| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 413 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2001-05-28 |
13,171,781 bytes |
72 |
7558 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
FICTIONAL |
WOODLAND |
Pine Valley.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| 26930260532d11d59d6c0080ae000001 |
9009a499a389196f27b20f6742a158f7 |
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by Pete Dixon
July 2001
Well this is the third course of Dave's I have reviewed and his latest, the other two being Jungle Utopia and Columbia, both of those having a touch of the tropicals about them, and I don't mean some nasty disease!! They were both very highly rated by myself and Columbia was my choice for COM when it came out. So it is with some anticipation that I downloaded and played this course, a fictional pine forest course far removed from tropical backgrounds, in fact you could be somewhere in the lowlands of Scotland, there are no mountain backdrops here, just the forest.
The view from the first tee is top drawer and the course continues in this vein for the remainder of the round. Tees are raised slightly and finished professionally and the Pine forest backdrop is a lovely setting as lakes and streams are a prevailing feature too and go well with the wooded backdrop.
The course is not flat either; it undulates nicely and flows well with the textures, planting and hazards. There are not lots of different plants; it has a heather, heath-land feel to it, which again goes well with the pine trees.
Technically the course is excellent, and I wouldn't have expected anything else after his previous designs, if anything Dave has got things even tighter and the finish all round is superb.
As well as being a traditional type of course it has been given a fresh approach by the unusual layout of some of the fairways, the shapes are not the normal thin strips, but wide with hazards or broken up by rough or water, added to this are double greens it all adds something a little bit different but doesn't detract from the overall look, the custom textures used also help.
One odd thing did happen to me on the 10th with my approach shot, it landed just short of the green and appeared to roll back over a lake to rest in some rough after it, I replayed the shot and it didn't happen next time, very odd!
This is no easy course to score well on either, it is not one that looks hard but it plays it, what I would call a thinking mans course, or woman of course, it always has something unsuspecting to catch you out like a slope into some horrible rough that you never knew was there.
Best Hole: Another one of those courses that it is hard to choose from as there are so many, in the end I have opted for the shortish downhill par 4 12th which has a lovely view from the tee then an uphill second to a green that has a small lake in front and is also guarded by 3 bunkers, there are also some nice brown rocks featured here that are on a few of the other holes too.
Overall: Another beauty from Dave, and I have to say I am a fan of his courses. What I particularly like about this is that he has completely changed the type of course design again and keeps producing excellent fresh courses.
I am not sure if I like it as much as Columbia, I think equally as they are so different. The other thing that is amazing is that it is only a 12MB download, how does he do it?
Make sure you have this in your collection it plays and looks like a dream.
Filesize 13MB
This review will be based on playability, aesthetics and originality. 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 and my comments will try to be constructive and without bias.
Tested on classic swing Pro level from the back tees |
This course is available as a FREE download.
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