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Winter Rules Test
by Ed Spence
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 1254 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2003-03-20 |
5,642,809 bytes |
72 |
7170 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
IMAGINARY |
UNCLASSIFIED |
Winter Rules 2003.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| e208c3b71f2b4c59abb6a19b4f8b52c6 |
4147e448616d8d7e1451f79010d96050 |
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by Simon Kent March 2003
Designer: Ed Spence has previously designed three courses, Eagle River Country Club (a Beta course that will stay that way), Gilligan's Island Golf Resort (a review score of 30 and user rating of 2 stars) and Wolf Creek on Black Bear Ridge (a review score of 38 and user rating of 2 stars), with this being his first try at designing a 2003 course.
Course History: Winter Rules Test has been released as a 3 Hole Imaginary Course, even though in practicality it's a Beta course. The designer is treading in territory, from what I have seen, previously un-tested territory, which is building a course made of Snow and Ice. It's been released to get feedback from people to see if an 18 Hole Course is worth building and hopefully input from reviewers like me, and players, will make that a reality.
Playability: From the three holes I played, the course is quite easy, but very fun to play. If you go off the fairway, the ice will play exactly as it should, which means it will bounce quite a bit on impact then roll a long way. The snow effects you're shot just like you imagine it would, and only practice will make playing in snow an easy task. I didn't play 18 Holes, because I knew I would get bored playing the same holes over and over again. So for the three holes I played (Par 12), I shot a -2 Round (10), and had 100% Fairways and Greens in Regulation, with a total of 4 Putts.
The Course: The design itself made for easy play; especially the Par 5, due to the green easily being reached in two shots due to the downhill run from the fairway. Overall the 3 Holes were fun to play and an 18 Hole Course made the same way shouldn't be any different.
Best Hole: The Par 3 was my favourite hole (Screenshot 2 & 3), because the design was unexpected and made for a good shot, but the Par 5 (Screenshot 4) wasn't far behind due to how rare it can be having a downhill shot shooting for the green on a Par 5.
Technically: I didn't expect anything much here, because as I said before, this was basically a Beta Course. The seaming was obviously not perfect and the course wasn't technically sound, but because it would be corrected if the course was made into 18 Holes, this was not really a concern. The course however was technically far superior to courses I have played recently, and because this is a 'Test' course, it really does show that the designer has some promise.
Recommendations: Well the course was released to receive feedback, so I'll try my best to serve that purpose. It's important to firstly make the snow and ice look completely natural, and that means no straight lines in the Snow (because it looked like Fibreglass in some cases). Also in regard to the Snow, I hit a practice shot on to it and it bounced and then rolled quite a bit, this was unexpected as the ball should basically stop on impact like a bunker. Blending and seaming of textures is obviously important, and you really need to read tutorials on how to do that to achieve the exact look you are after.
I think realism is a key, even though the course is Imaginary, and that means having natural mounds of Snow like it has just fallen from the sky, more of a natural coloured ice (find something that looks more like ice), and variation with planting in the forests.
Having different types of ice, water, bunkers, and rough is certainly a good option. You could have playable ice on some holes, with punishing ice on other holes, and if it's not too hard, try and put some holes in the ice (so it seems like fisherman use it), because this will really punish people who stray off the fairways.
The most important thing is course design; by making the course 'Imaginary' in the hole designs, and then using the technical sides of things to make this happen, it should be a great course. I strongly advise to take you're time, make it as perfect as possible, then release it as a Beta course. Then make any changes that are needed, and when it is released, I can see this instantly being a Top 25 Imaginary Course and possibly even better. It's all up to you're effort as a designer and how perfect you can make it.
Download Value: This download is a good option if you have fast internet and want to provide some helpful feedback for the designer, and/or if you want to see what Snow looks like on a Golf Course. I would not however download it if you are looking for a course to play, because it is only three holes.
Course Stats: Par 12, Imaginary Snow, 5 Tees, 18 Hole Distances: Back- 6552m Forward 6240m, 1 of each Par (3/4/5) |
This course is available as a FREE download.
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