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Someridge Golf Club
by David Brauzer
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 412 |
| Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2001-05-27 |
34,058,103 bytes |
72 |
6874 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
FICTIONAL |
PARKLAND |
SomeridgeGC.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| 991120a0536011d5a333b2323496b742 |
439e19fa6a92e61efc60d6a4e2b2763d |
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by Mick Lenton
July 2001
Thoughts from the 1st: I come here fresh from the Review Centre, having read the review of David's first course, Forest Oaks GC. Not to put too fine a point on it, Pete Dixon was not enamoured. So I am thinking. 'Has there been an improvement' Only having read Pete's review and not having seen the course you could say I am not really qualified to say. However I trust Pete's views 101% so I think I can say that David has improved beyond all expectations. I stand here at the 1st looking over what appears to be a well laid out, very nicely planted course.
The Course: According to David's notes, (I wish more people would do this!!!) this course is fictional, but based on a real one. It is beautifully planted with an assortment of trees, mostly green but interspersed with autumnal colours which I think give a very nice effect. Most of the course is quite open, with wide fairways, although there are quite a few shots you have to think about which is very nice.
Stock terrains are used, but this does not really detract from the course. The tees have a surround of fairway texture. I cannot say I like the look of this, as it has not been re-sized and the stripes are far too wide IMO. The tees are not raised and 4 are available. Back, Middle, Forward and Junior. I say again - What about the ladies??? The striped fairways are surrounded by an unchanged fringe. We have spoken before about this and I feel if you are going to use this texture you must close it and give it a rough property. This then leads into the standard rough and the trees are mostly planted in Forest texture. I personally like the planting. The green broken up by the bright reds and pinks and yellows, IMO looks quite good. I also like the way David has occasionally used rough and planting in the fairway, instead of bunkers. To be super critical, you could say that in parts of the course, you can see areas where the same tree has been used a bit too often, but this does not stand out, as it does on some other courses. David's bunkers and stream banks are quite well done. I feel he has a little bit to learn there, but for a second course, I am well impressed. There are a few stretch marks where the grass has been pulled down a little far, but mostly a nice job has been done and the white sand bunkers look good. Water is used to good effect to either penalise a bad shot, or to give you something to think about as you plan your shot and is well planted. Although there are some bad reflections that I will talk more about later. The greens are surrounded by a fringe and can be quite difficult if you leave a long putt, with some steep slopes. I think that this is another area that needs work, as some of the pin positions are quite severe for a normal setting.
This is a pleasant course to play and an excellent effort by David, for his second course. He has really put some time and effort in here and should be rewarded by people playing and enjoying his course. There are very few mistakes that stick out, and in general, Someridge is a nice, smoothly constructed course, definitely worth a play.
Playability: This is a very playable course for PSer's, so maybe it could be said, a little easy for the clickers. As I have said, it is a very picturesque course and is well worth playing for that alone. There are the occasions where you have to think though, as there can be quite an elevation change on some of the shots and also you sometimes need to shape a shot around something to get the best effect, or approach from the best ange. It is not a difficult course and also 3 of the par 5's can be reached in 2. Your problems start when you reach the green, as some are well contoured and a long putt can mean a very big swing. However what I think, is that David saved it all up for the 18th. Whereas most of the other holes have quite generous fairways and a reasonably easy shot to green, the 18th is a long, narrow, curving rather than dogleg, par 5. A very precise drive is required to give you a straight shot down the fairway towards the green and then, what you are presented with anyway, is an impossible carry over rough and a bunker, with sand and water short and left, and planting to the right. So a 5 wood and a wedge are the order of the day. Going back to the greens, I feel I did get some very difficult pin positions on normal setting.
Good Points: Everything!!! For a second course, this was an excellent effort. Playability, good looks and good construction.
Bad Points: Those difficult pin positions may need to be looked at. A bit of work to stop the stretch marks, caused by pulling the texture down too far, too steep. That is not excessively bad though. David, I did notice that on some of your water you have a bad reflection problem, with a strip of far reflection before you get the bank reflection. I have had a close look in APCD and I think the problem is, you do not have a ring of verts, close to the bank, in the lakes. I did go into APCD and do a bit of work. Not very much as my machine is a bit sick at the moment and finds it very hard to work on a complicated course such as yours, as I have a render problem I cannot pin down. But I put a few verts around a bit of the lake and the bad reflections disappeared at that point. All of you out there take note of this, as it is something that is considered by many designers to be a very necessary move.
Favourite Hole: That 18th. Above. By the way, I like the first too!!
Least Favourite Hole: The par 3, 15th. Just because it is the least interesting hole.
Final thoughts: As I say, I have not seen Daves 1st course, but going on Pete's review, there can be no comparison. This is a nice course, worthy of a look. It may not be to everyone's taste I suppose, but I thought it was very picturesque, if maybe a little easy. A good one for Pser's and I think a keeper for quite a few. I will be one of them.
Filesize 28MB
Course Info :
Splash Screen? Yes
Cameo Screen? Yes
Custom Flag? No
Custom Tee Markers? No
Hole Previews? No
Readme file? Yes
Par - 72 6874yds
This review will be based on playability, aesthetics, design, originality and construction. Please keep in mind that this is only my opinion following my play-testing of the completed course.
I fully understand the hard work and immense skill that is involved in the designing of these courses as I am a designer myself and my comments will try to be constructive and without bias.
Tested on Power Stroke swing - Champ level - from the back tees - Breezy/M/M Moderate |
This course is available as a FREE download.
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