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Errislannan Cliffs v2
by Tim Hagen

Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 1626
Release Date CRZ Filesize Par Course Length
2005-11-15  56,160,256  bytes 71  7083 yards
Type Style CRZ Filename
FICTIONAL  OCEAN  Erris_Cliffs_v2_Locked.crz 
Course ID Course Key
   

COURSE SCREENSHOTS

LINKS CORNER REVIEW

Reviewed by Ollie Woods

The designer: Tim Hagen has been around since the days of Links 2001. His first finished designs were Zoe Lakes and Zoe Marsh Golf Links.His most recent design before Erislannan Cliffs was the excellent Quail Hollow Golf Club (his only attempt at a real course to date) which was rated in the top 10% here.

The course: Erislannan Cliffs is, according to Tim's readme, 'a fictional course located on the west coast of Ireland in County Galway'. It is the first course to be released using the coast made by Mike Jones for his X-Pack. The course plays to a par of 71 and is 7074 yards from the championship Gold tees with 4 different sets of tees available. Tim says in his readme that this course started out as an experiment to see how the X-Pack looked, but then turned into a full course, created to try new APCD techniques and to give a fun round of golf to Links players. This course is at version 2 - version 1 had steel weed issues but these have now been fixed.

Layout and Playability: One of the things I liked most about this course was that, however similar the holes looked in terms of doglegs, there was always a different challenge to every hole. I counted at least three holes with left doglegs, including two in a row at one point, but they all required different skills: the 2nd, for example, was heavily littered with pot bunkers around 275 yards from the championship tee, meaning that accuracy and the correct length off the tee were of the most importance. The 5th, however, had no bunkers whatsoever at the drive landing area, but had two whole lines of them around the green, testing approach shots. This course has been planned really well, so that you have to have a good all-round game to be able to score well.
To me, the first hole is the most important hole because it sets up the style and challenge of the course. Here at Erislannan Cliffs, the first hole doesn't disappoint. Tim has positioned this hole away from the coastline, presumably so that there is more of a reaction to it when the player gets to hole 2. However, while the coast isn't seen on the first hole, the style and challenge are right up there with the rest of the course. From the championship tee, I had a dilemma (the first of many on this course!) - should I lay up to miss the narrow part of the fairway, but risk finding the pot bunkers spread 230-250 yards away; or should I go for the narrower fairway, knowing that if I missed the snap I would be in the deep rough on the left or in another set of bunkers on the right? I of course, went for it, and totally messed it up.

The elevations on this course have been marvellously done. There are all sorts of little ridges all over the fairways and the rough, and if you end up on a slope you will have quite a tough job aiming correctly to compensate for the slope. The rough is also absolutely horrible to get out of if you've been stuck with a bad slope - the course is designed so that on some holes, if you land too far into the rough you're going to have to play straight out to the fairway or risk your ball meeting the nasty long grass. Most of the greens are actually quite simple in terms of elevation - I made a couple of 20-footers that were almost completely straight. Without trying to be a psychiatrist here, I reckon this could be because Tim has made it a challenge on some holes to get to the green in regulation, so the player deserves a break. If you do miss the green and find the surrounding rough or the fringe, you will have a hard time getting a close chip because of the elevations, but for those who shoot accurately nearly every time there needs to be more of a challenge on some of the greens.

The 18th green is also rather weird. Most finishing holes are famous in some way. This could well be famous, but for the wrong reason perhaps. There is a pot bunker right in the middle of the green, which means that accuracy is at a premium on your final approach shot. This idea has its pros and cons - while it may be a refreshing change that isn't seen usually, it makes the challenge of the green go to the other extreme because from some places on the green you're going to have to putt at least twice just to get round the bunker. If you play online and the no-chipping-on-the-green rule is enforced, you're looking at a horrible score just for going a bit wide on the green. It is rather silly to be able to screw up your whole round on one green. I like the idea of the bunker because it is indeed different to most courses, but perhaps it could've been smaller, as a type of 'target golf' where no-one wants to hit the target?

Favourite Holes:

3rd - I don't know why, but I smiled when I looked back at the tee from the back of the green on this par 3. The scene is just beautiful - grass covering a little ridge with the sea around it with a formation of rocks. In terms of hole layout this is even better. The hole is downhill; if you set up for a level hole you'll lose your ball to the sea behind the green, but if you overcompensate and hit too short, those two bunkers in the front will swallow the ball and you'll have to beat a ridge in front of the green.

9th - When I played this 446 yard par 4 hole, I scored a double bogey. But here I am, praising the hole. Why, I hear you ask? Well, the layout is another classic risk/reward layout. The second half of the fairway looks perfectly reachable from the tee, at 273 yards out. However, your ball is going to roll a bit instead of directly landing at 275 yards, so this is a tough choice. Do you lay up and give yourself a long iron to an elevated green (of sorts), knowing that any inaccuracy could see you in one of three deep greenside bunkers? Or do you go all out and pray that your ball rolls, or is blown by the wind, onto the short stuff, with a good chance of your ball coming up short and needing an almighty smack out of the deep rough to even save par?

14th - This is a simple but beautiful par 3, measuring at 190 yards from the championship tees. It is a simple shot over the sea to a large two-tiered green. It's not the hardest hole ever with no wind but if you had the Irish winds descend upon the hole the two bunkers or even the sea will be there to gobble your ball up for breakfast.

