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Chesterfield Valley C.G.
by Dave Skaggs
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 1245 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2003-03-13 |
22,383,795 bytes |
71 |
7405 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
FICTIONAL |
WOODLAND |
chesterfield.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| 823a48a1556311d797350000c043a20b |
5c99da43fc7b2ae1cb1f056725939552 |
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by Robert Rundel
April 2003
Chesterfield Valley CC is a first design by Mr. Skaggs. It is a nice course, quite ably designed and rendered, with a few fatal flaws. The first of these is the trees. For the second time in recent reviews, I see an autumn design with PINK TREES. As shown in screenshot 1, of the tee on the 1st hole, there are flowering dogwoods along with the autumn-colored trees of the foreground and background. As a matter of record, dogwoods do not grow well in cold climates, and they certainly don't bloom in the fall! In addition, there are some unusually fluorescent bright orange trees, also shown in the screenshot, which have never been seen in the real world. And, as a more minor matter, there are cloned trees, for example the tall green trees on the left of the screenshot. I found these trees to be very hard on the eyes as they appear over and over again throughout the course. These colored trees are on the edges of the fairways, and around the greens, but the rest of the forest is quite uniformly green. The panorama is a nice hilly autumn one, which looks quite realistic, but doesn't really fit with the rest of the forest.
The second major flaw is that there is only one tee per hole. Although the scorecard shows the usual Back, Middle, Forward, Junior, and Ladies tees, they are all of exactly the same length. This is a long course at 7405 yards; all four of the par 5s are over 630 yards, and there are three par 4s over 480 yards. This course is virtually unplayable if you can't hit your drive about 280 yards!
Finally, the course is lacking in basic amenities. There is no readme file, no hole previews, no hole handicaps, only an occasional cart path, and no hole signs. There are some nice custom objects such as the covered bridge over the creek on the 5th hole (screenshot 2) and the rock outcroppings on the 8th hole (screenshot 3).
After pointing out the negatives, I must say that, if you can overlook the trees, this is quite a nice course. The design makes you think about your shots. On some holes, a draw or fade off the tee is required; on other holes, you'll keep your driver in the bag in favor of a shorter club. For example, the 7th hole, a par 4 of 391 yards, all you can do off the tee is to lay up short of the water, about a 7-iron shot. Then you have about 250 yards to a green tilted from front to back, making for a challenging second shot (screenshots 4 and 5).
The 6th hole is especially lovely (ignoring the pink trees). It's a 200 yard par 3 over a lake, with sailboats prominent (screenshot 6).
Despite its length, Chesterfield Valley is a relatively easy course. There are fewer bunkers than one would expect, and the greens, although sometimes large, are generally quite flat.
I would like to encourage Mr. Skaggs to give us another course. I think with a second try, and some serious beta testing, he can give us a real high-quality course that will be both beautiful and interesting to play.
Summary :
Details: Fictional woodland 18-hole course, par 71, 7404 yards, 5 par 3s, 9 par 4s, 4 par 5s, 1 tee per hole. No readme file, cameo and splash screen, no hole handicaps, no hole previews, no hole signs, occasional cart path, custom objects, including some nice bridges and rocks, no gallery or tournament objects. 18.1 Meg download. |
This course is available as a FREE download.
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