf or unfair. In attempting to achieve variety you venture into wild in cohesiveness. There are some great classic holes, there is target golf, a little bit of Devils Island type fantasy, and bland holes easily overpowered.
On the plus side, the size and scale of your greens is appropriate. This course is something of a minimalist style, in itself refreshing. You have achieved a near perfect balance with these undulations. The breaks are frustratingly subtle, never venture into severe, and could hardly be classified as bland or boring. Taken in the context of their setting, you've hit the bullseye with this aspect of BGC.
Most disappointing to me, though, is your lack of progress with your APCD skills. Look, some people are great technicians and don't have a clue about what works well. Other folks are artists who never master the intricacies of the CAD. You seem to fall into the latter category. If you study the top designers - strictly for the sake of discussion, let's use MJ, Guenter and Eddie Schmidt - you immediately notice their courses have the entire package. Great architecture. Near perfect APCD. An artists' touch for planting. You've got one third of the package, and at that one thing no one is better.
Where you go from here is up to you. Go puff up your chest, proclaim yourself misunderstood, and don't change anything. Your courses will always receive acclaim from players and often from reviewers. You have a truly unique, almost magical quality with respect to visual appeal. Or take this well intentioned advice, and continue to improve your craft.
I have seen you evolve in response to past criticism of the severity of the Van Zandt Kanaal course, so I know you will take advice (like most of us, sometimes reluctantly). I'm challenging you here to push yourself farther, become more well rounded, develop your skills, and uncover the hidden power of the APCD. I cannot wait to see what you will do with 1.5 seam blends. But take your time - you'll never improve more than incrementally until you slow down and get ALL the details and nuisances correct. You've proven over the last year you can be prolific. Now I want to know if you can step it up one notch and achieve greatness.
I believe you have the talent to be THE BEST DESIGNER IN THE WORLD. Does that statement intrigue you and stir your ambition? Or do you just shrug your shoulders and say, hey, I'm happy with what I've achieved. Do you have the dedication, the patience and the steadfastness to reach that goal? No one works and practices harder than Tiger Woods. If you go and do likewise, you'll find yourself at the top of a lonely mountain. Very few people have the potential to be the best at anything. You do - the question to be answered is, is that what you want?
Course statistics: Par 72; 7,246 yards from back tees; 3 sets of tees; 10 sets of pins.
Included/Not Included:
Cameo: Yes
Custom Flags: Yes
Custom Tee Markers: Yes
Custom or added Sounds: Yes
Handicaps: Yes
Hole Previews: Yes
Read-Me: Yes
Splash Screen: Yes
Tee Signs: Yes
Tournament Crowds/Objects: No
I am both a player and a designer. I review courses primarily from the standpoint of strength of design, style, and overall ascetic appeal. I am cognizant of the enormous effort required to complete an APCD design, but out of a sense of duty to the Links community I will not hesitate to point out flaws. This review is intended to be fair, helpful, and constructive to the designer. However, this is merely one person's opinion. |
This course is available as a FREE download.
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