|
Tillicum Island Putting Course
by Jack Hartt
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 1019 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2002-09-03 |
11,019,911 bytes |
54 |
683 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
FICTIONAL Par 3 Course |
UNCLASSIFIED |
Tillicum Island Putting Course.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| 868df160bf7011d688fcb1d85deb3758 |
36a579eacbbbf6ee5439b7c3900ced79 |
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by Mike Nifong
September 2002
Course type: Tillicum Island Golf Club is a fictional, coastal-style course located on Tillicum Island (presumably Blake Island in real life, as that was the location from which the photos assembled into the pano were taken), across the Puget Sound from Seattle, Washington. The custom pano, constructed by Dexter Gresh from those aforementioned photographs, is outstanding; indeed, this must be considered one of the most successful pairings of golf course and pano to which we have yet been treated.
Tillicum Island Putting Course is an 18 hole par-3 course, designed to be playable with just your putter. The read-me file notes that it is located 'just south of the driving range, between holes one and eleven' of the main course; indeed, you may have discovered the semi-functional (there are no cups) putting course at that location, to the left of the first tee. Rest assured, however, that the TIPC is not that course. It is, instead, a roughly one-tenth-scale duplicate of the big course on which the tees and fairway areas have been replaced with big greens shaped like the holes on TIGC. And, as presented here, such a course could only exist on its own one-tenth-scale island.
Historical perspective: Released on July 25, 2002, Tillicum Island Golf Club is Jack's fourth Washington course, and the first purely fictional one. The companion Tillicum Island Putting Course, released separately on September 3, 2002, was originally conceived as a 'treasure' to be searched for within the main course. Despite the separate releases, these two courses share enough to make their consideration together every bit as appropriate as it was with the Desert Canyon Suite.
Jack's first course, Qualchan, was based on a public course located in Spokane, which he modified slightly to make it play better in Links. Apple Tree, his next course, was a marvelous (and economical) re-creation of the Yakima course with its famous apple-shaped island green. Desert Canyon (here, the putting course is included as a part of the package) is located in the high country desert of north central Washington, on the east bank of the Columbia River. All of those courses have been enthusiastically received, each receiving at least four stars in the user reviews (Desert Canyon has five stars) and an official LC review score in the 80's (those for Qualchan and Apple Tree seem about exactly right to me, but I would rank Desert Canyon in the 90's). These scores really do not paint the whole picture, however, as each course has that indefinable 'something' that seems to make it more than the sum of its parts.
The same could be said for the Tillicum Island siblings as well with respect to their character. When it comes to reception, however, there does seem to be a bit of a disconnect: while the big course (as of this writing) enjoys a 4-star user rating, the putting course (inexplicably, as far as I am concerned) has garnered only three stars, and from relatively few voters.
In case you could not tell, I am a big fan of all of Jack's courses, and I consider anything with his name on it an automatic download and a presumptive member of my permanent collection.
What is included: The Golf Club - All of the expected features are here. The read-me file, typical of Jack's work, is colorful, clever, well written, informative, and endearing. The cameo and splash screen are up to his usual standards, and the hole previews are excellent. For those of you who prefer playing in front of crowds, that option is available, although some will lament the absence of a recorded round to play against. One other inclusion merits special mention, as it is unique to this game, and that is the inclusion of a 75-page novella that fleshes out the 'history' of the course and includes the aforementioned treasure hunt as well. The Putting Course - With the exception of the novella, this package includes everything its larger sibling has. The read-me is shorter and concerns itself primarily with strategy and suggestions, but the cameo and splash screen maintain the high standards of the larger course. I was amazed to find hole previews, albeit rather basic ones that pretty much mirrored the top cam view. I was also pleasantly surprised to find crowds planted (large ones, at that), although my enthusiasm was tempered by their rather fuzzy resolution, which I presume to be a function of their being much closer than usual on this scaled-down course; on balance, I preferred playing without them.
