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Gut Kaden (B+A Kurs)
by Guenter Kujat
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 1194 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2003-01-05 |
65,974,377 bytes |
71 |
6579 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
REAL |
PARKLAND |
Kaden_ba_2003.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| 81344557dfa54d95bed29a8f5670311d |
604a374141f6a6298176520dbef5bd48 |
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by Mike Nifong
January 2003
Course type: Gut Kaden B + A Kurs is a parkland-style golf course situated on a relatively flat land plot. As is the case with each of Guenter's designs, it is a real German course, or more accurately, a portion of a real German course that consists of three separate nine-hole courses, each of which can be played in combination with any of the others. One of those combinations, the C + B Kurs, plays host to the Deutsche Bank/SAP Open on the European Tour.
Historical perspective: Gut Kaden B + A Kurs is one of three sibling courses (the other two being the A + C Kurs and the C + B Kurs) that were originally released in late January 2002 for Links 2001. [I was the Links Corner Official Reviewer for the trio, and I refer the reader to my original review for additional information on them.]
Upon release of the new APCD 1.5 a few months prior to the release of Links 2003, Guenter set about to update his first APCD course, München Nord - Eichenried, which became the first APCD course released in the 2003 format. [As it turns out, I was also the LC Official Reviewer for that course, which I called the first 'great' 2003 course.] More recently, and without much fanfare, Guenter announced that he was in the process of updating the Gut Kaden trilogy and Gut Lärchenhof to take advantage of the high-resolution 2003 textures. The new versions were submitted to Links Corner on January 5, 2003.
What is included: The cameo, splash screen and hole previews appear to have been carried over intact from the previous version. They were fine then and remain so now. The original read-me file is included (with a few new dates inserted), and there is a second brief read-me detailing the changes. The tournament option follows the design of the original trilogy: large crowds and full tournament objects are available only with the C + B Kurs, since that is the actual tour venue. Modest-sized crowds have been planted here 'so that. you're not too alone on the fairways.'
What is new in this release: Guenter's read-me lists 1) the addition of high-resolution textures, 2) minor fixes for some 2D objects, and 3) minor sound fixes. Unless you undertake an exhaustive hole-by-hole comparison, however, I would venture that you are likely to notice only the first of these. No changes to the course layout are mentioned, and none are apparent, so I would surmise that the very small increase in course length (an additional 24 yards from the back tees) is a function of how the APCD 1.5 measures the holes.
Not that anyone is likely to care, but for comparison purposes, the converted 2001 version has a 60.5MB .crz file and a 10.7MB .sha file, so it occupied 71.2MB of real estate on your hard drive. The new version has a 62.9MB .crz file and a 10.5MB .sha file, for a total of 73.4MB - a very modest 3% increase in footprint.
How it looks: I will confess that I was initially disappointed that the Gut Kaden revisions, unlike the one for München Nord - Eichenreid, were not full reworkings of the courses. Specifically, I had hoped that Guenter would have employed some texture blending, which he chose not to do. [To be fair, the texture blending process is both tedious and time-consuming, and perhaps it was the experience with München Nord that persuaded him not to attempt it here.] That having been said, I must admit that the unblended high-resolution textures not only look superb, but also convey quite a sense of realism in the fairway-fringe-rough transition (some people may even prefer the more defined separation to blended textures in those areas). It was also striking to see how much better the new textures look on a course that seemed just a year ago to have set the standard for that aspect of Links 2001 design.
The absence of blending was less happily noted in the bunker edges. The original Gut Kaden bunkers, while not spectacular, were extremely well (and consistently) finished; now, by comparison to the current standard, they seem surprisingly pedestrian. Blending of the sort Guenter employed in the 2003 version of München Nord would have gone a long way toward remedying this.
I am not sure what tweaking Guenter did in the revision, but the sounds, which were a very strong point in the original Gut Kaden, remain so here. I did occasionally find the twitter of the birds a touch too prominent, but that may well be at least partially a function of the fact that I reviewed this course immediately on the heels of ShadowLands, which seems to have raised the bar considerably in this category.
The planting still looks superb. The pond and stream treatments also remain quite good, if not quite so stunning in light of the overall elevation of the APCD art that we have witnessed in the past year. The water does seem just a bit too blue in comparison to the 2003 standard, but this is a very minor complaint.
I imagine that some people will look at my overall score and reach the conclusion that, in my opinion, Guenter's revisions here have not helped much, or even that they have hurt. Nothing could be further from the truth. The new Gut Kaden is appreciably better looking than its first incarnation, which was beautiful. The lower score is simply a function of the dramatic improvements in the artistry of APCD design that the past year has wrought.
