|
Anglewood
by Ross Anthony
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 1270 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2003-04-19 |
51,780,608 bytes |
72 |
6738 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
FICTIONAL |
MOUNTAIN |
Anglewood.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| |
|
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Anglewood 2003 - Designed by Ross Anthony
Reviewed by Mike Nifong June 2003
COURSE DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY
Anglewood is a mountain-woodland golf course that uses, as did virtually all such courses of its (original) vintage, the Whistler pano. Although it was derived from a real course located in upstate New York, near Lake Placid, Ross listed the original incarnation (known as Anglewood Golf Club) as a fantasy/imaginary course. Those features that made such a designation at least arguably appropriate for the first version, however, have been toned down in the new version to the extent that the appellation 'fictional' seems a better fit.
The original Anglewood was the second course released by Ross Anthony, following about a month behind the original Eagle Canyon (also subsequently updated). Eagle Canyon, to the best of my knowledge, was the first APCD course to offer a bonus hole, and Anglewood, in both its incarnations, follows in that tradition. (The bonus hole here is accessible from the area behind the green on #13 or from the tee on #14; in my experience the shot was a little easier from the back fringe on #13 than from the #14 tee.)
I am not sure that it was the first, but the original Anglewood was certainly one of the first courses to generate significant controversy over the official LC review score (a phenomenon with which we have all become increasingly familiar). General consensus within the community was that the score given was too low, and Anglewood had a committed following among the membership here.
All of Ross's courses remain on my hard drive, and if you have not previously acquainted yourself with his work you should certainly take the opportunity to do so. (My personal favorite of his previous courses is The Crusoe Course, which remains one of the most entertaining examples of the fantasy/imaginary genre.)
WHAT IS INCLUDED
As one might expect with Ross, there is a comprehensive multi-color text file that includes a very useful hole guide. There are also hole previews with the new Anglewood that, although not as informative as some, provide ample information to allow the course to be played without the top camera. Bucking the recent trend in pay-to-play courses, there is no recorded round. There is also no tournament option (no crowds or tournament objects), but that choice does not seem inappropriate for this venue.
WHAT HAS BEEN CHANGED FROM THE ORIGINAL VERSION
In terms of layout, essentially nothing has been changed. Any differences in length - the largest of which is seven yards - are inconsequential, and most likely the result of the fact that many of the tee boxes in the new version have been staggered (a welcome relief from the ubiquitous runway style of the original). The elevations are also essentially unchanged; the new #4 plays about 18 feet more downhill now because the fairway is no longer elevated with respect to the tee area, but even this is unlikely to be noticed unless you compare the two versions side-by-side. Not surprisingly, then, the new Anglewood plays nearly identically to the old one from a statistical point of view.
One thing that the Anglewood aficionado will notice from the outset is that the course has been almost completely replanted. Many of the changes wrought by that effort are purely aesthetic. Some of those 'you've got to be kidding' splashes of color (the pink tree surrounded by cloned yellow flowers to the right of the tee on #1, the overdone tee planting on #5, and the rather garish flower boxes on #9 come to mind) have been muted to good effect, and there is an attractive new area of planting around some recently added boulders to the right of the tee on #14. And the addition of some grasses around the edges of some of the ponds also contributes to a less sterile appearance. But a more significant change, one that actually influences play, is effected by a fundamental alteration of the surrounding forest: where the original Anglewood fairways were closely lined by dense woods consisting primarily of tall pines, the new Anglewood forest consists of a less dense planting of shorter but more dense trees (spruce and fir) which does not so closely crowd the fairway. This really opens up the view on some holes (e.g., #2, #5, #7, #9, #17), which can be helpful given the predominance of doglegs in the hole layouts. On the other hand, as Ross points out in his accompanying text file, 'they are dense trees by species and play as such' - the translation is 'yes, I know about the concrete trees, and I put them there on purpose.'
The rest of the changes are largely cosmetic. Those unattractive brown rock textures that so often looked overly stretched have been removed or toned down. This results in a totally new, and much improved, look for the tee area on #4, and a much more realistic looking hillside behind #18. There are also attractive new hole signs at each tee. But the fence that kept heedless golfers from tumbling into the chasm that fronts the green on #11 has been removed (I smell a major lawsuit here). And for some reason, the green is no longer visible from the back tees on #1, converting the opening tee shot to a blind one (it is hard to imagine that adding 7 yards to the length is responsible, but the elevations are virtually identical).
