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WhiteTail Valley
by Joe Stellema
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 1532 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2004-11-24 |
32,333,824 bytes |
71 |
6760 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
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FICTIONAL |
WOODLAND |
WhitetailValley_Final.CRZ.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
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| COURSE NOTES |
This is a typical Michigan public course, the setting is more typicaly set in apple orchard.
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LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Designer: Even though this is Joe Stellema's first 2003 release, he is certainly no newcomer to the field of course design, with WhiteTail Valley being his thirteenth course. Even though none of his designs have been highly rated, he has certainly covered a large spectrum of styles, including Desert, Mountain, Parkland, Tropical and Woodland.
Course: WhiteTail Valley is classed as being a Fictional design, but it would be more appropriate for it to categorized as an Imaginary course, with the bunkers, elevations, hole designs and greens all seeming to be extremely fictitious in their nature, and not something you would find in real life. This is also evident with the oversized features of the fairways and greens, which were much larger than they needed to be. If you are a player who chooses not to use the top view, be aware that you might hit a few shots into the water, as with many blind spots scattered around the layout and no hole previews, you'll often have no idea where you actually need to hit the ball.
Favourite Hole: The Par 3 on Hole 15 was my favourite hole on the course, with the visuals from the tee being quite nice, but more so because it was the closest thing you would find to a normal hole on the course.
Playability: It is unfortunate that right from the first tee the course gets off to a bad start, with a long carry over rough to the fairway that players might struggle to reach in windy conditions, which is something that occurs a few times around the layout. Considering the greens are quite lengthy, it is vital to get as close as you can to the pin, because with the sloping of the greens being quite severe on occasion, sinking long putts is near impossible. The Par 3's are small and tight, the Par 4's often seem to get repetitive, while even though the Par 5 on Hole 1 isn't reachable, the other three are with two good shots. The Par 4 on Hole 17 is drivable, but be aware that a long putt will follow if you end up making the green. Achieving an under par score shouldn't be that difficult, but if you like to play in windy conditions with no top view, you should expect to shoot over par, as WhiteTail Valley is no stroll in the park.
Technically: Even though this is a 2003 design, don't expect to see any advanced APCD techniques around the course, with no custom textures or seam blending used anywhere in the design. The shadow file is quite large, so the course will take a bit longer than normal to load, while even the course maintains a clean look throughout, it would have looked much better if the bunkers had lips and if there wasn't as much repetitive planting with the larger trees. Technically the course doesn't have any major faults, but would have been much better if more attention had been paid to particular areas of the design, which is something that can be achieved through the use of beta testing.
Other: The course includes a cameo and splash screen, but doesn't feature custom flags or tees, handicaps or hole previews, while the zip file contains only the course and shadow file. WhiteTail Valley relied too much on bunkers and water in the course design to make it challenging, which resulted in the course being more of a chore than anything fun to play, so it's important to remember that players like to be tested, but not to the point where they won't actually enjoy playing a round on the course.
Download Value: At just under 34mb, the course is an easy download for most people, but if you do decide to download it, don't expect any extras in the design or zip file. Considering the course doesn't contain APCD features one might come to expect these days, and is a layout that is strenuous to play, I could only recommend this course to people who enjoyed any of the designer's previous releases, as it's not a course I will be keeping on my HD or burning to CD.
Information:
Course Statistics:
2003 - Fictional Woodland - Par 71 - 5 Tees
6760yds (Back) - 6130yds (Forward)
Par 3's: 5 - Par 4's: 10 - Par 5's: 4
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