|
Flood Lands GC
by Chuck Clark
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 1253 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2003-03-08 |
11,975,454 bytes |
72 |
7122 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
FICTIONAL |
WOODLAND |
Flood Lands_locked.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| f479e0a5e58145af8529de6cd4c3ec14 |
a81ee0775ebc8ea988ef749e12be925c |
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by Joe Turner `Loner' April 2003
His zipped file contains an extensive hole by hole read-me, a jpg of the splash, a recorded round and the crz. Here are parts of his interesting read-me.
Hi and welcome to Flood Lands Golf Club, a Links 2003 golf course. This course was designed and built in less than a month and is intended to be a bonus course for purchasers of Rocky Nuts GC. I wanted to thank the people who have been so nice to me and given me so much positive feedback. This course is for you!
This course is a small download again, because I have not done any seam blending or custom planting. I firmly believe that nice courses can be done without making them 80 MB. Seam blending is really nice and I am amazed at the wonderful visual effects that some of the designers can do with it, but it sure takes a long time to get right. There are still some people who download courses by dial-up and I also did this course with them in mind!
Flood Lands is an interesting and (I think) beautiful fictional golf course. It is called Flood Lands because it is relatively flat and has a winding creek running throughout the course. Water comes into play on about 14 or 15 holes. There are a number of risk-reward type holes where the golfer is asked to make a decision off the tee. It is a very strategic golf course, if you take the time to learn all of its subtleties.
Chuck is an award winning designer who has built highly rated imaginary courses (Crocodile Falls, Box canyon), real courses (Torrey Pines), fictional courses (Bunker Hill, Players 18) and has now designed a fictional course with all the trimmings at only an 11.5mb download, and it's great! It has beautifully made tee boxes, a patterned fairway with a light rough serving as a first cut and a very faintly patterned green with a generous fringe. Lets cut to the fairway, it leads into the light rough, then a rough which blend into a earth colored field that is the main part of the course which is heavily dotted with brush and tall trees. The trees are a pleasure, he assigned top views to them and we are loaded with the shadows on this course that we missed for ever so long. The water hazards and the meandering stream have tall grass, many flowers and rocks strewn along the banks to add that wild nature look. The bunkers not only are impeccably made but many in number. The fairways are nicely sized depending on the original shape of the hole and also are well guarded by very well placed bunkers. The greens which are for the most part medium to small are also very well guarded and usually with a small 'throat'. The ponds and the streams are always making their presents known; watch out for them, they are very well placed in front of some of the greens.
The minor elevation changes make the game interesting because of the well-placed hazards, and as usual the caddie is perfect. The 'dangers' of the greens are both in the size and the shapes. Hole # 13, par 5, 542y is a terrific example of a double risk/reward hole and gives great satisfaction to the player when he makes it. It is, if you are particularly brave, a possible eagle hole but you should get a birdie or your either too cautious or as bad a golfer as me. Hole # 17, par 4, 294y, yes you can make the green and if you are a fairly good putter you can eagle this hole also.
Chuck in your read-me and you said that this course took a month to build, what do you have for us next month. This course is pure unadulterated pleasure. I played it twice before it was given to me for this review and will it leave my hard drive. If you want some fun, play against his recorded round, more designers are including them but how I wish they all would. What else can I say about this course, it challenging and beautifully rustic. Download it and keep it, it is definitely a keeper.
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, hole previews, recorded round, ball washer, cart path and clubhouse.
Not Included: custom tees, custom flags, hole signs or numbers.
Statistical Information: par 72, 7122y, 5 sets of tee markers, 4-3 pars, 10-4 pars, 4-5 pars. |
|
CLIPNOTES by Ben Bateson (ousgg) |
Description
Fictional, woodland course |
Location
There are no clues in the Readme - the flood plains like this might be at home in Louisiana or the Deep South. |
Conditions
Some pins need a slower setting and I wouldn't go past M*/S* |
Concept 5/10
The concept and location behind Flood Lands is cute and has been well conveyed using some pretty simple techniques. Underneath, though, it feels very much like a case of golf-design-by-numbers: all the standard hole variations and a strategic challenge that is common to too many of Chuck's courses. |
Appearance 5/10
The off-track 'Dry Grass' texture is the unique selling point, and it has to be said that the trees have been well picked to suit the idea of a region that is frequently flooded. The paths abut harshly onto other course features and there is an odd choice of flower planting which doesn't really fit with the rest of the course. Most frustrating is the lack of attention to elevations and the grittiness of textures in mid-to-long range. |
Playability 4/10
Anyone with a history of playing fictional courses will recognise some of this course only too well, and there's really not much to fire the imagination, despite the designer's pretences to jazzing it up with a number of water hazards. The net result, of course, is that the course actually depletes the imagination required, as most holes have their common-sense route. |
Challenge 8/10
Whatever the course's flaws, it has to be said that the designer knows how to present a good challenge, and Par is very much the right number around the less extravagant holes. Some of the forced water carries take the edge off a bit, but it's a well-balanced course for at least 14 holes! |
Technical 4/10
Chuck has done reasonably well within a limited brief, but the continuing impression is that he hasn't really stretched himself to produce this course. Textures are something of a problem, as is the lack of blends and uninspired bunker lips. The elevations need serious looking at because at certain points the course becomes inordinately dull. This could - and should - have been more. |
| Overall |
Not the designer's most convincing effort. This is rushed and stereotyped. |
26/50 |
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.
|
|
Download course
|
Please support Links Corner
|
|
|
