BallyHack Golf Club

[Ian Wells]

This is to confirm that I will be continuing with Ballyhack Golf Club, at least for the present. I believe that this is a greater challenge than building Wade Hampton, so there is still some doubt about completeing it (Hopefully it won't take the 3 years Wade Hampton did. )

Here is the result of 50+ hours of APCD time:
Overview of the first 4 holes showing the overhead screen shots from Google Earth.

Hole 1 to 4.jpg (950.66 KiB) Viewed 4997 times

and this shows the edges and the 4500 verts:

Hole 1 to 4 edges.jpg (691.83 KiB) Viewed 4997 times

This is the bear bones layout complete with basic elevations - no detail and no textures. Not a lot for the hours spent.

If I can complete the build, and it is somewhere near resembling the real course, I believe that with the undulations it has, it will be great fun to play. (Not for any player wanting to protect their handicap. )

Ian

[braden1308]

Good for you Ian, you can make it come to life!

[sagevanni]

Looks like a winner so far Ian....!!!!!!!!!! Fun times ahead..............

Sage......

[Adelade]

Good luck!!! Yeah all those bunkers are gonna take some work for sure...

I noticed you used the 3D image for the satellite capture. For courses with a lot of hillslopes, like this one, it can lead to the distances in certain directions being a bit skewed (some were 5% wrong on Nine Bridges before I remade the satellite image). Also, in some cases it also means a few years older image than the latest GE satellite image. I havent checked out the various images for this course, so Im not trying to say whether it is good or bad, there can certainly be reasons to use the 3D image rather than satellite ones. For example if the satellite ones are less sharp or just harder to see details in, and if being fine with some yardages being a few percentages wrong (almost no players will notice or care anyway).

(To grab a satellite image of a course where all distances will match up:
-in Google Maps, disable Globe View in the Layers settings.
-in Google Earth, disable "Terrain" in the filters.
And of course remember to change it back for grabbing elevation data.)

[Ian Wells]

Thanks guys.
Adelade, I make a grid in Google Earth of 250 yard squares with the terrain button off. I take great care with the grid to ensure greater accuracy using the latitude and longitude readings. I then take screenshots of each square.

overhead key.jpg (745.19 KiB) Viewed 4908 times

In APCD I make the density 750 feet square and then align each screenshot within the square boundaries. (It helps to make the grid line as fine as possible.) It does mean that each square has it's own planar as the scale differs slightly.
It seems to work.
Ian

[Adelade]

And you change to the 3D image between making the grid and capturing the screenshots? Anyway, I wanna clarify that it doesnt matter to me, as long as you (and any other designers making GE captures) are happy with the results yourself

[Ian Wells]

Yes, but I use whichever GE image is the clearest. This time it was the 3D, which makes it easier when elevating the grid.
Ian

[sagevanni]

This is a small example of what Leo Allen provides me with to do elevation work for real courses. I make my TGA files depending on how many I need add and them to 1-2 sometimes 3 planers. I then insert gridlines horizontally and vertically on the grid from the TGA files and place a vert at each intersection. I then raise the plot to the lowest elevation and then raise each vert intersection to the indicated number provided by Leo. It takes days for Leo to produce these what we affectionately call "dots". This is how I do the elevations for real courses we work on. Then Glenn Braden does his masterful work on the courses.

dots-1.JPG (405.5 KiB) Viewed 4865 times

dots-2.JPG (81.68 KiB) Viewed 4865 times

Just thought I'd add my 2 cents.

Sage...........

[Ian Wells]

Sage,
As you mentioned in an earlier post, Leo is an important part of the “team”. That is a lot of work.
(It’s interesting to see the processes that designers use to build a course, thank you.)
Ian

[Wayne W]

Ian,

I live in the Roanoke Valley and live about 8 or 9 miles away from Ballyhack. I have been out to Ballyhack several times, including when they were building it. I have not played it although I had an opportunity to do so. My game is not good enough IRL. I'm glad you are doing Ballyhack and I know it will come out well. If I can help, maybe with pictures or anything else, let me know. I have downloaded many courses and follow the forum almost every day. I have not posted in quite a long while and had to get a new handle.