Tillicum Island Golf Club
Actually, I found more to complain about here than I expected to, but most of the flaws are exceedingly minor, and some you will not notice unless you venture pretty far from the course proper. There are a number of small mesh shadows noticeable in the infrequent locations where the concrete texture is employed: along the edges of the apron behind the tee area on the driving range, for instance, and in the concrete battery to the left of #7. I also noticed some angularity in the borders between the wave and sound textures, and again in the borders between grass and sand textures on some holes (the edges of the sand bank on #12 probably being the most obvious example). But these quibbles aside, there is much more to like here than to dislike. Extrusions are used both around the tees and around the greens, and they are handled well, causing only the tiniest of black lines in the top view.
I don't know that I would say that Tillicum Island Golf Club is the most visually satisfying course I have yet played, but I am hard pressed to think of one that is significantly more appealing. This is a veritable cornucopia of felicitous details, so much so that you cannot hope to experience all of this course's treasures in a single round. Virtually every spot on the course will reward a casual look around, and the rightness of the details adds immeasurably to the convincing reality portrayed - it is no wonder that even some of the beta testers thought this was a real course.
I hardly know where to begin. The shore treatments are probably the best yet in Links 2K1, with a wet sand texture close to the water line giving way to dry sand higher up the beach. The banks have been undercut in places by the action of the waves - check the shoreline surrounding the green on #16 - it doesn't get any better than this. There are also some rocky beaches, and places where ridges of black volcanic rock thrust their way out of the Puget Sound. The lighthouse hole (#8), with Mt. Rainier towering in the distance, is one of the most perfect holes ever designed for this game. The frequent streams that wind through the course, with their rapids and occasional waterfall, are also marvelously well realized.
While we are on the subject of water, I should also mention the sounds on Tillicum Island, since the various bodies of water contribute so much to them. My colleague Bluesbro remarked in a web post that the sounds were a bit overpowering, more or less drowning out his chosen soundscript. While I can imagine that this would be true - the water sounds in particular can be quite forceful - I also found them to be ideally evocative of the character of the location. I never found them to be overbearing (indeed, the biggest concern I had was they were sometimes absent in places where I expected them), and I thought that their effect pretty much obviated the need for any additional sound (the remarks of golf commentators, especially, seem almost out of character here).
The planting is also exceptionally satisfying in every respect. Rhododendrons provide a splash of color on a few tees, but the majority of the color elsewhere comes from the muted yellows and violets of the flowers that spring up in the dune-like areas marked 'puget beach,' which employ a ground texture similar to that used by Eddie Schmidt on Spyglass Hill (and created by the famed Dlunatic). The trees used are both appropriately chosen for the region and placed for maximum visual (and often strategic) effect. The bunkers are beautifully finished and occasionally imaginatively shaped - there are a crab and a salmon - without looking contrived. The course also makes good use of occasional rock outcroppings, which, like pretty much everything else, look very natural.
There are no cart paths on Tillicum Island, but you will find sod (and occasionally gravel) footpaths to get the golfers from hole to hole. The driving range (to the left of the #1 tee) is not only usable, but also has yardage markers. The beaches and the waters of the Puget Sound are occupied by a myriad of watercraft and an assortment of regionally appropriate creatures - orcas, for one example, and starfish below the high tide mark of some of the rocks, for another. Sea gulls are visible in the skies overhead, and everything is tied together spectacularly by that previously praised panorama. The overall effect is of the you-have-to-see-it-to-believe-it level of remarkableness; indeed, only the occasional (and previously mentioned) too-angular texture boundary separates this course from absolute perfection.
Tillicum Island Golf Club comes as close as any course to providing the perfect balance between challenge and enjoyment. The holes provide excellent variety, and the course seems to be of about average difficulty when played pro-click style in moderate conditions. But once you wander off the fairways - something that is likely to happen under more severe conditions - a good score can become quite difficult to achieve.
