|
Hobo's Valley
by Zeke Seidel
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 1639 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2006-01-01 |
82,518,016 bytes |
72 |
7188 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
FICTIONAL |
MOUNTAIN |
Hobo's Valley 1.CRZ.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| |
|
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewer - Michael Hubbard
INTRODUCTION
A mountain setting is the home of Zeke's maiden course as an APCD designer. Along the way his readme notes that he has had help from many esteemed colleges. The final product however well reflects his own enthusiasm and fervour for Links design.
Extract from the Readme
'Being located in a valley found in a southern transitional biome, it possesses vegetation indigenous to both the deciduous and coniferous forest. You will also note and abundance and variety of shrubs and flowers found in both zones.'
'Another feature of the design is the variety and number of planted sound files(77). I'm sure if you enjoy 'bird-watching' you'll have a great time trying to identify all the varieties during your round of golf.'
Zeke has included 6 splash screens with the zip files & at 80mb it boasts a goodly size!
COURSE
Visually the course is splashed with vivid colours. Many trees appear in flower along with vibrant and colourful shrubs and plants especially around the fanatically arranged tee boxes. 3D objects too are aplenty here, from the Rolex clock on the first tee to Hobo's barn at the second - Screenshots 2, 3, 7, 9 along with many stone bridges throughout. All in all I found the continuous use of bright colours a little overbearing.
There are very detailed areas of under-planting alongside the fairways - Screenshot 6 but these appear to run out when approaching most greens which have an almost stark, bare appearance to them save the odd tree standing alone Screenshot 1, 5, 8. As can be seen from the overhead shot the planted areas are self-contained rather that naturally growing around the course - Screenshot 1. The trees themselves appear to span almost every variety in existence. The readme indicates that this is due to its being located amidst two contrasting environments. Whilst this may be the reason, I none the less felt that the overall effect was one of confusion. To settle on one theme for the course would have added more realism than the huge mixture of colours and variance on display.
I found the course to contain sharp contrast breaks between fairway and green, fairway and rough, rough and the heavy rough plantings with little in the way of transition - Screenshots 6, 9. This along with the white bunkers and brightly coloured vegetation made the course a little conspicuous in appearance rather than being soft on the eye. The bunker lips - Screenshot 4 were of a similar type and so were the water edges. Along with this many of the water plantings looked rather tenuous - Screenshot 5. All of these are things that I am sure Zeke will improve upon in future course designs. However the overriding effect was a little overpowering.
In the readme notes Zeke makes reference here to the sound files that are about as good as it gets for such a setting. Superb in variety and quality which all add to making an idyllic atmosphere for a quiet round of golf. Canadian geese can be heard on the 14th green I believe? With such ambience I found my rounds there were best enjoyed with crowds and tournament objects switched off.
The custom flags and tee marker carry the Hobo Valley insignia, which is classy - Screenshot 2. The hole previews are neat if not elaborate. The course also boasts modest crowds and a few tournament camera towers -Screenshot 5.
PLAYABILITY
An overall length of 7188 yards from the back tees with just one par four over 450 yards and 3 reachable par fives. The 18th too may be reachable under some conditions, but all require powerful strikes making for a good risk and reward quartet. Other than this most of the par 4's were of a similar length and design, being straight away or of a gentle persuasion left or right. The fairways are of good width, and tight in places, although lacking innovation in both shape and design. There are no undulations on the fairways, but with good use of elevation and slope, some difficulty has been infused into the approach play - Screenshot 4, 8
The greens are large with sweeping incline's requiring puts of perhaps 15 feet or less to ensure a good run at the cup - Screenshot 7. Aside from the elevation used around the fairways the green areas remain flat providing no danger to a missed approach. A modest player around the greens will have little trouble in saving par here.
The bunkers are fairly flat and pose no real difficulties - Screenshot 4 to escape from. There positioning too renders little to the overall pitfalls on the course. There are around a dozen bodies of water located around the course that come into play on occasions. Whilst none are situated close enough to question your club selection necessarily, they may well come into play if ones striking is off or on windy conditions - Screenshot 1, 5, 9. A good example of this is the par 5 4th hole blind approach with water fronting the right edge of the green - Screenshot 5.
All told, it is not a testing course, but requires some earnest effort to get the full reward out of the substantial par 5's.
