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Punahale
by Mark Miller
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 846 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2001-10-31 |
68,454,426 bytes |
72 |
7012 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
FICTIONAL |
OCEAN |
Punahale - Kona Coast.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| 6792ea886fe844128ac02e19c67f9232 |
dc4492189597dc04fa266f7eb681dfec |
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by Joe Turner `Loner' March 2002
The designer's readme will give you his vision of the course:
An Independent APCD Course Design intended as a championship venue residing on the spectacular Kona coast of Hawaii. The design is a fictional 18-hole layout bordering on the imaginary located in a region I visited on a trip to the Big Island of Hawaii, set amongst ancient lava flows and eroded lava tubes as they were diverted to the coastal seas, creating a most idyllic lagoon sheltered from the Pacific Ocean. Inspired by the design precepts of Donald Ross's many exceptional real course designs, Punahalé has elevated, contoured greens with swales and hollows protecting them. Another consistent design element was to create the overall look and feel of the traditional Irish and Scottish linksland style coastal course, with semi-pot bunkers some of which are quite deep, while incorporating strong elements of the traditional American design elements of target golf. Using these three elements as the design structure and a desire to show how the terrain of Hawaii could be utilized for a championship layout in a manner far different than the lush, tropical manner I had seen in of the real courses of Hawaii I embarked upon the project the became Punahalé. Whether or not I succeeded will depend on individual tastes, but I hope you enjoy playing Punahalé as much as I did its' conception and completion.
As far as the matching colors of the tee areas, fairways, roughs, first cut, greens and fringe I found them to blending pleasantly, so pleasantly that its difficult to tell any apart except the rough and then comes all the rest. It was difficult to tell where one started and one left off. The water was a little light in color for my taste but water is still difficult to do with our present tools. His lava dominated the course and was a overbearing at times but it was what the course was all about, rugged. He used bunkers heavily through out the course, both on the fairways and at the greens which made the course a bit of a challenge. The fairways undulated as if they were water and whenever you hit they would cause the ball to roll, mostly not in the direction you wanted. The designer called the greens 'smooth' and a simple roll could turn into a 50ft nightmare. The greens were easy to putt if you were close but still a bit unrealistic. Extensive use of undergrowth at times looked very well and the pano certainly fit the course. The elevation and the caddie for this constantly changing course had to be excellent and it was.
Hole # 7, par 5, 576y, a long fairway hole ending in an island green. My drive 277y passing 4 fairway bunkers safely, 296y left to the pin. My next shot a 5 iron for 184y to the end of the fairway next to a pothole bunker, 113y to the pin. A full pw cleared the green bunkers and put me within birdie range.
Hole # 12, par 5, 493y with a 41ft drop, island hopping is different from target golf (loners law). This hole consists of the tee area and 3 islands. The drive was 285y with 218y to the pin. That means I can skip the second island and go straight for the pin. I went with a 3-iron.wrong.short.2 iron. A slight adjustment up so the ball won't roll to the back of the green and this can be a very good eagle hole.
First let me apologize for this late review of this course but it was one of two that seemed to slip into the cracks and sit for too many months, I just received it and all in all it isn't a bad course at all. It is unbelievably large, the second largest that we have ever had and hasn't received the play that it should have had. I would almost call it a very playable Devils Island but that may put a curse on it. I actually enjoyed playing it even with the constant specter of rolling 20 yards or more away from my intended landing area into the rough. Or worse, off the ever-present cliffs. If you can do it download it, I think it will prove to be a very unusual diversion from any other type of course that you may have played in the past. A course such as this shouldn't get lost in the shuffle of everyday golf so if you enjoy it please vote for it and keep it around for others that will be joining us in the near future.
Reviewer Note
I am a player not a designer and therefore rate a course as a player for other players.
Summary :
Included: readme containing splash, and all 18 hole layouts, cameo, splash, hole preview, custom flag, custom tees and ball washers.
Not included: hole signs, numbers or recorded round.
Statistical information: par 72, 7012y, 4 sets of tees, 4-3 pars, 10-4 pars, 4-5 pars. |
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CLIPNOTES by Ben Bateson (ousgg) |
Description
Imaginary, ocean course |
Location
TBA |
Conditions
TBA |
Concept 1/10
This could, I suppose, be described as an ambitious cross between a
tropical island course and a Pebble Beach resort. But perhaps only by the
wildly optimistic and myopic. In reality, it's a bit of a mess with overblown
elevations and rockwork, no real sense of location and only the occasional
moment of coherence or impressiveness to hold it all up. Despite the fact
that it's almost prehistoric by APCD standards, it's just not good enough. |
Appearance 1/10
Old-fashioned in the extreme, and largely disappointing, Punahale's few moments of inspired planting do little to detract from the
laughably inappropriate panorama, heavy hand with the elevations, and awful bunker extrusions. It doesn't even have the primitive
ruggedness of The Island - it just looks a mess. |
Playability 2/10
A lot of the overblown courses such as this do offer some basic playability in making a halfway-worthwhile challenge. Unfortunately,
after a few holes it's hard to see much worthwhile in this. It becomes tedious more than frustrating, despite the artificial difficulty level
and unfulfilled attempts to produce something novel. |
Challenge 0/10
There's little remaining from the early days of APCD design that could be said to fairly test the refined modern golfer, and Punahale
certainly doesn't live up to the ideal. You'd expect scores to run riot here, and - while, in fairness, there are harder courses available - it's
all too easy to match those expectations. |
Technical 2/10
There is some credit to be afforded to the ambition here, but frankly not enough to hold the course in any great standing. The shaping
is reasonable enough, but the fine detail is virtually non-existent, and too often the textures run to the pixelated and ugly. The lack of
clear hole routing is the final frustration. |
| Overall |
A relic of the early days of APCD, almost worth having as a collectors' item, but
probably not quite. |
6/50 |
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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