The course absolutely abounds in risk/reward opportunity. The fairways tend to be fairly generous in width, and as a result the majority of the par-4's and par-5's provide several options off the tee (detailed in the excellent hole previews), so you should find a reasonable alternative whatever the conditions or your playing style. But there is a cloud to every silver lining. Aim your tee shot to avoid the fairway bunkers, for instance, and you might find your path to the green blocked by a tree. In addition, the generous dimensions of the fairways are somewhat offset by the relative narrowness of the rough, leaving you little margin for error before you reach the much more punitive deep grass and beach textures. The bunkers are also extremely well placed - you have to think about them on nearly every shot. The greens tend to be large, often tiered, and their slopes are not unreasonable, but you will not always be able (or brave enough) to shoot directly at the pin, so you will probably face some long putts. You also have to avoid hitting long on your approaches, as the areas surrounding the greens tend to be less forgiving from behind. While we are on the subject of hitting long, I should probably mention that I found myself second-guessing the caddie more than usual on this course, especially on those holes that feature significant elevation change, where he would often try to hand me too much club.
Neither of the front side par-5's is reachable, but all three on the back nine are at least potentially reachable.
The computer foursome did not have too much trouble with TIGC in benign conditions (b/m/m/m), shooting a combined -35 (-4 to -11), hitting 80% of the fairways (75-84%) and 83% of the greens (77-88%) - all in the average range compared to other courses. Things took a dramatic turn for the worse under difficult conditions (w/f/f/d), however, where the same foursome was a combined +5 (+7 to -3), hitting only 71% of the fairways (66-84%) and 55% of the greens (38-72%). The par-5's in particular - especially #7, #10, and #13 - had a lot more bite, and the deep grass texture proved quite challenging to play out of. This performance is the third worst I have yet recorded with the computer players, and largely confirms my own experience: this can be one tough course in the wind.
Tillicum Island Putting Course
Technical merit
As was the case with the Golf Club, only some occasional too-straight lines will likely be noticeable in the main view. Otherwise, the most significant flaw was a small but obvious crease in the mesh at the forward left edge of the mid-green pond closest to the pin on #13.
Artistic achievement
In most respects, the TIPC is quite similar to its more elaborate sibling. Colors and textures appear to be the same, and the same pano is used. What is lost in the 'honey, I shrunk the golf course' transformation is a bit of the sense of immersion that the realism of TIGC provides through the use of structures, objects, and special plantings. The reduction also seems to upset the near-perfect balance of spaces achieved in the big course; the beach areas, in particular, seem a little 'smaller than life,' and slopes and transitions do not seem to flow as well in the smaller space. But keep in mind that this is only in comparison to TIGC. When considered on its own, TIPC accomplishes its purpose with laudable success
As anyone who has played the Desert Canyon Putting Course will imagine, this is about as much fun as you can have on a golf course with just one club. To be sure, it can be played in the conventional manner. When I turned the computer foursome lose on it, as you might expect, they tried to make every hole a pitch-and-putt, with both positive and negative consequences: on the one hand, an initial pitch makes it possible to get your ball close on holes that are too long to reach with your putter; on the other hand, the one-tenth scale greens make pretty small targets, and a poorly struck or poorly judged shot will likely find the rough, the beach, or the sound. On balance, there is probably less chance of getting into real trouble if you play with just your putter, especially after you have familiarized yourself with the subtleties of the layout, and it is certainly more fun that way.
Other than the Desert Canyon Putting Course, there is really nothing else out there that compares to this; of the two, if forced to make a choice, I would probably take this one. It is not a particularly hard course to score well on under the recommended conditions (w/m/m, although the windy part is just to enhance the sounds): the computer foursome was -27 under those conditions (-2 to -10) playing it as a pitch-and-putt, although they hit the greens only 62% of the time; I averaged -7 playing with just my putter, and I rarely wound up off the putting surface once I learned the tricks (i.e., the best line and the optimum firmness of stroke). I also scored two aces here - one on #8 and one on #14 - though not in the same round. (To put that in perspective, I previously had only one ace in Links 2K1 - and precisely one ace in each of the four previous incarnations of the game.) There is no doubt that there is a certain element rather akin to miniature golf in all of this, but I never got tired of any of the holes, and I always had a lot of fun.
