|
Ocean Pines Golf Club
by Steve & Tim Bausch
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 665 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2001-11-27 |
58,668,966 bytes |
72 |
7348 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
FICTIONAL |
OCEAN |
Ocean Pines 1.0.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| 83aeb420e12211d5a8560010b5069d1b |
c32743218149cfdd1c235798adae0e00 |
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by Mike Nifong
December 2001
Course type: This is a fictional, coastal-area course featuring lots of water, although the ocean itself is in view on only one hole.
Historical perspective: This is the second course submitted to this site by the Brothers Bausch (a third course, Twin Lakes Mountain Resort, with which I am not familiar, was released at the end of December, 2000, and is credited to Tim Bausch alone). Their first joint effort, Cedar Creek, was released in May of this year to mixed reviews, scoring a very respectable 84% in the Links Corner official review, but garnering only a single gold star (50-59%) in the user reviews. Criticisms levelled at that course related primarily to the difficulty of the greens and the fact that the layout of the course necessitated that too many tee shots be shaped. If memory serves (and, with the passing of the years, it does so much less reliably), a second version was released which addressed the second concern by removing some of the offending trees; it is presumably this version that remains on my hard drive, because a quick replay did not raise any red flags.
Ocean Pines was released at the end of November, following what I can only characterize as a blitz of web-board publicity from its creators. At 46.8MB, it is not only about 50% bigger than its predecessor, but also almost twice as large as the average APCD course; more importantly for this discussion, its size pushes it into the range of courses from which more is expected.
What is included: As you would expect at this file size, everything. The read-me file is perfunctory, but there are hole previews that are quite attractive, if not as informative as some. The cameo is the custom logo for the course, and the splash screen is a lovely shot of the 10th hole, showing both the 'ocean' and the 'pines'; that it is also their only joint appearance is a subject to which I will return later. (To the best of my recollection, there were also two recorded rounds to play against; unfortunately, by the time I was assigned this course for review, I no longer had them and did not want to repeat the whole download procedure at 56K just to check them out.)
First impressions: As I mentioned above, the splash screen is very inviting. And because the course renders rather slowly (I would estimate it takes about twice as long as average on my machine), you will have some extra time to enjoy it. And while the 183-yard par 3 opening hole looks quite different from what you might expect from the splash screen, it is striking enough on its own. From the stepped tee boxes you look across a small lake to an evergreen forest (which looks more like firs or spruces than pines), with mountains rising in the distance. Some 73 feet below you is an island green which looks like it cannot be more than sixty feet across: about forty feet of green surrounded by a ring of fringe, a ring of rough, and a ring of marsh grasses to the edge of the water (talk about your target golf!) - very pretty in the dynamic cam view. The green undulates gently and the rough slopes down to the water. Not a typical way to start a round of golf. And then you think how important your first shot of this round is going to be: if you miss that island - even if you land it in the sloping rough - you are looking at a bogey at best. Nothing like a little extra pressure.
What comes next: You will quickly discover that neither the splash screen nor the first hole is really typical of this course. Beginning with the second hole and continuing through the rest of the front nine, you will essentially follow a counter-clockwise curve around several lakes until you emerge from the woodland on the 10th hole and find yourself with the ocean on your left. Then you will more or less follow a clockwise curve back around to your starting point. The problem is that not all of the holes seem to belong to the same course. Holes two through nine, for instance, but for the mountain pano that occasionally peeks through the trees, could easily have been lifted from a Florida course. As a matter of fact, especially in terms of layout, they are very reminiscent of Bay Hill (even the lipless bunkers look like something from Microsoft circa Links2000). And the series of same-elevation lakes certainly look like sea-level lakes - until you reach hole 10 and discover that the ocean is still well below your level.
The 470-yard par 4 10th, on the other hand, has an unmistakably West Coast look about it, a la Torrey Pines, with steep rock cliffs and narrow strips of sand. It is everything the name of the course would suggest - indeed, it is the only hole that suggests the course name at all. You won't see the ocean again during your round unless you look over your shoulder while standing on the 11th tee.
The 11th through the 18th reflect a number of styles: mountain valley, Southern sandhill, and inland Florida. Perhaps that is why, despite the prevalence of gentle dogleg shapes (to the left going out, to the right coming in), the hole layouts do not seem too repetitive, but it certainly contributes to the feeling that rather than a golf course, Ocean Pines is a series of holes.
In terms of appearance, the course is, as alluded to before, attractive in a Links2000 sort of way. There are a few minor mesh shadows. The planting is for the most part very good, although there is little under planting. Water edge treatments are inconsistent: some are very well done, others essentially bankless and bare, giving them that flooded look. And the fairway mow lines extend right to the sand in the lipless bunkers, right to the water on some of the banks - not an enhancement to verisimilitude.
In terms of playability, I am pleased to report that the greens are excellent. I found none of the arbitrarily unnecessary difficulty that was complained of in the first Bausch Brothers creation. I only noted one green that I would characterize as extremely tough: that on the 223-yard par 3 4th hole, which slopes from front to back; since you will be hitting a 5W hard to clear a rise in the front of the green, you will have difficulty keeping the ball anywhere near the hole on any front pin placement. The rest of the greens range from moderate to challenging; none of them are really flat, but all of them are very fair. Even with difficult pins, it is possible to get long putts close to the hole - none of that garbage where missing a three-footer will leave you a fifteen-footer.
Getting on the greens, however, may be another matter. Approach shots on most holes are problematic enough for pro clickers like me, and I would imagine extremely difficult for champ clickers or PS'ers. On virtually every hole, the green is extremely well protected in the front, either by a deep (5-8 feet is common) bunker or by water. This is a course where it is crucial not to be short with your approach shot; you will almost always find it easier to recover from a shot that goes too long than from one that does not go long enough. Water is almost ubiquitous on the front nine, being very much in play on all but the 7th and 8th holes. On the back nine, although it is often visible, the water is in play only on the 13th and 18th holes (unless you really hook your tee shot on the 10th).
There are a number of excellent risk/reward holes. The 286-yard par 4 7th is drivable, but you will have to really stroke the ball to get it over the bunker in front; if you are successful, an eagle may be possible depending on pin placement; if not, par would be a good score. All of the par 5's are reachable, although you might have to hit your second shot 250+ yards over water (3rd and 9th). The key to scoring well is reaching the greens in regulation; if you can arrive 'early', it is icing on the cake.
The bottom line: To borrow briefly from the bard, 'what is in a name?' In my earlier comments, I mentioned the quantity of pre-release publicity this course received. I recall one web-board post trumpeting Ocean Pines as the front-runner for COM - and this was before that person had even played it. Yet, as I write this, it sits in the user review section with two stars (60-69%). I cannot help but wonder how much of that is the result of disappointment related to the feeling that promises were made for the course that it did not keep. Specifically, I think that the impression was given that this course would be more along the lines of Pebble Beach, or John Andersen's Bluffs at Ocean Point, or Mike Jones' Pacific Breaks. And it really is not. The name Ocean Pines paints a mental picture, but only 1/18 of this course fits that picture. That having been said, I think this course is better than the two stars it currently holds. It is not without its flaws, and it is probably not suitable for every style of play, but it is a clear improvement over Cedar Creek in terms of fairness and variety.
(It might seem odd that I assign a score lower than that for Cedar Creek to a course by the same designer that I consider superior. I would suggest that any discrepancy is a function of the astonishing progress the APCD designers have made in the last six months, and I would urge caution in comparing scores of courses reviewed today to those of courses reviewed then.)
Course Statistics :
Par 72; 3 sets of tees; 7348 yards from back tees; holes are handicapped |
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