How it plays: Not surprisingly, Gut Kaden (still) plays like a real course. Guenter, of course, has not thrown in any outrageous elevations or unreasonable slopes to ratchet up the challenge for the computer player, which leaves it up to the cyber-golfer to adjust the conditions of play to provide an appropriate level of difficulty. For pro clickers in easy-to-moderate conditions, the expectation will be for low scores. But at the champ or elite levels playing RTS or PowerStroke, the play can be quite realistic, especially if the top view is not employed for aiming, as many of the bunkers and water hazards are not visible off the tee.
And while we are on the subject, this is another course that has taken on a whole new dimension for me in RTS-Champ. With the extra distance possible off the tee and with fairway woods, the two par-5's on the front 9 (B Kurs), neither of which was reachable for the pro clicker in the 2001 incarnation, are at least potentially reachable with favorable wind conditions. On the shorter back 9 (A Kurs), where the par-5's were always reachable, RTS also gives a realistic possibility of actually placing your tee shot on the green (as opposed to near it) on the par-4 #16. The danger on holes where water crosses or extends into the landing areas (#14, for example) is also enhanced when you may occasionally hit your ball farther than you meant to. If any of you were looking for an excuse to try RTS (or to try it again), this could be your course.
This particular pairing of the longest (and arguably most difficult) nine with the shortest (and arguably easiest) nine does not provide the best balance possible within the Gut Kaden trio, a fact borne out by the AI golfers (skill level 79.0) that I use for play testing: on average, and regardless of conditions, they shot four strokes better (with respect to par) on the back 9. Overall, they were -31 (-6 to -10) in b/m/m/m conditions (and a total of -14 on the four par-5's), hitting 69% of both fairways and greens and taking an average of 23.5 putts. In w/f/f/d conditions, they were -1 (-4 to +5), hitting 68.5% of the fairways but only 48% of the greens, and averaging just over 25 putts.
The bottom line: If you have somehow managed to miss having added the Gut Kaden courses to your collection thus far, then you should download them forthwith, and the 2003 version is certainly the one to have. If you have already converted the 2001 version to play in 2003 and are satisfied with the textures, there is less urgency involved in making the switch, but I would still recommend the replacement to anyone for whom download time is not an issue. The stability issues that seem to be plaguing the 2003 version of Gut Lärchenhof are not a problem here, and the new textures constitute a significant improvement.
[NB: This score is intended only for the purpose of facilitating comparison of this course with other Links 2003 courses reviewed by this reviewer. It is specifically not intended for comparison to reviews of Links 2001 courses by this reviewer, for which different scoring criteria were employed, or for similar review scores by other Links Corner reviewers, which may or may not accurately reflect the opinions of this reviewer.]
Course statistics: Par 71; 4 sets of tees (6579/6189/5669/5540 yards); holes are handicapped. |
|
CLIPNOTES by Ben Bateson (ousgg) |
Description
Real, farmland course. |
Location
TBC |
Conditions
TBC |
Concept 4/10
There are three 9-hole 'halves' in the Gut Kaden complex, hence three different 18-hole combinations. If I'm to be brutally honest, I think only owning one is sufficient. They're open and more than competently designed courses, stretched to slightly excessive lengths for a club course. It's hard to get really involved with the course, due to the lack of features and wide open stretches of nothing, but that shouldn't tarnish its designer's excellent reputation. |
Appearance 6/10
Generally very sweet, and one would imagine quite faithful to the original. The textures are well-chosen and the buildings are recreated well. There are a few hard edges around the paths which should have been eliminated in the 2003 re-make and a lack of good customised objects and, to be honest, a lack of decent views, though. |
Playability 6/10
Although the course drags towards the end, there is just enough here to prevent attentions wandering, thanks mostly to some challenging gradients on both fairways and greens. Because of the straightforward nature of the holes, there is little risk/reward and stray shots are not caught often enough, even around the greens. Just not enough to persevere with, sadly. |
Challenge 4/10
Lack of hazarding, some accommodating fairways and a lack of really punishing deep rough will make low scores almost inevitable, although if you get caught up in one of the treacherous greenside bunkers then shots will be dropped, particularly with the hardest pin positions. The closing hole is almost embarrassingly easy to eagle, and the round ends very weakly. |
Technical 8/10
Despite the course's flaws, this has been well put together, with the fine attention to elevational work being a particular treat. But it's a crying shame that the designer hasn't seen fit to use seam blending on the textures, and a little more underplanting around the trees might be necessary to improve the challenge. |
| Overall |
I've read a lot of good things about Gut Kaden; sadly I don't feel able to agree with them. It's a bland and rather unthreatening course with a decent display of APCD-expertise, but no more. |
28/50 |
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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