|
Pitchford Hall
by Eric Pitchford
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 210 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2001-02-21 |
22,949,256 bytes |
72 |
7240 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
FICTIONAL |
MOUNTAIN |
Pitchford Hall 2.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| 6b6fbb61078f11d5abc2b807a645f372 |
635f6574758013d15e5e17051e3c1653 |
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by Dave Campbell
Expectations: I was looking forward to playing this course. The screenshots prior to release looked awesome. The name brings to mind a stately old manor house.
First Impressions: Pitchford Hall is Eric's one and only release so far with nothing in the design pipeline to my knowledge. It is a fictional woodland, mountain setting and is a par 72 that plays 7,240 yards from the back tees. We get another glimpse at the Whistler panorama here but it seems to work well. Maybe I'm not as tired of it as everyone else seems to be. You have heard the word 'eye candy' before well this course is an 'eye candy store'. It is gorgeous with tons of stuff to look at and dense, varied and quite well done plantings.
This course is very difficult and demands accuracy all the way around, particularly off the tee. You can get in serious trouble with one swing. Eric has little surprises all through this course just waiting to get you. Fairway elevations feed to hazards of all types, several OB staked areas that can easily come into play and some demandingly tight shots required in places. After you play the course a few times you'll learn where to best place your shots and you can actually score quite well as my -5 final round will attest.
The place I'd like to start is the tee boxes. I'm sure it's not true but it seems like every tee box is elevated. Suffice it to say most are, offering spectacular views all the way around the course. It's as pleasing to the eye as any course I've ever played. Your tee shots will often find fairways with lots of elevations, many feeding right into hazards so be careful on your drives. Most of the time you have a good-sized area for your tee shot to land, although a few were very tight. My strategy was to club down to my 3W on all but two drives. My final round stats were 92% FIR, and you must do this to score on this course.
Bunkers come in all shapes and sizes and are all well done. The par 4 12th has a trap that looks like a question mark with the curved part surrounding the green. The 9th has a long, skinny fairway bunker that runs all the way to the green. The par 4 16th had an unusual bunker behind the green with extruded, circular mounds covered with deep grass. Sand virtually surrounds the green on the par 3 11th. Some greenside traps are very deep and should be avoided.
The greens are a tough go for the most part with realistic slopes and slants. I did sink three birdie putts over the last four holes (15, 16 and 18) that were all over 30', woohoo. Greens are fair in size and afford you a nice approach target in most cases.
Planting on this course must have taken forever. I already mentioned how busy this course is, in a good way. It doesn't look tacky at all in my opinion. Some of the objects I saw were shacks of various types, yardage stakes, bridges (an amazing looking long bridge viewed from 17 and 18), OB stakes, walls, Pitchford Hall (of course), rocks and granite like formations, several signs and checked flags reminiscent of The Belfry. Forest and ground plantings of all types as well, too many to mention.
Drawbacks: As I mentioned this course is very difficult. Most players of either swing method will have to be happy with par on most holes. If this type of course is not to your liking then consider yourself forewarned.
I'm not a big fan of the side-by-side fairway layout on hole 4. I hit into hazards twice in a row on perfect drives both times. A cunning elevation between the split fairways will shoot your ball right into the rough or worse. I couldn't shoot to the most open of the two fairways because a tree blocked my way. A clicker could've just chosen a fade but I was stuck shooting for the skinny fairway. Maybe if the tree were moved (or removed) it would be friendlier to the power stroker. The par 5 10th fairway is extremely skinny and densely planted and there is no room for error. You better be close to dead on with your snap (and swing path for PS'ers) or serious trouble looms.
The dynamic cam showed the bottom of the panorama, and then dead blue air on many border holes. Not Eric's fault, this course was released well before the patch. Just mentioning it.
I noticed a red line in the bunker in the middle of the 9th fairway. It was only noticeable, and then just barely, on a reverse cam shot.
While all objects and plantings looked great I'm not sure the autumnal trees near the 16th tee looked right. No other plantings of this type around the course that I noticed.
Best Hole: Every one is worthy; I have 18 screenshots that all deserve a place at the beginning of this review. All par 3's are super, the 11th and 13th in particular. I'll cast my vote for the short par 4 7th hole. You hit from an elevated tee to an island fairway that slightly doglegs right to a beautiful green. I caught a great dynamic cam shot of my drive on this hole but most views on this course look just as nice.
Comparable courses: Kylane by Wayne Hewitt, Langolier by Fred Briggson, Commonwealth by Stuart Kahle
Overall: Pitchford Hall is a very difficult, demanding mountain course that forces you to think before every shot. The layout is strong and the planting and object placement makes this course very easy on the eyes. I recommend a download for linksters of every swing type. The course is very playable especially when you learn some of its secrets. Great job Eric, hope you haven't given up on designing. I'd love to play another of your courses.
Course Info :
Cameo Screen? Yes
Splash Screen? Yes
Text file? No
Hole Previews?
20mb
Reviewed May 2001 |
|
CLIPNOTES by Ben Bateson (ousgg) |
Description
Fictional, forest course |
Location
None given – Rocky mountains at guess |
Conditions
Plays reasonably for an old course, but you'd be safest restricting yourself to
M*/S* |
Concept 5/10
A course packed with feature and detail, there will certainly be enough at Pitchford Hall to keep you amused all the way round. The golf is
all about tight fairways and acute target golf, but to its credit, it is never quite unfair. Looking off the beaten track will give you all the real
treats - there's plenty of eye candy in the form of flowers, brooks and OB areas. But, then again, do we really want to find all our treats
elsewhere on a course when we've gone there to play golf? It's the constant second-best paid to the course that knocks this down. |
Appearance 4/10
For an old course, there are a few treats to be found here, especially some subtle elevation work and the attention to course buildings. On
the flipside, the planting isn't up to much - clones being rife and obvious. The original 2001 textures and Whistler panorama aren't exactly
done any favours either. |
Playability 7/10
For precision, restrained target golf, it's hard to beat this course. In truth, it's never over-demanding, and a good depth of course
knowledge will see you through. There's plenty to look at, lots of shots to be made, and none of the seen-it-all-before ennui that goes
with older courses. |
Challenge 4/10
Getting caught up on this course can be particularly nasty, and it's not too difficult to get caught up, given the infringement of the dense
forests. To be fair, the greens are generally moderate, although there is a nasty slope or two, and there is evidence of strong
playtesting in the lack of difficult or unplayable lies. But there's no escaping that it's not an easy course. |
Technical 5/10
The big problem in this day and age is that halfway-decent old courses are going to become increasingly marginalised. And the big
problem with this course is that it is only halfway decent. With the techniques available at the time, it's really not a bad effort, but it just
doesn't stand the test of time. |
| Overall |
A little more than your average 'old' course, a lot of precision and observation
should be considered a must. |
25/50 |
Please remember that Clipnote reviews are the opinion of one person and do not constitute an 'Official' Links Corner review of the course. |
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