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Eagle Trace Golf Club
by Bob Hankla
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 1607 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2005-08-10 |
56,205,312 bytes |
72 |
7213 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
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FICTIONAL |
WOODLAND |
eagletrace.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
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LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Eagle Trace Golf Club is Bob Hanklas' sixth course released to date, one being a team effort. His first course, Lava Rock, was released back in 2002. Of the six courses released, he has achieved no fewer than five Links Corner recommended awards, so I have high expectations of this one, partly because it also carries the Links Corner Recommended Badge.
The Players' Point Of View
The course itself is not overly long playing at just over 7180 yards, but don't be fooled, this is a real thinking mans course and is by no means a push over. Water features a great deal on the course, and well placed sand traps abound. The water does not always come in to play but when it does it is worth taking a step back and thinking about what you are going to do next, the fairways vary from quite generous to quite narrow, a very good mixture of target and placement golf. On almost all holes you have a choice of shot from the tee, you can't always whale the ball into the fairway, sometimes an iron or fairway wood will pay dividends, it's up to you to decide when it would be beneficial to leave the driver in the bag. The fairways are also gently and nicely contoured, rarely do you get a dead flat lie, again forcing the player to actually think before playing their shot. The careless player might just find themselves in one of the many well constructed bunkers that attract the ball towards them, The bunkers vary quite a bit in size, shape and depth; you can see that there has been a lot of attention paid to the placement and construction of the bunkers and it has paid off. The greens too vary in size and shape and all are beautifully contoured to reward the good approach and leave the player making a poor shot a very tough put to get it down in one, nothing unfair though.
Some of the views around the course are stunning, especially when the lakes can be seen, not only has the designer created a challenging fun course I'm sure he has also spent a great deal of time and effort making it very good to look at. The tee boxes are again well constructed, they don't have the usual extrusions but personally I like this, not all tee boxes in real life do have the cut into long grass around them that we all try to recreate. Some of the tee placements give the player the choice of playing safe or hitting the big fade or draw, even more choices. There are three tee boxes with the middle, forward and junior tees playing from the middle tee, one word of warning. Stay away from the long grass, it is extremely punishing, and in my opinion this is how it should be. If you do find yourself unlucky, you just might find that you are chipping out sideways. However the deep stuff has been placed far enough from the fairways that only a pretty bad shot will wind up in there, so if you do find yourself playing from the cabbages you deserve it, another nice, clever thought by the designer.
You will not find any extreme elevations here; in fact the course is fairly flat in terms of elevation, however the course is very cleverly contoured, which I think is in keeping with a course built around a series of lakes.
With an excellent mixture of long medium and short par fours; (one of which is driveable for the very brave,) challenging par threes and superbly thought out par fives, including one pretty long par five which is only reachable in two by the very best, this is a truly lifelike rendition of a course cutting through a deep forest that could really exist out there in the real world, I wish it did, I'd sign up now for a membership.
If the designer was aiming to make a natural, true to life course; which I think he was, he has certainly nailed it.
All in all Eagle Trace Golf Club is highly polished, very playable and a job extraordinarily well done.
The designers' point of view.
Textures
The textures are very well chosen and fit the course superbly. First impressions left me with a feeling that the bunker lip texture could have been darker, there seems to be no definition at all. Having said that, after playing the course a few times the texture did grow on me and I actually like it, it is very subtle and works really well. One thing I did notice is that the fringe texture in game shows up as fairway in the lie icon, it's not a big problem, the fringe plays as fairway anyway, it would be nice however to know that after you have played the shot your ball was on the fringe rather than in the fairway.
Planting
There are a couple of cloned trees, one of which is quite noticeable, but to be honest it doesn't detract from your round very much, there are plenty of other things to worry about rather than whether you have seen a tree before, I thought the planting around the lakes could have been varied in planting style more, the reeds seem to follow a line around the fringe into the lakes and are very uniform, they don't differ in width of planting too much, some of the reeds are a little too big, some of the pine trees are also too big. That said, the planting is very much in keeping with the course, and fits the textures very well in all parts. Disregarding what I have just said, Eagle Trace is convincingly planted, and again very natural.
I must mention here that there are a few very nice marquees at the back of the eighteenth, they are superb so don't forget to look out for them (tournament objects.) The panorama is also incredibly well done, the designer has cut and spliced two panoramas together to give a great feel and look to the course, again a very clever addition, a lot of hard work, and a very good choice.
Blending
Top notch, looks fantastic; that is all I can say, mappings as far as I can see are spot on.
