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Bunker Highlands Golf Club
by Steve Pope
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 44 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2000-11-16 |
15,305,291 bytes |
72 |
7085 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
FICTIONAL |
PARKLAND |
bunker.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| 9f7d0924bb4b11d493e200609790b0b2 |
bb1eae737f379845feb1d1cb70a8b0e9 |
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by Ian Downs
A fictional Course from Steve Pope, with his name showing on the opening Splash Screen looks to hold promise on the opening Tee. The fairway heavily guarded by bunkers makes driving accuracy needed here, a lot! The whole course will soon see how well your driving accuracy stats hold up, as this course doesn't make it hard to see why it's called Bunker Highlands.
Onto the gripes, and I always have some, so forgive my picking on them, I will state what I see. The planting of trees on this course are the main observations. Where they are dense, they become very samey..a lot of the same kinds, very similar heights too. There are a few forests that could have been mixed better. It shows clearer on the 8th tee that most holes though. In saying that, there isn't a lot more outstanding that observations fall down on. I found the odd hole not showing from 10ft, but is that a flaw in the game? The 15th fairway is hugely raised, but then a good drive will cause you never to see it. There is little else to worry about, except those bunkers.
Now, obviously, for playing purposes the bunkers are the biggest point in this course. For the designing feature, they must have proved a task to create. Most, but not all are nicely extruded. They all have depth and play hard out of. But there are a few that do seem banked where perhaps better mounding would make them look more real. But only a small detail.
The holes do show some thought in designing though. Accuracy avoiding bunkers isn't just the way to play. Careful planning on the 2nd shot needs thought too, as the trees planted in this course can be dicey to play through. Nice touches causing you to be suckered by the obvious and finding further problems. The 16th hole is a classic example of looking before you leap. Other noted features were the graveyard to the side of the 6th green, not sure who's in their, but many a club could get thrown that way. The ability to drive down another fairway doesn't make this a bad course either, as one hole allows you to borrow the 18th fairway, although no gain is made.
All in all, this is a challenging course and holds up well. I enjoyed playing it, and will next time take it to task to see if I can avoid every one of those traps. I also enjoyed the bagpipes playing as I came home on the 18th hole too.
Course Info :
Par 72
Tees : 5
Cameo Picture : No
Splash Screen : Yes
15mb
Reviewed 2001
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Reviewer Notes: by Doug Jensen
This reviewer plays using hardware rendering at 1024 x 768 32 bit color. I play No Wind, Medium and Moderate and play the back tees. I play my normal round and consider myself a average links player. My ratings are from 1 (very bad) to 10 (very good) for Visuals and 1 (very easy) to 10 (very hard) for all other ratings.
Bunker Highlands Golf Club designed by Steve Pope is a very tough course. As the name says, bunkers abound on this course and are placed at very strategic places.
Visuals:
This course looks fine. During play, there were some holes on the green that did not show up when putting. Noticed this on at least 2 holes. I just used overhead view to putt.
Off the Tee:
Bunker Highlands Golf Club has very tough landing areas for your drives. Water and numerous sand traps await your drive if not hit well on many holes. On #2, a short par 4, water in front of the green makes driving the green very risky. Also a very tricky dogleg can be found on #3. Hole #9 is a very long Par 5 where you will be facing a 300 yard 2nd shot.
The Approach:
Your approach shots into the greens at Bunker Highlands Golf Club will test you as the many greenside bunkers await an errant shot. There are 3 holes with bunkers on the green. Hole #10 has a total of 14 bunkers in front and around the green as well. Hole #9 and #10 share the same green.
Putting:
Putting was fair at Bunker Highlands Golf Club. Medium break will be encountered on most holes.
Bunker Highlands Golf Club is a good first effort from Steve and I hope he continues to design more courses in the future. |
|
CLIPNOTES by Ben Bateson (ousgg) |
Description
Fictional, forest course |
Location
Allegedly Scotland. Don’t hold your breath, though. |
Conditions
You might risk M*/S*, but no more. |
Concept 1/10
It's difficult to see this succeeding at either bunkers or highlands, so it can hardly be regarded as a conceptual success. The sand is largely painted on and often not well-positioned. The highlands are lumpy, unrealistic and scarcely reminiscent of the most beautiful parts of Scotland. The whole thing might pass muster as an American parkland course, but it is way, way off-target here. And, to be honest, I see no need for three back-to-back Par 5s, certainly not ones this dull. |
Appearance 2/10
Really, really appalling cloning problems dog this from the start, and the stock textures, unclear shapes and noticeable folds don't help either. There's just a tiny bit of originality in the shape of the clubhouse and surrounds; the rest is fundamentally routine. |
Playability 3/10
Making sure you can hit the pick-shot will certainly help around here, especially when the lack of hole previews give you very little idea of what to expect. Indeed, many holes are downright frustrating with their lack of obvious direction. Some bagpipe music towards the end of each half is a poor misjudgement. |
Challenge 5/10
Perhaps one reason that Bunker Highlands still gets mention in passing is that it's not totally unplayable today. It's not easy, sure, but the lengths are on the money, the bunkers present a range of challenges, and the greens aren't totally unplayable. The landscape looks ironed flat in too many places, though, which just doesn't quite give enough credibility. |
Technical 1/10
There's little here to love, especially given the flat nature of the bunkers, and the multitude of uninspired cloning. Sadly, this course - however playable - is dating itself badly. |
| Overall |
You've seen it all after the first hole. Bunker, tree, another bunker, another bunker, the same tree again. Yawn. |
12/50 |
Please remember that Clipnote reviews are the opinion of one person and do not constitute an 'Official' Links Corner review of the course. |
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