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Glacier ViewGolf Club
by J. Tubbesing
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 1100 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2002-09-25 |
12,451,671 bytes |
71 |
7251 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
FICTIONAL |
MOUNTAIN |
Glacier View Golf Club.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| c661f88eb34e4b1f9a301711a6f124da |
b43f4b7f5775b7f65158cf5d5e0ae51f |
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LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by Mike Nifong
October 2002
Course type: Glacier View is a fictional golf course situated, according to the read-me file, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The Whistler pano is used; while it is a satisfactory match to the course in terms of style, it does not blend well chromatically.
Historical perspective: This appears to be the first course by Mr. (?) Tubbesing. It was released on September 25, 2002, without fanfare (I do not recall any announcement of its release, nor does it ever appear to have been listed in the preview section or posted as a beta), and it does not seem to have made much of a splash. The only user review it received prior to that section being closed did not do much to whet my appetite - the dreaded silver star.
What is included: At 10.3MB, Glacier View is considerably less than half the size of the average APCD course, so its relative dearth of extras comes as not much of a surprise. In addition to the brief read-me, the only other inclusions are a rather drab cameo and a merely serviceable splash screen. There are no hole previews, nor is there any kind of tournament option.
As is the case with many aspects of this course, the APCD work is fair. You will notice a profusion of mesh shadows, primarily in texture transitions and elevation changes, which should have been cleaned up prior to release. There are also a lot of sharp edges, especially around the tee boxes and the greens. Elevation changes tend to be a little abrupt in places as well. The tee on #1 is sited too close to the edge of the course plot - that too-straight wall down the right side is a dead giveaway - and the gap between the course and the pano is visible in the panoramic view. While obvious, these flaws are usually not too distracting, although the sharp edges around the greens can affect the play.
Nothing to write home about, but not really anything to complain about either. The biggest problem with Glacier View is that it tends toward the generic - there is nothing here that you have not seen before, often frequently. With the exception of those problems noted in the previous section, the course is reasonably well finished. Some of the views are actually quite attractive, but nothing here could be called memorable. The planting is pretty good. If you look closely, you will notice quite a few instances where the same tree is used twice in too-close proximity, but this will not be obvious upon casual inspection. You will also not find any forests of clones - what repetition there is has been kept to a minimum. The designer has also avoided that syndrome where the course becomes distractingly cluttered with various objects or questionable geological formations in the pursuit of visual interest. But what we do get is undeniably bland.
That having been said, I must also point out that the course looked better than I expected it to in Links 2003. Not only did it benefit from the addition of shadows, but also the close-up view that I employ there has a tendency to minimize visual distractions that are not immediately at hand.
First, a few general observations about Glacier View's layout. There are a lot of doglegs, which means that you will often be faced with the prospect of hitting a fade or a draw off the tee (something I am far from mastering in RTS) or laying up. The fairways tend to be relatively narrow, although not punitively so, and if you stray very far right or left, the trees can make your approach shots rather tricky. The bunkers also tend to be very narrow, but they are also usually quite deep, which can affect your choice of club for extracting yourself from them. The greens are mostly on the small side and tend to be domed: they have relatively flat centers but slope off rapidly near at least one of the edges, which can make chips from the surrounding rough problematic - if you hit the ball firmly enough so that it doesn't roll back toward you, it will likely carry well past the hole. This problem was exacerbated by the decision to put many of the moderate and difficult pin placements much closer to the edges of the greens than the distance to which we are accustomed - too close, in other words. You may find a flop shot with a wedge to be a preferable alternative to a chip in some of these situations.
Play was okay - neither especially good nor especially bad. For some reason, the course seemed to play a little better in Links 2003, although that might have just been my late preference for RTS. In RTS, incidentally, I was not able to reach any of the par-5's in two from the back tees - clickers should be able to reach #9 and #13 at least some of the time - but I birdied three of the four en route to a -8 (which ties my best score so far with RTS). The computer foursome was -17 (-2 to -5) in b/m/m/m conditions, hitting 74% of the fairways (53-84%) and 64% of the greens (44-77%). Under w/f/f/d conditions, however, they were +22 (+1 to +9), hitting 68% of the fairways (58-84%) and only 39% of the greens (22-55%). These figures are a little skewed by the fact that the game AI had them chipping every time they were off the putting surface, even when they were less than 6' away from the hole (a situation that, with these pin placements, occurred quite often) with a flat lie. I would estimate that this cost them between one and two shots per player per round.
Under any conditions, the front nine plays considerably tougher than the back nine: you should expect your scores on the back to be on average 2-3 shots lower (with respect to par) than your scores on the front. That is partly because three of the toughest four holes (#2, #3, and #5) are on the front side, but probably the scariest tee shot for RTS and PS players is the other tough hole, #15, which starts you off with a 265-yard forced carry over water.
The bottom line: Not a bad course but, notwithstanding its very modest file size, there are any number of more appealing courses in this same genre. It does benefit from the conversion to Links 2003, especially if you play it in the close-up view, but the same could probably be said for its competition. Neither essential, then, or something to be avoided, but you will not have to make a very large investment of download time or hard drive space to find out if it appeals to you.
Course Statistics :
Course statistics: Par 71; 5 sets of tees; 7251 yards from back tees; holes are not handicapped. |
This course is available as a FREE download.
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