A designers lot

[Ian Wells]

I am attempting to build Pasatiempo GC in APCD and I had fianally laid out the course complete with elevations including Strakaline green renditions.
Before beginning the planting and 3D work I wanted to check something and turned to the historical tab in Google Earth Pro.

Image 1
This is the default image I get when I open GE at the course, and it has been ever since I started on it 4 months ago:

Latest.jpg (86.99 KiB) Viewed 5073 times

Image 2
This is the image I view when I go one version backwards in time:

03_2021.jpg (68.13 KiB) Viewed 5073 times

I have always believed that the most up-to-date image was shown. I often look back to earlier images, but I have never seen this version until today. When I check the date of image 1, at the bottom, the date is 9/27/2020
When I check the date of image 2, at the bottom, the date is 9/27/2020. On the historic tab the date given is 3/2021.

This leaves me somewhat confused and in a quandary. Do I leave the layout as I have it based on the default view in GE or should I change the layout to that of 3/2021?
I have not checked anything else regarding the layout but if the rest of the course has been revised to this extent ....

My gut feeling is that the 3/2021 must be the latest and as I want the build to be as accurate as I can make it I will have to build the course to 3/2021.

Edit.
I have had a quick look at the 3/2021 layout and the tees on every hole have been modified from standard rectangular tee boxes to more non-angular tee boxes.

Has anybody else had a similar experience with GE and if so was there a reason?

Ian

[sagevanni]

All the time.......happened to me with TPC Sawgrass......Pissed me off to no end.

I'm doing St. George.......same scenario......I'm going with what comes up as default.....

Sage.....

[braden1308]

The dates are confusing but the image that opens first is the newest, I have found that out when doing course updates/changes

Glenn

[Jimbo]

All the time.......happened to me with TPC Sawgrass......Pissed me off to no end.

I'm doing St. George.......same scenario......I'm going with what comes up as default.....

Sage.....

Hi Sage-there's a new PM for you.

[Ian Wells]

Thanks for the replies.
All the views available through the history tab show the same tee design as the default except for one. The "latest" history view 3/2021 is obviously a satellite view and this shows the different/"new" tee designs, therefore it must be later than the default - I think .
As a distraction, I am building the clock by the 1st tee, and hopefully it will help me make a decision.
Thanks again.
Ian

[Adelade]

The non-historical image is a 3D one (sometimes referred to on these forums as an area with high detailed elevations), whereas all historical images are basic satellite ones with low detail elevations. It seems to me that the 3D one was made sometime before 2016, probably 2015 or 2016, because while clicking through the historical images you can see a circular structure being built just north of the north-most green during 2016. The 3D image displays the area as it was before that point, while all historical images since 2016 (where you can actually see the area) show the structure.

It would cost a lot to make a new 3D image constantly of an area to update how it evolves, but Google Earth still treats the 3D image as the default one since it is more detailed than the more recent satellite ones, and looks nicer to most people. At least thats how I interpret it.

I didnt look super carefully, but in my search for anything easily identifiable to have changed on the course in the recent years, it seemed to me that no bunkers were really changed (in my experience with checking out historical changes of golf courses, thats pretty rare for a course!), so I bet the course hasnt really been touched much except for tee boxes? And in that case, you could use the most recent historical image for the shapes of the land and still use the 3D image for elevations, with the new tee boxes perhaps improvised for how it would make sense to have them. I think thats how I would do it anyway, but of course you should do it however you want! If you wanted you could make the course how it was from before 2016 for simplicity, I doubt anyone would mind much, all courses eventually become "outdated" so they're all snapshots of how the course was at one point in time.

[Ian Wells]

Adelade,
Thank you for your comments, and what you say say sounds very plausible and I believe that you are correct because I have just watched a video on YouTube, "Pasatiempo Golf Club Vlog - Alister Mackenzie's Public Golf Gem from 30 Mar 2020", and I can see that the tee shapes are as per the 3/2021 "History" view.
Based on your explanation and the YouTube video I will change the tees accordingly. That will begin tomorrow - as I have now finished the clock. (It doesn't look like the players with a 12:50 tee time are ready to tee-off)

Clock.jpg (48.7 KiB) Viewed 5018 times

Thank you.

Ian

[braden1308]

very nice work Ian