Links Corner Forum

I especially like the first and fifth screenshots (019 and 010), those are some amazing spots for that camera angle!

Ever since I had the honour of test playing this course early in the development (and pretty much throughout), I've found it pretty difficult to not post about my feelings and expectations about this course! I didnt want to tease people about it before they get to play it! But it should only be a few days left now until people get to play at least the members version, so I cant hold it back any longer

First let me get the only concern of mine out of the way - This course is playing pretty darn easy, it is really rather short and the greens are designed to play easy, so they're mostly relatively flat (just as in real life). On top of it all, many green-sides are designed to funnel landing balls inwards towards the pins. In short - it is instantly obvious that it is a resort course. Which is completely fine I guess. I really struggle to think of a single (real) proper resort course made for Links, at least any that is made to high quality, so thats a nice niche that was screaming to be filled either way. People who are fans of easy courses are most likely going to love it a whole lot.

Fans of challenging real courses, like myself, will hopefully find the future tournament version challenging enough. I think that one, as well, is going to play quite easy (because the plot doesnt leave much room for extending the course, and the greens are always going to be easy to putt on) but I hope (and believe) that it will at least not be too much of a pushover.

The thing is, even if one considers the course too easy in terms of difficulty, it is so worth playing regardless. Most of the easy holes are very far from boring. They come with dramatic and exhilarating challenges such as big elevation drop-offs, narrow tree-lines or water and OB highly in play, and usually the drama is both in the gameplay and visuals, which is just wondeful. The early holes 3 4 5 6 for example all fit into that category, and is definitely my favourite part of the course, despite them all being overall really easy holes. Such a huge treat, that stretch of holes is

Rest of the course is of course nice too, there are definitely a few snooze-holes where the birdie is basically a foregone conclusion with not much else to it, but another stretch of excellent holes on the back nine keeps things from getting dull. And besides, even during the low-key holes, you always have the really beautiful visuals and surroundings that Dan has succeeded in bringing to life. I dont feel like I need to say anything about the class of APCD work itself here, the sceenshots and course speaks for itself Superb!

Needless to say, if you dont like courses being pushovers, I highly recommend sticking to all-difficult pins, and green speeds from at least M/Fc or faster. With the overall extra ease of the members version I would even say F/Fc or faster. I dont feel like this course is all that well-suited for Windy (although, if you're a Links-god, why not?), but Gusty should be good (and authentic).

Dan,
It looks exceptional, congratulations.
There are two items that stand out to me.

• The 3D work looks impeccable. It must have taken many hours to make it so good

• The Panorama looks absolutely seamless - where does the terrain end and the panorama begin? Beautiful, and so so difficult to do.

If the members don't rave over this course then they don't deserve this forum.

Very well done.

Ian

Wow, great work! Looks like this is going to be a lot of fun to play.

I WANNA NIT PICK!!!!!

Jimbo wrote: ↑December 16th, 2021, 5:10 am I WANNA NIT PICK!!!!!

Jimbo: Some advice from a fellow Ontarian & X-Victorian. Don't NIT PICK. Just go back to your KNITTING!

Hi everyone. I have released my rendition of the Coeur d'Alene Golf Resort for Links.

I want to take a moment to thank some people. First, I appreciate everyone's patience and understanding with me being held up on this project during my bout with cancer. I thank every one of you for your prayers and support thru a very scary time in my life. You're a great group.

A HUGE thanks to Adelade for sticking with me and helping me through many issues. He made the PANO for me. I captured the images, sent them to him, and he pieced them together into a really superb panorama. Plus he taught me a lot about graphics editing with Photoshop, and helped me to create some additional, much needed Western White Pine trees. And among many other things, he planted the pins. Thanks Adelade!

Another huge thanks to Lez Marwick for assistance in some texture editing. A couple of my new textures had issues with tiling that I could not resolve . I'm horrible at fixing tiling problems and ran into a few with my new textures. After many unsuccessful attempts of my own, I finally reached out to Lez for some help or advice. He very graciously took the juniper and rough textures and fixed the tiling. He is VERY good at it and made them look amazing! Thanks Lez!

Another big thanks to Eric Dorsey for fixing a tiling problem with the red cedar mulch. He's very good at it too. Thanks Eric!

And one more word of thanks goes out to Gator for his thorough job of beta testing and catching a lot of texture labeling that needed correcting. Nice work Leo!



About the course.

When I first started looking at this course, I knew it was a short and rather easy one, and didn't consider it a great test of golf. I kept looking for my next new course, but something kept drawing me back to CDA for another look. The more I looked, the more I kept telling myself, NO WAY! There's way too much detail and 3D jobs to do. Too much surrounding area to add to make it look realistic. I'm a firm believer that if a well-known course is going to be replicated, it should contain the surrounding scenery that you would see if you were really there. Landmarks, buildings, surrounding hills etc. etc... Looking around at CDA, I noticed 2 major landmarks that I thought were most important to the feeling of being there. One was the multi-story condo at the 13th tee. The other was that large hill and the highways behind the condo. That scenery, imo, is part of "being there". The condo, and all of the other buildings, looked like a tough build, and I thought the hill being added to the plot would make it so large that it may disappear from sight if your graphics were set too low. So I would rule the course out, and move on to look for something else. Still, something about it mesmerized me. I looked it over in even more detail and took some measurements, and tried to imagine how hard it would actually be. Finally, after about a month of searching, I decided to give Coeur d'Alene a go. The final decision was based on the beauty of the course and surrounding scenery, the layout along the lake side, the hill that holes 3 thru 6 cross over, and the fact that it has the reputation of being the only golf course in the world with a floating, movable green. I figured it would most likely be my last course, so I took on what I considered the biggest challenge of my APCD career, with the hopes that it would work out.

Please read the 2 doc files included in the zipfile. They will tell you about the course and give you tips on making sure your computer is adjusted properly for the best overall experience.

I hope everyone enjoys the course.

Merry Christmas to all, and best wishes for a better new year.

Jimbo wrote: ↑December 16th, 2021, 5:10 am I WANNA NIT PICK!!!!!

You are welcome to nit pick all you want Jimbo as soon as it's put up for download. Please be gentle. I cry easily.

Dan

John B wrote: ↑December 15th, 2021, 11:55 pm Wow, great work! Looks like this is going to be a lot of fun to play.

Thanks John!

Ian Wells wrote: ↑December 15th, 2021, 8:03 pm Dan,
It looks exceptional, congratulations.
There are two items that stand out to me.

• The 3D work looks impeccable. It must have taken many hours to make it so good

Thanks Ian. There's a LOT of 3D work in this one.

Ian Wells wrote: ↑December 15th, 2021, 8:03 pm

• The Panorama looks absolutely seamless - where does the terrain end and the panorama begin? Beautiful, and so so difficult to do.

You can thank our friend Adelade for the PANO. He built it for me.

Ian Wells wrote: ↑December 15th, 2021, 8:03 pm If the members don't rave over this course then they don't deserve this forum.

Very well done.

Ian

TYTYTY! Merry Christmas and happy New Year...

Dan