Links Corner Forum

It's been a long while since I've been around here, so I'll reintroduce myself: I'm Ben Mumma - creator of one, we'll call it passable, course: East Mountain.

The pandemic has given me a chance to get back into Links a bit, and APCD, and I ended up choosing my recreation of Country Club of Harrisburg (CCH) as the project I should actually finish. Having already imported the aerial overlay and gps elevation data ~13 years ago, I had a decent start.

Why this course?
It is a phenomenal real course located in Central Pennsylvania. It was designed by WIlliam Flynn back in the 1920's (architect of Shinnicock Hills among others), and is located on an incredible hilltop just north of Harrisburg PA. I was fortunate to grow up both working at the course as a cart staffer and playing there very regularly as a kid. Let's put it this way: one summer I was there 98 out of 100 days between school years. But it's an awesome layout with few flat lies and some incredibly unique green complexes.

Why the year 2024?
I couldn't resist taking some liberties with expanding the course that they could hypothetically add on over the next few years (financial woes aside). I had drawn many of these plans out back in high school, and once into it I couldn't resist a few more changes. New tee boxes were added that wouldn't be 100% practical in real life, plus some new bunkers & high grass, expanded greens and a bit more were added. I think I did fairly well to keep the play of the course quite similar to real life - it always still feels like the same course I played growing up. Many of the shots I've run into testing it out have brought a strong sense of deja vu. While the original course is ~6400 yards from the tips, my additions have stretched it to ~7,150, but the middle tees in Links will play as the back tees would in real life.

Enough talk - here's a look:
Here's the teeshot on the 2nd from the original tees - a fun 210-yard shot that looks deceptively wide open.


And here's our version from a very similar spot in Links!


The real image is borrowed from http://dimpledrock.com/golf-photography ... Harrisburg, so please check that out if you want a sense of the full course, and I'll have some more shots from the course pretty soon!

Nice job, looking forward to playing it, many thanks for your efforts

It's hard to create challenge with a 6400 yd course and the click swing, so I applaud your decision to stretch it to over 7000 yds! Looks like a great course. I'm looking forward to it!

Pete

I know I'm biased, but it's a blast of a course to play in Links (as it is/was in real life). Building it out has made me really appreciate the architecture of the course and how well it used the natural geography.

I've started testing out bunkering approaches (today's screenshot), though the texture is a bit too orange for the course, so I'll have to tone those down a little. But once I do the seam blends around the course, I'll likely release it as a beta and try to muster the motivation to do a 3d clubhouse (which would be to the right of this green)!

Design-wise - this bunker doesn't exist on the real course. But it was a spot where my poor approach shots would often land and it felt like it needed to be a bit more penal of a miss. Plus it adds a good visual framing to the approach shot (second shot).

Looks really good Ben! You're right the orange sand doesn't fit, but the placement and shaping definitely do. In fact, I think I would rework the other bunker with similar but slightly lower lip shaping.

Having done a handful of (also I will use the word passable) 3d clubhouses I'd say go for it if you want do 3d work. I couldn't resist looking up the clubhouse and it looks quite easy in terms of architecture (very square and flat) and texturing (very brown!). Should you not want to tackle it, I would be happy to try to build it for you if you were comfortable sending your course file. I already have lots of window, door, roof and brick textures in the APCD which could suit it too. It's up to you but the offer is there whenever you feel the course is in a state to build it. Just so I don't seem like a snake oil salesman:

72Animal wrote: ↑April 17th, 2020, 1:54 pm Looks really good Ben! You're right the orange sand doesn't fit, but the placement and shaping definitely do. In fact, I think I would rework the other bunker with similar but slightly lower lip shaping.

Having done a handful of (also I will use the word passable) 3d clubhouses I'd say go for it if you want do 3d work. I couldn't resist looking up the clubhouse and it looks quite easy in terms of architecture (very square and flat) and texturing (very brown!). Should you not want to tackle it, I would be happy to try to build it for you if you were comfortable sending your course file. I already have lots of window, door, roof and brick textures in the APCD which could suit it too. It's up to you but the offer is there whenever you feel the course is in a state to build it. Just so I don't seem like a snake oil salesman:

Real nice 3D work Animal

Thanks for the tips 72Animal! I should give it a try having a better sense of mapping styles and whatnot.

Fun facts I learned as well - the clubhouse has burned down twice in the club's history, and this hole (the 9th) used to be the 18th, but the 9's were switched as a member actually died walking up this hole (there's about a 100-foot climb through the ravine just past the tee) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyG3GeoMfe8

Here are some updated bunkers with a toned down texture:

No problem! Yup I like the look of those bunkers. Well, at least there's no danger of a walking fatality in Links. That's where the 'teleporting' to the next shot comes in handy regardless of elevation!

Looking real good Ben

As you may have heard I have a "thing" for clubhouses. You seem to have it roughed in nicely...will you include the pool?