I would strongly suggest that you read Jack's read-me file before you play this course. When he says avoid the beach, he means it; you cannot escape with just a putter. The rough and the shallow bunkers are playable (with practice) with your putter, but avoiding them altogether is much to be preferred. He suggests that you play without mulligans, but I would point out that it is very easy to forget to manually select the putter on each hole, so be very careful if you forego them.
I will not attempt to tell you how to play this course - too much of the fun is in figuring it out for yourself - but I will suggest what I found to be the optimum firmness of putt for each hole (m/m conditions). Use the full swing range on #1, #2, #3, #6, #7, #9, #10, #13, #15, #16, and #17. Hit #4 just past the 1:00 position, #5 at 12:00, #8 just past 10:00, #11 just past 1:00, #12 at 12:00, #14 at 11:00, and #18 at 1:00. Now all you have to do is find the right line. Enjoy!
The bottom line: How about this: Jack Hartt is not only one of the best APCD designers around, but from everything that I have either heard or personally observed, he is also one of the best people around.
I cannot imagine that anyone who would read this review would not already have both of these courses, but if that unlikely situation inheres, then by all means download them at once (you have the option, of course, of selecting only one, but why anyone would do that is beyond me). This might also be a good time to acquaint yourself with any of Jack's previous courses that you have not yet experienced.
Course Statistics :
Course statistics: The Golf Club - Par 72; 5 sets of tees; 7295 yards from back tees; holes are handicapped; The Putting Course - Par 54; 1 set of tees; 722 yards; holes are handicapped. |
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CLIPNOTES by Ben Bateson (ousgg) |
Description
Fictional, short course |
Location
TBA |
Conditions
TBA |
Concept 8/10
Jack Hartt has an excellent mastery of putting courses, and this is not just
any putting course. Nope: it's a 1/10 scaled-down model of its older
brother. It's mostly been carefully re-landscaped to allow your tee shots to
end within fighting distance of the flag, and has included a few new tricks,
such as the water-jump on the 14th. Sadly, the graphics haven't quite
scaled down as well as the golf, and sometimes look a bit coarse. |
Appearance 6/10
As much has been done well with the scaling-down, it's easy to find fault. Some of the trees look blocky and out-of focus, and the
water and coastline don't look half as good as in the big version. If you treat it purely as a putting course, though, it's acceptable
without being outstanding. |
Playability 7/10
While this is an entertaining diversion for a while, it's hardly likely to be a course that you return to time and again. The rough and
bunkers are too challenging to escape with a putter, particularly when close to the pin, and the rolling elevations (while designed for
your benefit) can sometimes make tee shots a bit of a lottery. It's good stuff, as far as short courses go, but not without its attendant
frustrations. |
Challenge 6/10
The longer holes (originally Par 5s) are very difficult to do in three, but some of the shorter holes succumb nicely. Obviously the course
cannot be judged by the same standards as a full-size track, but as a test of putting it's satisfactory, if perhaps just a little bit overcomplex. |
Technical 8/10
You have to admire the perseverance that would incite someone to spend additional hours shrinking down one of his own courses.
Some areas could use a tidy up, and the planting would ideally be completely revisited to put things in scale. But the design of the
elevations is very clever, in the way it facilitates long putts, and the scale of the course is surprisingly good. |
| Overall |
An entertaining diversion from 'real' golf, and even a place to hone up on reading
breaks. It's not perfect but, surprisingly, nor is it fundamentally flawed. |
35/50 |
Please remember that Clipnote reviews are the opinion of one person and do not constitute an 'Official' Links Corner review of the course. |
This course is available as a FREE download.
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