The new textures are, frankly, a mixed bag. The beige sand in the bunkers looks nice, but the yellowish tone to the rough texture is not a good chromatic match to the other grass textures used. Texture blending is also kept to a minimum, with extruded seams being the usual rule. Where blending is used - at the grass-to-sand transitions in the bunkers and in the grass-to-stone transitions at the edges of the various bodies of water - it looks good enough to make me wish it had been used more often. The use of divots in the tee areas of the par-3's and in the fairway landing areas of all the longer holes also strikes me as too much of a good thing. While it might have looked quite good if more sparingly applied, the effect we get is as if an army of golfers had recently descended like a swarm of locusts onto this poor course, a rather curious effect for an out-of-the-way venue that does not even have a tournament option.
The new textures and plantings exact a bit of a cost in file size, with the new .crz file weighing in at more than 20MB larger than the original (an increase of nearly 70%) and generating a .sha file more than four times the size of that in the converted 2001 version.
THE BOTTOM LINE (OR, 'WHY SHOULD I PAY FOR THE NEW VERSION WHEN I CAN HAVE THE ORIGINAL VERSION FOR FREE?')
The answer here depends to a large extent on how you feel about the original version, since the changes Ross has made are probably not substantial enough to convert many 'nonbelievers.' If you are fond of the original, and especially if you frequently play it, then you will certainly want to spring for the new version: the freshening of the textures and the polishing of the design certainly make the new version the one to have. If, on the other hand, you did not care much for Anglewood when it was initially released, or if this style of course has little appeal to you, you may want to give the free version another look before deciding whether to spend your money.
COURSE STATISTICS
Front nine: 3598/3518/3572/3286/3394; par 36
Back nine: 3782/3712/3782/3452/3578; par 36
Total: 7380/7230/7354/6738/6972; par 72
|
|
CLIPNOTES by Ben Bateson (ousgg) |
Description
Imaginary, lakeside course |
Location
TBA |
Conditions
TBA |
Concept 4/10
A trendsetter in being arguably the first P2P course, Anglewood adheres
to its designer's tradition for extravagant design, leaving no stone unturned
and frequently stomping back over stones that have been turned once too
often. It's certainly more an outlet for the designer's extravagances than
for coherent, quality golf, and for that one might wonder exactly what has
been done to earn P2P status. The answers are here, buried in some
impressive early techniques, but you'd need to be an aficionado to call this one a favourite. |
Appearance 5/10
Oh my. This almost defines 'mixed bag'. Look closely enough, and you'll find some impressive early uses of textures, but it's likely that
these will be swamped by the obvious: heavy reliance on stock objects and the Whistler panorama, frequent clones and very little by
way of customisation. It's difficult to justify this during the modern quests for photo-realistic perfection, and the regretful conclusion is
that it's very disappointing indeed. |
Playability 6/10
'A good day out' has frequently been the saviour of many Ross Anthony courses, and the first few holes give some hope for what lies ahead. False hope, as it turns out. By the turn, the hole design is delving into the clichéd, and gets really quite silly around the 13th and 14th. It's surprisingly tedious stuff if you've seen it all before. Not terrible or punishing, but tedious. |
Challenge 7/10
Anglewood is reasonably moderate in many areas, notwithstanding one or two greens that verge on the extreme, but the artificiality
leaves you wondering whether the challenge is being presented purely on the basis of the designer's whim. Natural-challenge holes
could be counted on one hand, even if you were Captain Hook, and birdies may be regarded as even a little unsatisfying given the
nature of the shots you are expected to pull off to achieve them. |
Technical 4/10
It's very difficult to give credit here. Paying customers would at least expect some originality and customisation, and perhaps a bit less
silliness. The creative use of textures is admirable, but so much else doesn't really come up to the mark. |
| Overall |
Too little freshness and imagination to warrant the purchase. A disappointment from a designer who promised more. |
26/50 |
Please remember that Clipnote reviews are the opinion of one person and do not constitute an 'Official' Links Corner review of the course. |
This course is available as a FREE download.
|
|
Download course
|
Please support Links Corner
|
|
|