DESIGNER INTERVIEW - ZEKE SEIDEL
1. How did the course evolve for you?
In a word, slowly, sometimes at a "snails pace", as I'm sure it is with most who are new to APCD. Manuals in hand, page by page, hole by hole, and the "learning curve" is steep at the beginning of the journey. Gratefully, there were those at Links Corner who were willing to spend their time, skill and advice to help me along the way. As you know, the design and development of Hobo's Valley began before "seam blending" and the "MOD" came about, so some of its deficiencies can be reasonably explained, precluding a complete redo.
2. What were your highs and lows on this your first course design?
Certainly the "highs" for me were the friendly relationships around the world this "game" created for me. Also seeing the design come together and make it to the "promised land"; posting it at Links Corner for fellow "Linksters" to download and hopefully enjoy. The "lows", obviously were the frustrating moments throughout the design process, too many to mention.
3. What would you say was the signature hole for you?
There are several that I might choose, notably #3, #5, #10, #12 and #18, but overall # 3 gets my vote based on the tee elevations, plantings and visual aesthetics.
4. Have you begun work on a second course yet?
Yes, I have begun work on a new course, Adare Manor, but recently put it on hold to work on finishing Flaz's partially completed woodland course, which is moving along nicely. One thing is for sure . . . It's so much easier the second time around.
CONCLUSION
Overall this course poses few real challenges. From fairway to large greens there is little danger and with good approach play there should be birdies aplenty. I found that visually the course is sharp, bright & vivid in colour to the point of being a little too intense. It had an 'in your face' feel to it for me rather than a feeling of depth that will surely come with future designs built on this base. In reality the course looked too neat and trim rather like a painted picture, thus making it a good deal less plausible. . With an increased measure of variation in hole design and greens, a greater consistency in the foliage and an overall softening of the colours and lines much can be expected from Zeke in the future for sure.
However for a first design Zeke has produced a course that is technically solid, playable and a credit to his hard work and enthusiasm.
IN A WORD
Vivid Ambience |
|
CLIPNOTES by Ben Bateson (ousgg) |
Description
Imaginary, mountain course. |
Location
TBA |
Conditions
TBA |
Concept 4/10
Hobo's Valley is one of those course that has trouble cohering. It looks more than anything as if 18 holes have been designed in relative isolation and more or less shoehorned together. The hole design is patchy, with an over-reliance on water, although there are flashes of good ideas. Elevations are used well, as befits a mountain course, but a bit extreme in places. The whole thing is a flight of fantasy more than it is a golf course. I'm afraid I couldn't get on board with it at all. |
Appearance 4/10
The textures are the best thing about this course. They're tidy, occasionally (not always) well blended, and do a marvellous job of not checkerboarding, even in the bare expanses of rough. Elsewhere, however, it's not quite so good. There's some coarse custom work, a haphazard set of tree planting, and very obvious clones at grass level. The panorama is hackneyed and the elevations unreal, even in a mountain setting. It's better than some first attempts, but sadly not great. |
Playability 5/10
This is a course that makes a lot of your greenside game. You will spend a lot of time working on your chipping and bunker play. This is largely because of the contrivances (blind shots, doglegs) that stymie your tee shot. Given the wide expanse of openness visible, there really is no need for the fairways to be this restrictive. Those playing pro swing are likely to find the course unfriendly, and the 18th hole nigh on impossible. It's a disappointing anti-climax to a round that did start with some promise. Conversely, special mention should go to the ambient sound: clearly a cut above the rest, it is well-pitched, well-varied and well-planted. |
Challenge 9/10
Bizarrely, the whole thing works a lot better than one might expect. The proliferation of deep rough is unfairly punishing, and you might consider the bunkering and pin positions to be a bit near the knuckle, but if your target hitting is reasonable then this course provides plenty of unexpected opportunities. |
Technical 5/10
Zeke has since gone on to show us he can produce courses of real class, so it is clear he has tidied up such hangovers from this course as 'dartboard' planting and inconsistent blends. As a first effort, I suppose Hobo's Valley is good; just about passable on the large scale. |
| Overall |
A bit messy but a course with some promise. A good warm-up round before attacking something more serious. |
27/50 |
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.
|
|
Download course
|
Please support Links Corner
|
|
|
