| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 1320 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2003-07-24 |
23,886,732 bytes |
72 |
7024 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
FICTIONAL |
PARKLAND |
Pleasant Hills C.C.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
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LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by
Bob Hankla
August 2003
Designer: This is Nigel Williams' second course following the Hemmingsway Country Club.
Course: Pleasant Hills is a fictional parkland design of unknown locale. There is no readme file included to give any information as far as location or origin of the course. Standing at the first tee, I have hopes that this may be a nice course. The planting looks fairly nice, with a little wild flare to it. There are a wide variety of trees used, with miscellaneous bushes and wildflowers as underplanting. There is some repetition with some of the plants, but not over the top. The textures used are mostly stock 2003, except for the rough, which is stock 2001.
The fairways and greens have no fringe or first cut, and there are numerous bunkers dotting the course. There is a wide creek meandering its way through the course that is nicely planted, and you will encounter it several times during your round. There are also numerous other water hazards around the course, planted fairly nicely but with a little repetition. The course design was fairly interesting, with a variety of hole lengths and routings. Hazards were well placed. There are some holes where the driver is not the tee club of choice. Elevation work is fairly good, but I would suggest a little more roll to the fairways themselves.
The greens play pretty well, challenging but not overly difficult. One oddity is that the course finishes with a par 3, which I don't remember ever seeing before. Unfortunately, these promising signs were balanced by a lack of general APCD proficiency. There are numerous areas where the shapes are very erratic. It's probably a combination of unsharpened edges, the absence of guard rings, or just misplaced verts. The bunkers also need a lot of work. I don't remember any having a lip or other edge. They also had erratic shapes and elevations.
There are also shadows in several places. In conclusion, the designer seems to have some potential. I would highly encourage him to spend some time really learning the fundamentals of the APCD, possibly through reading the many tutorials around, and also studying other highly rated courses. This would provide the foundation that his skills could build from. I would also encourage him to seek out testers for his designs that could point out these problems prior to public release.
Favorite Hole: The first hole would probably be my favorite. You are faced with a difficult tee shot with a forced carry over water and bunkers right out of the chute, when you may be trying to find your swing. If you lay up, you're left with a long iron into the green that also isn't any fun to start with. Fortunately the green, while sloped back to front, is evenly sloped with no undulations.
Recommendation: I recognize and applaud the designer's effort, but unfortunately I can't recommend this course for download.
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