|
Real Club de Golf Campoamor
by Mark Austin
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 542 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2001-08-23 |
12,964,945 bytes |
72 |
6812 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
REAL |
WOODLAND |
Campoamor.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| 096af1c0981011d5ad47ce181cd80635 |
48b859105e69b5a9bb7cd40088afc4a1 |
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by Mick Lenton
Thoughts from the 1st: This is Mark's 3rd course. His 2nd real one and the 2nd I have reviewed. I quite liked Dukes Wood so I was looking forward to this one. So what did I find as I looked from the 1st. ROOM. I was in my element. Wide fairway. Nice looking bunkers. Quite a large green. Away we go!!!
The Course: According to Mark this is a real course situated on the Costa Blanca, Spain. It is quite an unusual course in having 5 par 5's and 5 par 3's. They are some long par 3's though!!! As I have absolutely no knowledge at all of the area I will restrict my comments on the layout and planting to the facts that I loved the layout of the course. The planting sometimes looked a bit odd with the mixture of trees and palms and maybe a bit more work could have been done on the planting of the small ponds. That said, the course does look nice and is a pleasure to play. The course is built on a very unusually shaped piece of land that follows the progress of the course very closely, actually coming very close to the edge sometimes. Some Mike Jones's textures have been borrowed and that fact has been mentioned in the read me. The textures do sit together very well. The extruded, square tees sit unusually, in the fairway. 4 are available. Back, middle, forward and ladies. The fairway then has a light rough fringe, which leads into the heavy rough. Planting has been done in that and also in a sandy dirt texture. Wherever this is situated it is very heavily planted. The greens are in general fairly gentle and do have a fringe. The bunkers I think do look quite nice. The technique is a narrow extrusion of grass, top edge at 0. Then an extrusion of sand, white sand in these, with the bottom edge 0. This has a very nice effect and gives a good shadow. They are generally quite shallow and fairly flat so not TOO difficult to play from. One thing I did notice on my wanderings was that the fencing on the approach and surround of the clubhouse has some mistakes and breaks that have not been rectified. All in all a nice soothing course to play.
Playability: The 1st is a straightaway par 5. Nice wide fairway and definitely reachable without too much trouble. You drive to the wide-open spaces, only one bunker, quite short right, to catch what would be a bad push. You are left with a fairway wood over a few bunkers, some short and some around, to the fairly large, round green. Generally quite gentle slopes but getting a bit steeper towards the back. Nice warm up hole.
The 2nd is a straightaway par 4. Not too long. A short iron or a wedge then, to the again fair sized round green, bunkers short, front and left. A slope front to back but not difficult.
Number 3 is another straightaway par 4. You drive should leave you an uphill wedge or short iron to the large, oval green. The bottom of the pin cannot be seen. Bunkers are short left, front right and both sides. This green is the trickiest so far with quite a few borrows.
The 4th is the first par 3. 220 yards to a large green virtually surrounded by bunkers. Quite gentle one with a general slope front to back.
5 is the first of the doglegs. This one is to the right and is a par 4. To cut anything off you are going near or over very heavily planted dirt. A chicken shot to the corner will leave something like an 8 iron to the round green. One bunker in front and 3 way off to the left. Again a gentle one.
The 6th is the next par 3. Only a short one this time. Around 180 yards. 4 smallish bunkers here. 2 either side. Very gentle green.
7 is the first hole where water appears. It is a dogleg left, par 5 and a strip of water is just around the corner. It should not really come into play. You may have difficulties reaching this one as the 2nd shot is long and there are bunkers in front ready to take your ball. I would have to say play an iron up the middle, to leave a nice wedge to the smaller round green, that this time does have a bit of slope.
The 8th has water again. This time all down the left and then cutting in front short of the green. Don't be too long on this one. Your second will be over water and trees to the oval green. The water is right and there are bunkers down the left of the green, which again has a bit of a slope.
The last on the front 9 is a split fairway, dogleg left par 4. A long drive will clear the water crossing the fairway on the bend leaving a mid to long iron. A lay up would leave a very long second. You do need to be careful as the water crosses the fairway after the corner and almost follows the line of your drive. The green is quite a small oval with bunkers in front but nothing behind and very gentle.
Number 10 is a long par 3. There is a pond short left but not really in play and just 3 small bunkers in front of the surprisingly narrow, oval green. Depending on pin placement there is a bit of a ridge in this green.
11 is a short, severe dogleg right, par 4. It is easily reachable by driving over, again very heavily planted dirt. If you want to find your ball, don't mishit this one. The largish round green has bunkers front, left and back and is fairly gentle. Happy eagle hunting!!
The 12th is a par 5 with a gentle bend to the right. A fair drive down the wide fairway should leave you a fairway wood to the mid sized green. Protected by two bunkers, front right and front left. Usual gentle slope to the green.
The 13th is a cracking, short par 4. It is unlikely to be drivable and I guess most trying will end up in one of the bunkers in front of the hole. If you drive alongside the closest of these you are left with a short wedge to the elongated oval green. Obviously a longer shot if you decide to play safe. Usual slope on the green.
14 is another shorter par 4. This time however much narrower, with trees planted quite close to the fairway, so an accurate drive is required here. The green is quite small but only a short shot will be required to miss the two bunkers in front and reach the gentle putting surface.
The 15th is a bog standard, fairly long par 3. Large oval green. Two bunkers either side. If you leave a long putt it could have quite a slope on it.
The 16th is a dogleg left, par 5. Once again if you try to cut you are faced with that dirt and a lot of planting!! However a safe drive should still leave you a makeable fairway wood to the large, egg shaped green. There are bunkers round the front, but nothing behind this very gentle green.
The penultimate hole is my favorite. At least for looks from the tee. It is a short (For this course) par 3. Your tee shot is over some nicely planted rocks with a fence round. The green is that elongated gentle oval with bunkers front and right. I do have to say the trees here look real odd with a weird pine mixed in with the deciduous and palms.
The 18th is a quite narrow (For this course) par 5. A hole where you can finish with a spectacular eagle. Nice drive, fairway wood on and a single putt on the gentle green. What are you waiting for?? I came off this course feeling happy. Not satisfied of having tamed a course. Happy I had made a good score. I think you need that sometimes.
Good Points: Definitely Mark's best-constructed course. Very few errors and a very pleasurable course to play.
Bad Points: Some Weird planting in places and for some, maybe TOO easy. I would also have liked to have seen more made of the brooks.
Favourite Hole: The 9th. Above. There are options on this one.
Least Favourite Hole: Nothing stood out at all.
Final thoughts: This is not a course for the top player to use to improve their game. It WOULD be a good course for a PS'er to use, as there is enough to make you think a bit, but if you do miss your snap just a bit you will not be penalized too heavily. Also a great course for a friendly Sunday morning match. It is obviously a course that has been constructed so that you can enjoy yourself on it and it has certainly lived up to that. It does not have the quality of APCD construction of the top designers, but Mark has done a very good job and should be applauded. Just a pointer for Mark. You made quite a nice job of the two ponds with extruded edges and it is a shame you did not give the brook banks an edge. Also the wood on the edge of the brook on the right of the course would look much better with some depth, in other words a top edge. It is not difficult to do and would give it much more life.
Finally remember. Do not expect a difficult game from this course. If however you want something to wind down or do some light practice on. This is your course. It will definitely be staying on my drive.
Course Info :
Cameo Screen? Yes
Splash Screen? Yes
Text file? Yes
Hole Previews? Yes
11mb
Reviewed August 2001 |
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