|
The Experience at Alberta
by Jeff Burkhead
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 771 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2002-02-08 |
34,880,540 bytes |
72 |
7512 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
FICTIONAL |
WOODLAND |
The Experience at Alberta.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| fb5a4afd902747aebc2f1c8a65bff097 |
76dedd73722cdaae2f98adcea187ca8f |
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by
Joe Turner `Loner'
February 2002
This is definitely a fantasy course, courses with colors and holes with shapes such as we find on this course do not exist except in the inventive minds of our thoughtful designers. This course uses the normal pattern of colors for the tee boxes, unmowed fairways and greens but the rough is an unusual brownish green texture that is not entirely unappealing to the eye and is a pleasant change from the norm. The huge growth of trees that seem to substitute for a pano have color trees mixed in, a few too many for my taste but lets be kind and say it's the fall season and the leaves are turning. The fairway has an unusual looking semi rough but it does fit well with the type of rough he used. There isn't a first cut. The water treatment with its mixture of plants and rocks is magnificent. The same color trees are repeated too often in rows and should have been mixed a little or fewer used.
The elevation changes on this course are not extreme and the elevation and caddie seem to work quite well. The hazards are bunkers, water, streams, rock fields and wildgrass. The bunkers are placed in very strategic positions on the fairways and many of the greens are very well guarded. The main hazard is the imaginative holes and the trees themselves. It is also the type of course were there are a few too many 'target' golf holes, something that I never really cared for. The hole previews besides being very good looking explain how to play the hole as if you fit tab 'A' into tab'B', and it works, if you don't want to play your own game. I'm not faulting them in any way just explaining the care Jeff took with creating and presenting them to us. The fairways what there are of them seem to be more than adequate in size but the greens at times seem a little small but fortunately are not to difficult. Back to the hole shapes and the over-abundance of trees, you will find that changing clubs off the tee will be a common occurrence as will the many fades and draws you will be using.
#3 hole, par 5, 554y, I aimed to the right as far as possible without loosing sight of my aiming stick behind the trees and hit a fade drive of 271y that cleared the first of three creeks that weave in and out of this hole. Now with 252y to the pin I have to admit that I couldn't make it. I laid up with a 9 iron and then used an adjusted 8 iron that took me to within 10ft of the cup. A birdie for me, an eagle for you?
#9 hole, par 5, 521y, I used a draw driver off the tee and it put me 272y safely in front of the left bunker. With 237y to the pin I took out my trusty flop 3w and that placed my ball on the far fringe only 12ft from the cup, a chip, an eagle? This is another birdie hole.
#16 hole, par 5, 611y, The 2 fairways are divided by deep rough, I used a 3w on the first to avoid the bunkers 255y, and had 331y to the next. The safest way was a 2 iron 221y, which left me with 131y to the pin. My 9 iron put me into perfect position for a birdie putt. Very exciting target golf.
Fantasy golf at its best. The overwhelming majority of the holes are fun and interesting in shape, the few 'target' golf holes are very boring but as I say they are fortunately in the minority. With a reasonably flat course to play on you are faced more with obstacles, hazards, and will be changing clubs more often then not. Your driver will be taken from you on a few holes and the course is well made and very attractive if you can get by the overly abundant amount of colored trees. Playability, yes definitely, this course has it. At a 30mb download is worth trying. It isn't often that we have a good fantasy course that makes you stop and think about the best way to beat the playable holes. Most fantasy courses have too many unplayable ones. Try it; I believe you'll enjoy it.
Reviewer Note:
I am a player not a designer and therefore rate a course as a player for other players.
Summary :
Included: readme, cameo, splash, hole previews, ball washers and buildings.
Not Included: custom flags, custom tees and hole signs or numbers.
Statistical Information: par 72, 7512y, 3 sets of tees, 4-3 pars, 10-4 pars, 4-5 pars. |
|
CLIPNOTES by Ben Bateson (ousgg) |
Description
Imaginary, canyon course. |
Location
TBA |
Conditions
TBA |
Concept 9/10
I don't know if Alberta looks anything like this, but if all the golf is this
exciting then book me a holiday! Wonderfully imaginative landscaping
encompasses brilliant rockworks, low-level planting and a riot of pink trees,
not to mention the off-beat use of canyons and fenced-off areas. The
ingenuity and innovation that has been put into hole design is stunning:
very few holes are unfair or purely target-based, and several genuinely
make you think. The back nine contains some of the most challenging and
outrageous Par 4s I have ever seen: but while this course is most definitely fantasy, it never resorts to the unfair or punishing gimmicks
we have seen elsewhere. Magnificent! |
Appearance 4/10
The Experience's rough edges lie mostly in the fine detail. The shortage of available pink trees has inevitably made for some cloning,
and the riot of small rocks and grasses succumb similarly. Many elevations are dodgy, thanks to straight extrusions (most notably of
bunkers). Worst of all, though, are the textures: as soon as you leave the short green, they are blurry, stretched, poorly mapped and
frequently harshly-boundaried. One can't but think that makeover time is well overdue. |
Playability 9/10
Once you get past the relatively ordinary opening six holes, The Experience has plenty to stretch and mould your imagination. The
hole previews are chatty and advisory and complement holes perfectly without giving too much away. With plenty to see (despite the
flaws listed above), brilliant but believable variety from hole to hole, and some almost unique strategies, this is a golfing paradise. |
Challenge 6/10
With quite a few OB regions on top of the water hazards, this is always going to provide a stern test. The lack of a shallow rough
texture is a design flaw and would help, although thankfully the deep rough appears to have rather generous properties. None of this
excuses the fact that you'll end up a few over par: although the likelihood is that you'll be having such a good time that you won't
notice! |
Technical 5/10
Some of the technical flaws here are really quite basic and inexcusable for that. Horrendous extrusions and lack of attention to textures
are the major culprits and genuinely take the edge off the course. Some clones are marked for removal, and the designer could learn a
thing or two about rockwork from the legion of great coastline designers. The brilliance is the thought and care that has clearly gone
into the minutiae of hole design: clearly The Experience has been intricately planned and is all the better for it. |
| Overall |
Some knockout holes which are an absolute blast to play, sadly let down by the
overall appearance. Worth a second and third play, though. |
33/50 |
Please remember that Clipnote reviews are the opinion of one person and do not constitute an 'Official' Links Corner review of the course. |
This course is available as a FREE download.
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