| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 1563 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2005-03-17 |
13,160,448 bytes |
72 |
7404 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
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FICTIONAL |
PARKLAND |
Saratoga farms.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
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| COURSE NOTES |
| Thank you for downloading my first attempt at designing a golf course.This course is set in forested farmland in the north central america.Now being a novice I don't know if I captured this or not but I tried : ) The only non-standard texture I used was for the tees wich was from Wyntoon.The front nine is the longer of the two but the greens are bigger.the first three holes are the first ones I designed geeting the basics down so you might catch a few mistakes there.The back nine I had a little better grasp of the terrian tool and the greens are smaller in size.Again thank you for downloading my course. |
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LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by
Andrew Cray (andrewcray2)
About John S Rubenkoenig:
Saratoga Farms is his first release.
The Course Layout:
Saratoga Farms is a 7,404 yard course set in the central part of North America. It's a fairly well manicured course with plenty of hazards lurking, whether its small pot bunkers, water hazards, or large sculpted bunkering in the middle and sides of the fairways and greens.
What I Thought Could Have Improved This Course:
I'm going to start with an issue that bothered me from the first round I played on this layout. Most designers who design inland courses tend to use run up areas to the green by using a fringe texture or a lighter fairway texture and seam blending it. The common trend on this course is to stop the fairway about 3 to 4 yards before the green, have a strip of rough just before the green, and then the actual green itself. Kind of defeats the purpose of a run up shot from the thick rough.
I felt that the fairways on some of the holes were way too narrow. There are some spots where the fairway might be less than 20 yards wide. The elevation work could have been a little bit better. A common fault with first time designers is that they tend to elevate the fairways and greens, but not the rest of the course. If the rough is flat and the fairway has a 30 foot down slope, what's the point of trying to hit it in the fairway? You probably could hit a better shot from a flat lie in the rough.
From the first tee, you can easily notice that the textures do not mesh together. I thought they were too dark for the type of course that the designer was trying to produce. Planting was spotty and repetitive. Some of the greens on this course were way too large, sometimes leaving fifty yard putts.
Another fault with most new designers is that they try to make their course super long so that it adds some kind of challenge. I was guilty of this crime on my first two attempts as well. I felt that this course could have used a few short par 4's, a mixture of yardages on par 3s, and the designer could have shortened a few par 5s. Only two of the pars 5's are reachable and less than 540 yards. Another problem is pin placements, some of them are ridiculously close to edges of bunkers, water hazards, and the edges of the greens.
I would have liked to see the 'sculpted' bunkers with dirt lips and a little seam blending. I thought that would have added a little more quality to the course design. As for the pot bunkers, any texture other than the rough texture used would have been fine. It was just too dark and was especially not pleasing to the eye in comparison to the fairway texture. And finally, the waste bunker on Hole 15 needs the edges to be sharpened.
There were no hole previews, tournament objects, sounds, or a splash screen.
My Recommendation:
I personally can't recommend this course for the reasons that I stated above. There are good quality holes out there, but with the constant elevation and planting problems, it just didn't leave me with a satisfied feeling while playing this course.
My advice for this designer:
First, read all the tutorials you can. I believe that you have the grasp of the APCD, but I believe a little work on seam blending this could be a top notch course. It takes a lot for a course to receive a close to perfect rating without seam blending.
Second, get a better set of textures. You can do that in one of four ways.
-Design a set yourself via Photoshop
-Ask another designer to help.
-Get textures from the Links Corner APCD forum
-Get textures from another course (but be careful by asking or at least giving credit to the designer whom you are taking them from)
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