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Staffordshire Lakes Country Club
by Brian Jameson
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 1535 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2005-01-05 |
18,300,928 bytes |
72 |
7744 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
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FICTIONAL |
WOODLAND |
Staffordshire Lakes Country Club.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
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| COURSE NOTES |
This is my 2nd course, it is a fictional woodland course set in a number of lakes. Hope you enjoy it.
Brian Jameson |
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LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by Andrew Cray
I had the pleasure of reviewing Mr. Jameson's last effort, Dellemere Forest. I have to say Staffordshire Lakes is a good improvement. The course is set in the hilly English countryside, with lots of elevation changes, penalizing bunkers, and a ton of water hazards.
From the very first hole, you begin to see a trend with the bunkers on this course in that the edges are too sharp. There are some rock walls on the sides of some fairways which I found to be fairly odd. The height of the grass object used all around the course was too high. Usually you want that set to about a foot to maybe two feet. It really wasn't a big deal until it started obstructing the view of some shots to the greens. For example, the approach shot to Hole 2. I also thought that a different color grass could have been used. Maybe something with a yellowish or lavender hue. I felt more experimentation could have been done to make sure it looked right. I don't know if the course was beta tested; but if so, the testers should have noticed these problems.
With a mix of stock MS textures and custom textures, I felt the textures really clashed. The deep grass texture is what really bothered me the most. It just seemed out of place along with the texture used for the green which I though could have been a little darker. Naming your textures is another important factor. There is a texture known as 'U.S. Open Rough' when this is obviously a course set in Great Britain. Not too important, but just enough to catch my eye.
I thought the elevation changes could have been a little smoother. Most of the tee shots were downhill, with the tee sometimes robbing you of a good view of the hills or the lakes. I thought that we as players were being robbed of seeing a little natural beauty. I would recommend going back and lowering some of the tees.
Some of the greens are very large. For example, the 12th green is at least 4 or 5 club lengths long. I understand that this will change the hole distance, but in case of a strong headwind, you would be left with one hellish putt.
Staffordshire Lakes is full of long par 3s, par 4s, and par 5s. I would have liked to see variations in hole lengths. Maybe toss in a short par 3, or a drivable par 4, or a easily reachable par 5 or two. For example, the 4th hole could be controversial. The front part of the green is flat, and the second half intentionally runs down toward the bunker. Good design, however don't place pins two feet from that slope. Hard to stop the ball with a long iron or fairway wood. This course is a bomber's paradise where you pretty much needed to hit driver off of every tee to even think about scoring well.
I feel that with a few more tutorials on how to sculpt bunkers, lakes, and a little work on hole yardage variation, Mr. Jameson will come out with a top notch course. A few places to look for such things are on Mike J's website, Art Patcheck's APCD Book, and the forums on Links Corner will be all the inspiration you need for the next design. The advice you'll find here is very valuable and necessary to receive a top rating from reviewers like myself.
Favorite Holes:
My Ani player made a hole in one on the blind 7th hole. A par 3 that was playing 200 yards into a stiff breeze.
My true favorite hole was the 17th. It was a nice hole to look at from the tee. It's a shame that more holes didn't have views like the 17th has. Its a nice three shot par 5. Accuracy needed on the first two shots to have a decent third shot into the green.
Recommendation:
From a playability standpoint, I can honestly say that this is far better than his previous attempt. However, from a technical standpoint, there are too many nuances like the sharp edges on the bunkers, too many blind tee shots, and some unfair greens to have my full recommendation. I will say that this is a course that you have to try out and decide for yourself if you want it to stay on my hard drive. This course probably won't stay on my hard drive, but will be burnt to a CD for future enjoyment.
Extras:
Splash and cameo screens, a few other objects like ballwashers, no hole previews.
Disclaimer:
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the designer for showcasing his work to the Links Corner community. My review is strictly my own personal opinion. If you disagree with what was stated within my review, you can contact me via a personal message here at Links Corner or at one of my personal emails listed on my signature at the bottom of this page.
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