Black Lake G.C. by Gary Taylor
Reviewed by Joe Turner `Loner'
February 2003
A portion of his read-me:
Black Lake is a real course in my home state of Michigan. It was designed by Rees Jones, one of the very best at his craft. Black Lake is situated on 1000 “heavily” forested acres along the southeast side of Black Lake, one of Michigan’s largest inland lakes.
Opened in 1970, it was the dream of UAW President Walter Reuther who saw it as a learning center and retreat where UAW members and their families could gain a deeper understanding of their union and role in society away from the distractions of daily life.
Rees Jones stated, “The holes were here, we just had to find them” Also, “We strive for holes blending with the natural terrain. There is nothing artificial or contrived at Black Lake”
As for the overall look of the course it had very nicely made tee boxes, a lush rough, unmowed fairways without a first cut and a checkerboard green with a fringe, the textures were very well done. The bunker work as he mentions in his read-me is exceptionally nice, they are quite flat along the fairway where they very seldom come into play without wind, The ones at the greens seem fairly safe but they have as real courses have, lips. This course is extremely well planted with deep grass as undergrowth, in fact I would go as far as to say it is heavily planted as you can see in the top views. Why an I surprised by this, the course size, only 21mb but he did sacrifice hole previews, sounds, crowds and objects both tournament and other types to give us an exceptionally attractive course for a small download. He didn’t leave it bare though, the cart paths had rocks along some areas and the water hazards were attractively decorated with tall grass and rocks. While he also used deep grass as a decoration on hole # 2 it looks good mixed brown and green, it looked alive instead of the usual “dead” look I’ve seen too often. On hole # 3 he used a large field of dead grass, which not only showed up well in the top view but also seemed to be a nice addition to the course in the main view.
If I may repeat myself, the fairways were ample and guarded but not very hazardous; they, at times had nice undulations to them. The greens were medium, some were elevated most were double or triple tiered but none had the ridiculous slopes we’ve seen too often. I used the easy pin settings and their placement was excellent. If you’re within 10 to 15ft of the cup the breaks were enjoyable instead of being a chore to decipher. Elevations, well they were quite minor but you were aware of them, the caddie work was excellent. Hole # 6 was the first hole that I encountered a water hazard, it was a par 5, 509y hole and the water surrounded the entire left side of the green making it an interesting hole to play.
This course as real courses go had many interesting and challenging hole shapes thanks to the designer’s good eye. This is course # 3 for Gary, his other two, Ice Castle 2 and Whispering Willows were both fictional and both well received. I’m pleased to see that he has kept designing, this course is one of the better releases that we’ve had of late. I know that I enjoyed playing and being on this course, it was a peaceful yet challenging round. He assigned top views to many of the trees along the fairways and tee boxes, which brought back memories of the courses that we use to play before we lost the shadows. It’s an enjoyable course and I highly recommend it as a download.
Screenshots
Filesize 22MB
Reviewer Note
I am a player not a designer and therefore rate a course as a player for other players.
Summary :
Included: read-me, cameo, splash, custom flag, ball washers cart path and buildings.
Not Included: custom tees, recorded round, hole previews, signs or numbers.
Statistical Information: par 72, 7052y, an “R” type woodland course, 5 sets of tees, 4-3 pars, 10-4 pars, 4-5 pars, played bck/nw/m/m/e, pro, clicker, a 7.84 shadow file and a 21.7mb download. |
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