| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 1969 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2010-11-22 |
81,181,320 bytes |
71 |
6885 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
REAL |
PARKLAND |
Las_Sendas_Final_locked.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| |
|
|
CLIPNOTES by Ben Bateson (ousgg) |
Description
Real, desert course |
Location
Arizona |
Conditions
Some iffy pin positioning makes it wise to stick to M*/M* |
Concept 8/10
Settled in a desert resort environment, Las Sendas is a very civilised desert course, but still bearing all the sand-cut hallmarks of the great
courses of the American west. Making great use of the neighbouring hills and some never-too-straight fairways, it's a step above the
average resort course, but not stretching itself to the excessive lengths of - say - the tedious Thanksgiving Point. It's still a mystery to me
why, like so many other credible desert courses, the last hole has been hazarded heavily and inappropriately with water. Regardless, the
whole thing has been converted efficiently, if hardly remarkably, for Links in a course that deserves to get a lot of play time. |
Appearance 7/10
Some aspects of the course look very professional, not least some great texture work in the green rings and the bunker lips. The
planting is also very convincing at points. The desert texture is stretched and very blurry on more than one occasion, and the massively
cloned resort houses probably DO all look the same in real life, but they grate on the eyes in-game. |
Playability 9/10
Sometimes an otherwise unprepossessing course is released into the Links community which - for no adequately-explored reason -
just feels really natural and easy to play. Perhaps it's swift rendering times, very subtle ambient sound and a very clean design;
perhaps it's just the ethos of resort golf in encouraging people to have fun, but Las Sendas certainly hits all the buttons. Only the lack
of niceties such as course objects and a bit of advisory text on the hole previews is a downer. |
Challenge 4/10
No, it's never going to be a tough course. But, in fairness, simple things such as fairway bottlenecks and doglegs are present in the
right places and do at least prevent your round being mindless. Thankfully, the back nine ups the difficulty somewhat with some tighterguarded
greens and tighter target areas. But you'd still expect to finish well under par. |
Technical 7/10
It's been acknowledged that this course has had significantly less time spent on it than some of the big-name creations, and in
retrospect it's impressive how much has been achieved. Blends and planting are first-rate, and the textures are good in parts (although,
it has to be said, somewhat random in others). With a bit more time spent on the course environs, this could be a real classic. |
| Overall |
Fun to play, and with an interesting difficulty gradient: this is a must-try and among
the best desert courses available. |
35/50 |
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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