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One Golf Course
by Heiko Frantz
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 189 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2001-03-22 |
13,868,500 bytes |
71 |
7017 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
FICTIONAL |
PARKLAND |
Onegc.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| e7a83b001edf11d58823dd3279159f3f |
c2fec1eb4b2806fc80e4a0c6e92a9eb0 |
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by Mick Lenton
Thoughts from the 1st: Looking out from the 1st I was thinking, 'This is a very nice course for a first posting', and the thought has still not left me after playing the course.
There are faults, but it is a very nice course, especially for a 1st effort.
The Course: It is a par 71, (No par 5 on the back 9), constructed around several lakes with quite flat, tree lined fairways.
It is a well designed course with a lot of the drives needing some sort of adjustment. There are a couple of VERY narrow fairways and some small greens but the course still plays well.
There are several different shapes of tees and they have a surround of rough which I am not sure about and the 15th hole has three boxes but only a back tee has been planted.
The fairways have quite a nice, muted, chequer board cut and have been given what should be a 1st cut of rough but the 'fringe' texture has been used and this will not give the same reaction to the shot that a 1st cut would do although the look is quite good. They have been laid out very well with some interesting shots.
The greens have the standard texture and fringe and have been well shaped. There are some steep slopes and some puts can be very difficult. I also have to say that maybe the pin positions need looking at carefully as some of them are on steep slopes.
The bunkers and lakes seem to have gone though a 'learning curve', especially the lakes. The early ones are not finished very well and some have a very bad reflection problem that require some work on the verts and edges. The later ones however are edged and worked on quite nicely, although lacking any actual lips to the textures, so why Heiko did not go back and redo the earlier ones escapes me!!
As far as the bunkers, some of them have been done quite well, although there is no dirt edge or lip which, as I have said before, IMHO really finishes the bunker off, but some have not been finished very well at all with no edge or wall. The sand used is an 'off silver' type with defined rake marks and pale brown flecks, which I think looks very nice.
The planting is, I think, very nicely done with the trees sitting in a very nice rough texture that Heiko has given the GuR property. It has been quite sparsly underplanted but it does look quite good.
I have mentioned the problems with the lakes and bunkers, but there is one other problem that follows you round the course and that is sharp edges on terrain changes. This normally is happening between the fairway fringe and the rough and occurs where there is an elevation change at that point.
It looks as if Heiko has put in a row of verts fairly close to the edge but he has not used them correctly.
Where you have an elevation change, especially if there is a texture change as well, a row of 'protection' verts are almost always necessary. Let us say that where the fringe changes to rough there is an elevation change, up or down, the protection verts want to be in the elevated texture, in this case, the rough, and be virtually on the same level as the fringe. This then gives a 'smooth' fall-off instead of the sharp edge.
Obviously these faults do detract from the course slightly, but it is still quite a well made course, worthy of being played.
Playability: I will have to say that I think a clicker will get on with this course better than a Ps'er the occasional shaped shot is required. Also on some holes distance and accuracy are at a premium. That having been said , this is a highly payable course with quite a few holes that have 'rewards' if you go for it, quite long 2nd shots if you don't and definate problems if you go for it and fail !!
Although the course is very flat, Heiko has managed to build a course that really needs thinking round and for a first course this has been really well worked out.
The 1st is a nice opener that gets you into the course in a gentle manner
By the time you get to the 4th you really need your swing going as it is a par 5 with a VERY narrow fairway. Most of the holes do feature a bit of room to land on, not this one. Two good shots, maybe with a bit of help from the wind, should see you on the green though.
Of the other 2 par 5's, the 7th can be reached quite well although again, the fairway is narrow and the green is quite small. The 15th however would need ideal conditions and two perfect shots, and then a bunch of luck!!
The 18th is a nice finishing hole with the chance, just a chance of driving the hole and setting up that eagle.
Good Points: Nice planting. Nice design. Very playable and you will want to play it again I think.
Bad Points: Those faults mentioned. The overall flatness, IMHO a bit of elevation away from the lakes would have improved the course, although I am not saying flat is bad!! A lack of objects, not planting, but objects to finish the course off. A fence or two, clubhouse, maybe a seat or the like and where are my ball washes. I have said this many times before that my balls need washing on a very regular basis :-)) and it does finish things off. There is the boat on the 1s lake, but I could not see much else
Favourite Hole: I like the 14th, a nice par 4 where a very good shot with a bit of help will clear the stream linking the 2 lakes either side of the fairway. Or it might not!!
Least Favourite Hole: Difficult one this as one hole did not really stand out. I will say the 4th though as that fairway is VERY narrow for a Ps'er and there is also a bad fault where the fairway has been changed but the 3rd shot marker has not been moved and is way off the fairway. Do not forget this can cause problems with the computer players
Final thoughts: A very nice course that I think is well worth a look. If you can put the few faults aside it is a nice course to play. Whether or not it is a keeper. Well that is going to have to be up to you, it is quite a nice course, but slightly flawed and lacking some originality, for that reason will not get the score it COULD have if worked on more.
Work on it Heiko and get those faults put right!!
Course Info :
Cameo Screen? Yes
Splash Screen? Yes
Text file? No
Hole Previews? No
13mb
Reviewed June 2001 |
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