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Fairmont
by Dave (Moldy) Mackey
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 1300 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2003-07-02 |
12,679,415 bytes |
72 |
7253 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
FICTIONAL |
PARKLAND |
Fairmont.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
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LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by Simon Kent July 2003
Designer: This is Dave (Moldy) Mackey's first release of a Links 2003 course, but he is in no way new to the design world. With seven previous releases all under 20mb and all scoring over 70, Dave certainly knows how to make an appealing download, with course styles including Mountain, Parkland, Tropical and Woodland. His previous releases include Columbia C.C., Jungle Utopia, LakeWood C.C., Mountain Springs, Optimus Hills, Pine Valley and Xanadu. With his last release being in November 2001, it's good to have Dave back again designing courses.
Playability: After playing 18 holes on this course, my score turned out to be one of the worst I have had in recent times, but yet I have not enjoyed a round in recent times more so than I did on this course. When you think you have it easy, you really don't, as elevation and reachable Par 4 greens tempt you into taking more risk than you would on other courses. Holes are designed to test your accuracy with driving, tempt you with risk/reward situations, and importantly to test your thought processes in regard to where you place the ball, as a shot off the tee landing in the fairway may not always equal an easy second shot. I finished with a -1 (71), with 50% Fairways and 44% Greens in regulation, with a total of 22 Putts. Lastly make sure to analyse your shot on Hole 10 correctly, because if you do, you may end up with an Ace as I did, which was my first hole in one on a course that I was reviewing.
The Course: On the first tee, the first impression and thoughts that were coming into my head were how beautiful and scenic the course looked with the large trees and shadows (Screenshot 1), something that I hadn't really experienced since playing Avocet at Wild Wing. The colours found throughout the course were very appealing to the eye, and combined with the water and shadow work, this course was one of most enjoyable golfing experiences I have had since I started playing Links.
Favourite Hole: Hole 17 was my favourite hole (Screenshot 5), as it was a tough Par 5, that was superbly designed and very pleasing to look at. The green is reachable in two shots, but with bunkers and water set to hurt poor shots, make sure not to let the beautiful scenery distract you, as a wayward shot could cost you dearly.
Technically: As the designer hadn't released a course for a long time, I wasn't expecting perfect technical aspects around the course, and when playing, your mind is concentrated more on the playability and scenery of the course, and not any technical faults. The rough textures used near the greens were very nice, while the fairway and green textures used were contrasted appropriately to the rest of the course. The only obvious feature that the course lacked, was seaming, which caught the eye more where the water met the fairway (Screenshot 3). The weirdest thing I noticed was that Hole 17 had a different green texture from the rest of the course; this didn't effect playability and wasn't ugly, but it was just weird.
Other: The splash screen wasn't visually stunning due to the poor resolution, but was an interesting effect when going into the first tee, as one moment your looking at the splash screen, and the next your at the tee with the same image, which is quite clever. The courses didn't really have hole previews, and you'll only understand what I mean by that if you play the course yourself. The only recommendation I could offer would be to offer handicaps for each hole, provide hole previews and get to learn more of the features found in APCD 1.5.
Download Value: This is simply one of the most worthwhile downloads I've had in recent times, as it's a small zip file for a course that I thoroughly enjoyed playing. As the course doesn't take up much room on the hard drive, I wouldn't even consider deleting it, as it's a course that I will definitely play again, and a course that I would recommend as a must have download for users of any internet speed.
Course Statistics:
Links 2003 Course, Par 72, Fictional Woodland, 5 Tees, Distance: Back- 6624m, Forward- 6194m, Par 3's- 4, Par 4's- 10, Par 5's- 4 |
This course is available as a FREE download.
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