| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 472 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2001-07-07 |
24,354,457 bytes |
72 |
7809 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
FICTIONAL |
MOUNTAIN |
pineview.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| a691e6bbe5d043aca6da4e2e0e5ed2e6 |
334c7860eb406ec68928014a701f6a88 |
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by Dave Campbell
July 2001
First Impressions: Pine View is the first course offering from Gary Turner and is a fictional par 72 playing to 7,809 yards from the back tees. It is a mountain, woodland setting utilizing the Whistler panorama and offers you all five tee choices. For a first design it is put together nicely and plays very smoothly. The splash screen Gary provides is one of the most beautiful I've ever seen. He used a screen capture of the course with a leaf border that really catches your eye.
Playability: Pine View is another of the seemingly endless mountain courses and does use the Whistler backdrop again. As I stood on the 1st tee I was thinking 'not another Whistler's mountain cookie cutter course'. As my round got underway and progressed I was pleasantly surprised. What I found is a nicely constructed, visually pleasing course. The layout has many different looks and will exercise all the clubs in your bag. Doglegs going both ways, split fairways, water carries and bunkers aplenty. All but one par 5 can be reached in two if you're willing to make a risky shot or two. The par 4's will be the real test of your round, at least from the back tees. They average 465 yards with two over 500 yards (the 11th and the 15th), which also happen to be two of the prettiest holes on the course. I played my second test round from the middle tees, which shortened the course to about 7,250 yards. This seemed just about right for my game and will probably be my tee choice when I play this course in the future.
The view from the most tee boxes is very nice. Gary has done some extensive planting in the form of flowery planters and grasses with rock and boulders that looks good. I found that I needed to shift from one side of the tee area to the other on several tees to get a clear shot or better angle to the fairway. The fairways are well done with rolling elevations (see screenshot) and do not have a 1st cut of rough. Generous landing areas are the norm and my no wind test round FIR was 85%. The elevation changes will give you many side hill, down hill and uphill lies. Club selection and shot setup will be crucial for a good round.
The greens fit the mountain theme of sweeping elevations and will give your putter a good workout, as my 33 puts will attest two in one of my test rounds. I played moderate and difficult pins and found both to be acceptable.
There are hazards to contend with that include fairway and greenside bunkers as well as water. Traps are pretty standard and in the usual places. The water is spread throughout the course and one pond located right in the middle of the fairway (see screenshot).
Planting is good and definitely autumnal. I mentioned the nice tee box planting but there are some gorgeous fairway plantings as well, particularly on the 11th hole, which require a precisely played tee shot. I spotted some ball washers, waste cans, golf carts, a birdhouse and an asphalt cart path.
All is all a very enjoyable round of golf from beginning to end. Overall use of the APCD is surprisingly good and gets better as the round progresses.
Drawbacks: Some beginner APCD mesh errors that are to be expected. Almost all main screen renders looked nice regarding the fairways but I noticed the occasional top cam mesh shadow. As is usually the case the bunkers suffer in a first design. They are playable and not unsightly but are fairly nondescript with more definition and polish needed in my opinion. I did notice a few mesh errors in the bunkers too resulting in the occasional wavy look or unnatural shadows.
The water reflects funny in a few places. It is right at the waterline and it's like there is a gap between the bank and what should be reflected. If you have a question Gary just e-mail me and I'll send you a couple of screenshots of what I mean. This in no way affects playability and the water is superbly done in most cases.
The length from the back tees is a bit too long for the powerstroker. I normally tee of with the 3W and this left some real tough, long approaches. Even so I was -1 in moderate conditions. When I moved to the middle tees it shortened the course to about 7,300 yards and just seemed like a more realistic length. Even though I was +4 for this round it was in Sunday conditions and was more enjoyable quite frankly. It's nice that Gary gives us the many tee options, I'm sure there will be one to suit your game. By the way, shorter length isn't necessarily easier. Many new hazards came into play and clubs of shorter length needed to be used on some holes.
Best Hole: There are many great holes on this course and I had 15 screenshots I could've used. The par 5 7th is pretty hole with a zigzag fairway layout. The screenshot I had of my approach out of the rough was awesome as the pano and trees reflected on the lake. The 11th is a long par 4 that looks really nice from the tee and the 18th is a great finishing hole with water all the was down the left side. My vote goes to the long par 4 15th. It's 516 yards from the back tees and forces you to be near perfect on your drive. There is a pond in the middle of the fairway and there are tight landing zones on both sides. You can see I just missed a splashdown in the above screenshot (just barely missed the snap).
Test round stats: -1 85% FIR 61% GIR 33 putts in above conditions. +4 30% FIR 61% GIR 29 putts in b/f/f difficult pin conditions from the middle tees.
Comparable courses: The Spruces at Twin Lakes by Ron Hubbard, Eagle Canyon C.C. by Ross Anthony
Overall: I must admit I was pleasantly surprised by Pine View and by Gary Turner's inaugural APCD course. It is thoroughly enjoyable to play and with five tee choices this course can pretty much play any way you want it to. As with many first courses I thought the design got stronger as the course progressed through the 18 holes, particularly the ground level planting. It is 23 meg and that may be on the borderline for the slower connections but I think this one is worth a look. Thanks for the obvious time and effort Gary, this one stays on my hard drive. I will be looking for your next course.
Filesize 24MB
Course Info :
Splash Screen? Yes
Cameo Screen? Yes
Text file? No
Hole Previews? No
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 Power Stroke swing - Champ level - from the back tees - N/M/M Mod
PIII 667 / 256 meg memory / 32 meg GeForce2 MX video card / Hardware Rendering |
This course is available as a FREE download.
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