| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 188 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2001-02-05 |
9,456,529 bytes |
70 |
6620 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
FICTIONAL |
PARKLAND |
OldQuarryLake.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| afdb8500ba7b4990bf6afd881b5de1d2 |
bb6b53251df1867b4f30b7d8486ec5ae |
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by Lacy Gearheart
First Impression: This is a fictional parkland course set somewhere in the mountains. As far as I know this is Alan Syen's first design. Due to the Review backlog; we are finally getting to some courses for the first time. This one has been on the server for over a month.
This course has a very nice layout and sticks out due to the Quarry like Lakes surrounding the course. They look very manmade and are edged with a rocklike texture. Various ponds and large lakes are plentiful here as well as the sand traps that overpopulate this design. is is not meant to degrade the course. It is just the best way to say their is ALOT of sand. On many holes there is more sand than fairway and they actually look quite good. The greens and rough is extruded slightly to give the feeling of added depth. Trees are common here and seem to be put in the proper places. You can obviously see that this was once a working quarry and was later converted to the golf course. Several elevation changes seemed a little far fetched and the greens were sometimes flat and other times very bumpy. The course plays a very short 6620 yards from the back tees but it seems much longer. Many of the holes feature a blind tee shot. Either not being able to see the fairway or green. The mountain pano looked good for the part except looked very bad on hole #10; it looked as if you were going to drop off the edge of the world.
There were several technical faults such as pulled verts on rough areas and even on hole #16 a section of the rough just off the tee seemed to be a bridge towards the sky. This has also been seen on some of the Links 2000 converted courses. The playability factor was pretty good and the risk / reward factor came into to play on many holes. In general the holes were well sculpted but there just seemed to be alot missing. For one...with all that water...there was not one bridge. How do you get from one island to another? A Boat? There were no cartpaths but with no bridges I really didn't see the point. Several of the holes had large hills or forested areas between the tee box and the green or fairway. And the green on hole #6 seemed to be undulated like a bowl, not very natural.
Custom amenities: None that I saw - This was before the custom objects and textures craze.
Greens: They were well shaped but some were very flat while others were very slopey. A little consistency would have been nice.
Fairways: The majority of them were very well done. Nice gradual slopes were common with the exception of a few holes. No second cut of rough was used on this course and that would have been a huge addition.
Tee Boxes: They were mostly very well done as well. Each Tee box was accompanied by a waste bin / ball washer.
Bunkers and Water Hazards: The water hazards were nicely shaped but the rock texture should have been mapped better. In some areas it looked very blurry and a gradual incline would have looked better. The naturally planned lake on Hole #18 looked very nice....it happened to have no rock edging. The bunkers were nice with the color and all, but the lips were squared and it made it look very man made. The depth was pretty good but a little touch up is definitely advised.
Planting: Planting was quite good, but I personally would have liked to see ground plants such as grasses, bushes and weeds. It makes it much more natural looking, but does add to the file size. Also the designer used pink trees on hole #14, ala Foxfire CC, but that was the only hole they were present. This tends to be a first timers fault and they learn it is necessary to stay with a particular planting scheme.
Best Hole: My favorite hole was an easy decision. The #11 hole, 648 yard Par 5 was done very nicely. A HUGE orange bunker escorted the fairway all the way down to the green. Then it encircled the green. The green itself was very nice and slightly elevated but not protected by trees. That hole I loved and would probably be in my top 5 when it comes to layout. The fairway was very narrow and made for three perfectly placed shots in order to have a chance at a birdie or par.
Overall: An above average parkland course with a "Flintstone" quality to it. This was meant to mean alot of rocks. When this course was initially uploaded it was probably one of the top 20 courses. But due to the elevation of quality work done lately...it probably wont be downloaded unless you have extra room on your hard disk and want a very good challenge. Quite good for a first design actually.
Course Info :
Cameo Screen? Yes
Splash Screen? No
Text file?
Hole Previews?
9mb
Reviewed March 2001 |
This course is available as a FREE download.
|
|
Download course
|
Please support Links Corner
|
