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Lowlands
by Mike Hornak
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 881 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2002-04-29 |
15,805,672 bytes |
72 |
7099 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
FICTIONAL |
LINKS |
Lowlands.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| 7353a2615b3a11d69956002018dccc19 |
128f61cfb23089a8a7e3df9c844712bf |
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by Chuck Clark May 2002
Background: This is the second golf released to Links Corner by Mr. Hornak. His first course, Fallow Fields, was an (unfortunately) overlooked gem. I did the review on that course and I liked it a lot. Mr. Hornak has continued in the same vein as Fallow Fields here with Lowlands. I very much enjoyed playing Fallow and still have it on my hard drive. I am looking forward to giving this course a spin. Here is some additional information provided by Mr. Hornak in his read-me:
"This is my second release on the APCD and I hope you enjoy your round. If you have played my previous course, Fallow Fields, you will find many similarities in the way the course plays. Lowlands is a links style course set in slightly rolling, terrain pockmarked by swampy areas. As before many pot bunkers await a miss-played shot. This course places a premium on good driving and approach shots. If you miss the green there are generous chipping areas around the greens."
Overall Impression: This is another well done and interesting links course done by Mr. Hornak. He seems to have a knack for pot bunkers and sloping greens. The planting is very well done in the areas where it is at, but non-existent in others. The course itself is flawless and beautifully constructed. As with Fallow, there is a lack of added objects like previews, signs, flags and markers. This course is very clean and neat looking because of this. The coloring of the fairway texture was a bit too bright for my taste, but this doesn't really have anything to do with the playability. All in all I liked this course, but maybe not quite as much as Fallow Fields.
Playability: This course is very fun, playable and challenging for Pro Clickers. It may be a bit too severe for Champ and PS players though. There are some tough carries and tight landing areas in places. The bunkers are fun to look at, but pretty tough to get out of for Champ players. The greens are a bit too much too. They are generally small and highly sloped. Again, this is probably ok for Pro players, but will really screw up the Champ players. They are going to be left with lots of tough chips and sloping 15-footers for pars. That can get kind of old after awhile.
Shot Values: This is a very good course for testing your overall game. You really have to plan your way around and threw the pot bunkers. You will have lots of sloping and hilly lies. You really need to know the distances you hit each club in different situations. You also better be ready for hitting out of deep bunkers, because you can't completely avoid them here. Sooner or later you are going to hit into some, so be prepared.
Visuals: I really liked the look of this course other than a couple of small things. Mr. Hornak is wonderful at elevation work and building pot bunkers. His technique with planting, especially around hazards is very good and this makes the course look very realistic. My small problems, as mentioned above, were with the fairway texture (too green?) and the lack of planting in places. There needed to be a bit more between fairway planting to flesh the course out some more. But again, this has nothing to do with the playing of the course itself.
Technique: Mr. Hornak has obviously mastered the APCD. I did not find any technical errors, large or small.
Summary: This is a really nice and fun golf course. It should be especially appealing to Pro clickers who are getting a bit bored shooting those unreasonably low scores all the time. This course will test your game a bit more and make you work for those birdies. It can be a bit severe for Champ players though, so I would caution you guys. It is interesting; from looking at the user reviews it seems that I liked Fallow Fields more than the users. But it looks like people are starting to catch on with Mike's second course. If you want a fun and testing round on an interesting links course, then Mike is your man. As for a rating, I did like Fallow a bit better, but this is still a really good course. And it is a pretty small download too! If you are a Pro clicker with a 56K connection then Mike is your man. Go get his courses!
Included/Not Included:
Cameo: Yes
Splash Screen: Yes
Hole Previews: No
Tee Signs: No
Custom Tee Markers: No
Custom Flags: No
Read-Me: Yes
Handicaps: No
Custom or added Sounds: No |
|
CLIPNOTES by Ben Bateson (ousgg) |
Description
Fictional, marshland course |
Location
This feels very British in style, perhaps somewhere in the North? |
Conditions
Don't go faster than S*/S* |
Concept 8/10
Deeply green and swampy, Lowlands proves that a course doesn't have to be busy to impress. With very little planting outside of the lakes
and some boundary trees which do not come into play, the golf is reliant on smart design and use of the deep pot bunkers that are dotted
around the plot. The intriguing progression to the course starts with three really tough holes before gradually easing up towards the end.
This does admittedly feel like the wrong way around but it adds a unique selling point which is not easily forgotten. |
Appearance 5/10
The clones are there in the planting, although much of it is distant enough not to be immediately noticed. More crucially, the reed planting
does an excellent job of covering up the awkward water transitions. The textures have been excellently chosen for the swampy
environment and the bunkers are uniformly acceptable. It's the areas of nothing that really draw the eye and detract from the experience,
though. |
Playability 7/10
The lack of hole previews is a sore loss on more than one occasion with traps lurking unseen in the landscape, and ambient sound if a
sore loss given how evocative the atmosphere could be. But, if you're prepared to take your fate with a pinch of salt, then there is
some dynamic and intriguing golf, exemplified by the opening trio but continuing right up to the novel closing hole. |
Challenge 10/10
No matter how many times I play Lowlands, as long as the settings are realistic (and there's nothing wrong with slow settings, considering
the soggy surroundings), I never fail to be amazed with how close the course lands me to par. With the penal bunkers and timely lofted
greens, the course starts really tough, but it follows an entirely natural progression, which not coincidentally makes it more fun to play as
your game picks up. |
Technical 6/10
Mike Hornak has produced some exceptionally-plotted courses, and Lowlands is no exception. The work on the textures is perfectly in
tune with the intended environment, although one or two bunker walls appear to be off-line. I like to think that the barrenness of this
course is deliberate, rather than an oversight, and it does come off more often than not. |
| Overall |
An unprepossessing but excellent course which mixes testing hazards and planned
shotmaking. |
36/50 |
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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