Planting & Textures: Tim has done well in picking these textures to go together. None of the textures are particularly dark, which is characteristic of a links course where, in the summer, the sun shines and brings out the green of the grass. As the cut of the grass gets shorter, the tone of the grass is lighter - this looks really natural and the colours go together beautifully. I particularly like the tyre marks mown into the rough as a cart path - this works very well and preserves the natural beauty of the setting. The bunker textures are fine, and the sod wall is pretty realistic.
Tim has also done an excellent job with the tall grass planted on the deep rough. By combining lots of the tall grass with the odd gorse bush, he has created a really good looking & natural countryside environment. In a way I wish that Links could animate wind in grass, because while it would hurt the frame rate it would add that extra dimension to the course and would make it feel like you were really on the course. As it stands, it looks amazing.
However, the planting isn't all perfect. Unfortunately, Tim completed this quickly in order to give Links connoisseurs a fun and great-looking course, so he skimped on the planting somewhat. The only building is the small white clubhouse which can be seen from the 9th, the 18th, and a few holes around those two. This doesn't subtract much from the course, in my opinion, because of another issue with the planting.

There aren't any tournament objects or crowds on the course either, due to the course being done quickly. This is quite a shame I think, because this course could've been utilised very well for a tournament. The character of the course, to me anyway, is such that you could see it in two ways - for the casual golfer, it could be seen as a quiet retreat where a golfer could just play, perhaps using that lone clubhouse as an inn. However, if there were more buildings and tournament objects, this course could be used for a challenging but fun tournament where the spectators would lap up the surroundings.

APCD: Unfortunately I can't have a look at the course in the APCD because, as per the X-Pack EULA, all courses with material taken from the X-Pack have to be locked. However, judging by the way the course looks in game I would think that it is meshed very well because the elevations all look realistic, the seam blending works well, the extruded tee boxes look nice, and there are no glaring problems. However, some eagle-eyed Linksters have found a couple of bugs, namely the rough-to-rock coastline blend having the 'none' property and an ani playing a bunker shot as a normal straight shot on the 15th fairway. While these aren't major gripes and won't affect many people, I think Tim could've spent a little time getting some beta testing done without any bad delay.


Mod Playability: As these greens haven't got harsh slopes, those playing the Mod will have more of a challenge but nothing near impossible - not even the 18th! Pin placements are fine. From my practice round using the Mod, I found that I could shoot near to my non-mod score without much of a problem. I tried to simulate my mistakes in the non-mod round, such as the risk that went wrong on the 9th, so that I could see the difference in difficulty. I have to say, with the improved side-hill lies it was an adventure, to say the least, but I finished -4 as opposed to -6 in my non-mod round.

Extras: There is about 17mb worth of extras included with the course file - this includes the EULA, a custom scorecard, the readme, a pdf file with the hole previews, and two zip files with pictures of every hole and two splash screens. I think this is good value for your download because you get a neat little guidebook of yardages to help you round the course and the designer's favourite views of the course. The splash screens have been chosen well and I like the addition of a lens flare.. A cameo, custom flag and custom tees are all here, as well as hole previews. This all adds to the package, but a designer's guide to playing the course may have been a welcome addition too.


Summary: This course is excellent - the holes are laid out for an all-round challenge, the terrain is natural and challenging, the grass is luscious, and the extras are nice. I would recommend it to all golfers who like having to think about their game while looking at a beautiful course. It's definitely a keeper, even though there will be some who disagree about the use of MJ's coastline instead of one made by the designer himself.

CLIPNOTES by Ben Bateson (ousgg)

Description
Fictional, links course.
Location
TBC
Conditions
TBC
Concept  7/10
It's hard to know how to rate a course if the basis for it has been commercially available. Much of the visual splendour of this course is down to Links legend Mike Jones, and anyone can create a course around this coastal region. At first, it appears that most of the credit has to go to Mike, but on closer inspection, some very appealing and challenging links holes have been created. As long as you put the commercial aspect to the back of your mind, there is a lot to love here: and, let's face it, many courses these days are co-operative productions.
Appearance  10/10
The long grass planting is simply stunning. No clones are visible, and yet the little grassy hummocks are omnipresent. The sea textures are out of this world, and have not been matched for realism by anyone else in the Links community. Thankfully, the post-commercial work has not spoiled the visual splendour one bit: this is picture-perfect links.
Playability  9/10
There are subtle options off every tee, and - thankfully - the easiest bunkers to hit are reasonably easy to escape (the deep pot bunkers are saved for wayward or thoughtless tee shots). With an un-links-esque wide variety of hole lengths, this is very playable. Some might complain that hole designs are a little same-y after a while and that the deep rough is frustratingly hard, but they've really missed the point of proper links golf.
Challenge  10/10
Play a hole perfectly and be rewarded with a birdie. You'd have to play terribly badly (or hit the sea) to get a double bogey. In other words, this course is perfectly pitched and a credit to its second designer. Perhaps the greatest appeal is that the course seems to be an appropriate test on all difficulty levels and green conditions, whereas others drift into pointlessness or ridiculous difficulty.
Technical  9/10
The off-course technical work is of course brilliant, although occasionally the hummocks appear a little painted or lined-up. On the course, it's a few textures that need looking at: the bunker sod walls are extremely dark, and at one point (on the edge of the cliffs) I found my ball sitting on 'None' texture. These niggles aside, it's a fine piece of work and shouldn't be sniffed at because of its commercial availability.
Overall A successful and inspiring completion of a unique Links experiment. The designer should not get full credit, because of the genius input of Mike Jones, but nor should he be short-changed for creating a challenging and thoughtful links. 45/50
Please remember that Clipnote reviews are the opinion of one person and do not constitute an 'Official' Links Corner review of the course.

USER RATINGS

 Votes cast
Ace26 %18
Eagle47 %32
Birdie22 %15
Par4 %3
Bogey or worse0 %0

The User Course Reviews and polls have been removed from the forum due to the low numbers of members. The information above is presented merely for historical interest.

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