Planting Ideas

[derricksummers]

I was playing a course the other day and the ball hit a branch and shot of into the trees
This is normal for me, It was impossible to get out so the round was ended, but what struck me was
the planting in this area. It was like a picture, a lot of work had gone into it and the point is that if
the ball had not gone astray this superb bit of planting would never have seen the light of day. This
is also the case for a lot of 3D Objects that have taken many hours to create. If you are creating any
object that you want to be seen it must be planted in a position so that the ball will not go past it.
The picture below shows what I am getting at. If the shot to the green goes past the hole the house
will be behind the golfer and won't be seen, If it's something you have made it's very disappointing.

West 18.png (733.76 KiB) Viewed 5060 times

I would also recommend that you should not place a bird in the sky in front of the tee, In all the years
I have been playing Links I have never hit one until last week, I got a perfect bulls eye, the bird never
flinched but I had to retrieve the ball. Some time ago I had another first, A par 5 in three without the
ball touching a blade of grass. Shot 1 - Tee direct into Bunker. Shot 2 - Bunker shot direct into second
bunker, and then Shot 3 - hit the top of the flag and dropped diret into the hole. ( The names Lucky )
One other thing worth a mention for beginners is that if you are using a very wide object it will pivot
round so that it is always facing the golfer, and this can end up stretching across a Fairway etc, I
once had the branch of a tree sticking out of the side of a hill, it stumped me at the time and it turned
out to be a wide spreading tree that was planted on the other side of the hill and it had swivelled to face
the direction the golfer was looking. Since then I try to use fairly narrow objects each side of the plot
Just a few shots of how planting can look, It can be simple as in Picture one or with a bit more colour

In these two pictures the fringe texture as been taken up around the tees, the next two is just rough

Lake 12.png (1.01 MiB) Viewed 5060 times

Lake 17.png (968.5 KiB) Viewed 5060 times

I hope these remarks are of some interest and if you have any odd happenings or comments ( Shoot )
Derrick

[derricksummers]

Another Attachment cock up it won' let me enter the two pics
that should be in the place of the two duplicate house ones ( Sorry will try later )
Derrick

[derricksummers]

Getting there

Atherton 2.png (1.44 MiB) Viewed 5053 times

Looks like there can be quite a time delay on some pics
Derrick

[pmgolf]

My opinion only: 17 Tee: a bit overdone with flowers/flowering shrubs. 12 Tee: a LOT overdone flowers/flowering shrubs. 17: rock/tree: nice! Atherton 2: getting kind of junglely-looking. West 18: is that the Queen's clubhouse? Sometimes a little less is enough. Only my opinion, though.

Pete

[derricksummers]

Yes I agree, sometimes I get carried away with the planting, I think it
comes from one of my other hobbies. I like to draw and colour landscapes using
Pastel Crayons, if you have played any of my courses you will know that I prefer to
do a woodland one rather than the open Links type. I have quite a few Links courses
on my hard drive and they are really nice ones, these courses require just as much
work on them to make them look and feel right. ( Thanks for the comments )
Derrick

[Adelade]

I checked out several of your courses some year ago Derreck and I agree that your planting is really nice, what sort of pulled me out of the fantasy or realism of the landscapes in your courses though was just the fact that apart from the specific areas that are planted so nicely, there are a lot of really vast open lawns with no planting on them at all. Im thinking it must be quite some work for whoever keeps those large areas mowed ; )

[derricksummers]

Hi Adalade, I am a bit confused about the lawns you mention, if it's not a Fairway or Tee area
it's supposed to be Rough, maybe the rough texture I have used is not rough enough looking the other
option would be to forest grass over the area. As yet I have never used the foresting tool. As I have
mentioned I like to keep things simple and just use the basic tools. Must take my finger out and try to
expand my knoledge of the APCD like Danny, Sage and other good designers. I am blessed with a very
poor memory, I can read something and the day after its gone, Photo Shop was a real no go product.
One thing I do try to do though is not to use textures that tile badley they really spoil the look of a course
Thanks again for the comments ( Good or Bad I don't mind ) Still having problems with the old fingers
Derrick

[Adelade]

You are quite right, keeping things simple means you can safely ignore my comment I understand completely if you rather not worry about the forest planting tool, but just in case you do want help with it, you can always private message me, and I believe I can speak for Dan and say he would be up for it too ; ) (sorry Dan )