This has nothing to do with blending but picking out the 18th in particular, there is a wall that runs alongside the green and down to the water, there is a bit of a sharp edge where the wall meets the rough, (this is sometimes unavoidable) and no top to the wall, it has been extruded and mapped brilliantly but it goes straight down from the grass. Surely a wall has depth and a top to it, it does look good from the fairway though, and again it doesn't detract from the course at all. Cart paths are very well made with a tiny extrusion to give the slabs depth; the path is level no matter what slope it cuts through, something a lot of designers miss, or struggle to get right; again attention to detail here as well.
Layout
Very well done, the course does run up and down in fairly straight lines but then so do a lot of real life courses, I'm sure the designer has tried to create a course that could really exist out there in real life and he has succeeded. There are some very interesting bends to the fairways and a few slight doglegs that make you think about the shot. It is obvious that a lot of thought has gone into Eagle Trace, and the player who plays with a strategy will benefit, you can't just whack it about here, the designer has seen to that.
Elevations
Superbly done if very subtle, some of the slopes and undulations are hardly noticeable but they are there and can affect the shot; so be wary. There aren't any great drops or rises but the undulations, slopes and humps that have been put in are very well executed, they work extremely well, and add to, rather than detract from the natural feel of the course.
Summary
Although I feel I have been very picky in parts about the design element of the review, I have only said what I have said to help the designer; believe me I had to be very picky to find faults. Eagle Trace is a superb course and sitting at just over 53 Meg it might be a relatively big download but it is well worth it. This is an extremely well made course; it is very scenic and offers players of all abilities a great challenge and a lot of fun.
Extras
The course contains a cameo, a beautiful splash screen, crowds, tournament objects, custom flag, handicaps, some well placed 3d objects, custom 2d objects, a finely made panorama and hole previews; virtually everything.
The hole previews, though well done are pretty basic where information is concerned and don't offer the elite player much at all, I guess you will just have to play the course a few times and learn it, as is true in real life. There is enough information contained to get you started, personally I think this adds to the experience of playing this fine design.
Download value
Even at twice the file size this is a must have, download it now; definitely a keeper, Eagle Trace Golf Club provides all you could want in a round of golf, and a little bit more.
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CLIPNOTES by Ben Bateson (ousgg) |
Description
Fictional, lakeside course |
Location
Based purely on the EMGA’s history, I’d say Tennessee, as per Eagle Mountain |
Conditions
Generally plays well on M*/M* |
Concept 5/10
Built to complement Eagle Mountain, this in many ways is a similar sort of course in its forest setting and thrilling, water-driven rollercoaster of golf. But it's noticeably a more cynical course than its predecessor as well: very insistent on shape and drive placement even from the very first, and the tightness of the water is a bit of a joke if you're playing a tough skill level. It's an incredibly short course from anything but the tips, and it wouldn't have been unreasonable to expect at least another 500 yards and to cut out the swathe of short Par 4s. Reasonable in small doses, but really quite artificial with it. |
Appearance 8/10
Very strong planting, elevation and texture work are all marks of this designer, and there's very little at Eagle Trace to disappoint; indeed perhaps the biggest complement is that very little stands out as being poor work. The yellowy colour set is pleasant, and although the course is a little blocky and low-resolution in places, its fresh looks complement the course's outlandish structure well. |
Playability 10/10
For all its artificiality, there really is no beating this course when it comes to flat out target golf. With only a handful of holes where Driver is a reasonable option off the tee, this is less a round of golf than an outright puzzle. With first-class demands on shot-shaping and placement, it's thrilling golf right from the beginning. |
Challenge 5/10
A very artificial challenge from the almost continual water features is balanced by an equally artificial challenge stemming from the course's short length and relatively easy greens. Ironically, given that the course was designed for tournament play, these two factors remove most of the traditional challenges of tournament golf. It makes for a frustratingly inconsistent round where you are rewarded for mediocre shots and punished for reasonably good ones. |
Technical 8/10
There's very little to draw the eye away from a gung-ho course, save perhaps the old-fashioned work around the blends and bunker lips, and this is definitely a course that has aged well, not least from the point of view of difficulty and the Mod settings. |
| Overall |
Extremely unusual in its length and and target-driven style, this is an exciting round of golf, if perhaps a little too clever for its own good. |
36/50 |
Please remember that Clipnote reviews are the opinion of one person and do not constitute an 'Official' Links Corner review of the course. |
This course is available as a FREE download.
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