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Dunbar Golf Club
by Jim McGhee
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 1551 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2005-02-27 |
24,924,160 bytes |
71 |
6404 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
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REAL |
LINKS |
Dunbar GC_locked.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
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| COURSE NOTES |
Dunbar Golf Club is a qualifying course for The Open at nearby Muirfield and was founded in 1856 although golf is known to have been played on this narrow strip of links land since at least the early 17th Century.
As a member there for 20 years I have made it my first course in the APCD.
Since the Beta in December, main changes are: seam blending of all tees and bunkers; tightening of several holes by moving tees, planting more trees and long grass and bringing in long grass textures and wall; texturing and smoothing coastline; relaying half a dozen greens; creating surf line; more 2D objects such as shelter, folly, bins and ball washers; practice patch and practice green pins; custom flag; improved or blended paths; linking up burns to unseen loch; putting out of bounds to left of third; tying down floating verts and objects.
The course measures 6404 yards and has a par of 71. Dunbar is rated the sunniest part of Scotland so blue sky with a brisk offshore wind is an appropriate setting for the game. It plays most true to life from back tees, with wind and green speed turned up in the 1.06 Mod and with club yardages set to realistic distances.
In real life the course is simply a grand place to be at any time of year. With apologies to fellow members for any liberties taken with detail, I hope I have conveyed a sense of that reality.
Screenshots and course notes are at http://golflinks.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk |
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LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Designer: This is Jim McGhee's first course release.
Course History: Having hosted all of the major Scottish championships, Dunbar Golf Club is situated within the county of East Lothian, often which is referred to as the 'Cradle Of Golf'. Designed in 1850 by Tom Morris, the course sits next to the North Sea, and with variations in the wind each day, it is certain to bring a challenge to golfers of all skill levels. More information can be found at http://www.dunbar-golfclub.co.uk.
Course: In terms of re-creating the course as it exists in real life to that in the game, I think the designer has done a great job of doing so, but unfortunately, I don't think the difficulty of the course was transferred, which as with every real design, isn't the APCD designers fault. The subtle elevation and undulation changes were nicely done, but with the bunkers and rough really not coming into play, unless players severely slice their shots, regulation percentages should remain high. With added extras including houses and walls, Dunbar Golf Club is a simplistic course to play, and is a great change from the difficulty of most other Links designs.
Favourite Hole: The Par 3 on Hole 3 was my favourite hole on the course, as it really set up the atmosphere of the course with the sea in the background, and even though it isn't very difficult within the game, I'm sure the hole would play very hard with prevailing winds in real life.
Playability: Depending on how realistically you set the green and wind conditions, this course can greatly vary in its difficulty. In calm conditions, this course is extremely easy to shoot a low score on, with each of the Par 5's being reachable in two shots, while with the greens being quite large, putting shouldn't be that hard if you place the ball in the right position. The Par 3's are very target oriented holes, while with each hole being straight, you'll find many of the Par 4's will become repetitive due to their similarity in distance, so for this course to remain challenging from start to finish, players really need to set tough conditions before they first tee off.
Technically: As a 2003 course rendition, one might expect that the course would have somewhat of the quality seen in other real course designs, but unfortunately, there are many areas that could and needed to be improved upon. Even though a regrettable mistake, the hole yardages and round statistics that were missing can be quite annoying for those who like to keep records of each round they play, with the score being the only thing that was recorded. In line with what the course looks like in real life, most of the textures were colour matched very well, but the stock nature of many of them made the overall look quite dull. Seam blending was used in very basic terms around the bunkers and tee areas, but wasn't consistent, and if it was used more thoroughly, the look of the course would have been greatly enhanced. The grasses, planting and the sea were more reminiscent of a 2001 design, and even though the realism of the course remained intact, better use of APCD techniques could have made the visuals of the course much better.
Other: The course had a cameo, custom flag, hole previews and a splash screen, but did not contain handicaps or hole yardages.
Download Value: At just over 23mb, the course is a quick download, but besides the course file, it only contains a read-me within the zip. If you a fan of Scottish or real designs, then you might enjoy this course, but as it is very simple in its look and play, it won't be remaining on my hard drive or being burnt to CD.
Information:
Course Statistics:
2003 - Real Links - Par 71 - 3 Tees
Par 3's: 4 - Par 4's: 11 - Par 5's: 3
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