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The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island (V2)
by G. D. Taylor
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 1573 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2005-04-20 |
71,749,632 bytes |
72 |
7959 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
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REAL |
LINKS |
OCKIv2.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
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| COURSE NOTES |
The Ocean Course opened in 1991 to national acclaim as the site for the Ryder Cup. The American team had faced a disappointing loss in 1987 at Muirfield Village Golf Club, and had returned home from The Belfry in 1989 with a tie which left the Cup in Europe's hands. Never had an event nor a golf course met with as much anticipation as the 1991 Ryder Cup and the new Pete Dye design at Kiawah Island.
The Ocean Course proved tough and the world looked on as 24 of the top professional golfers battled to take home the Cup. The War by the Shore ended on the 18th hole in the final match between Bernhard Langer and Hale Irwin. The U.S. team had won, and the Ryder Cup returned to American soil.
The Ocean Course, ranked as "the toughest resort course in America" by Golf Digest, is still a challenging test of golf. But, it is also known for its picturesque setting ad as a refuge for a wide variety of wildlife and native vegetation. |
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LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by: Big Three
Designer Background: The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island is the first design from Mr. Taylor.
Course Overview: The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island is a real links course designed by famed architect Pete Dye. Kiawah Island is an island in the Atlantic Ocean off of the coast of South Carolina, south of Charleston. The course opened in 1991, and was the sight of the now famous 1991 Ryder Cup matches won by the U.S. This version of the course plays to a Par of 72 and has 5 sets of tees. The course plays to a rather lengthy 7959 yards from the tips to 5347 yards from the Ladies tees.
Layout/Playability: Before talking about the course, I need to mention the yardages. Mr. Taylor has explained that if you look carefully at the excellent hole previews taken from the course website, you can see Black Tees on about half of the holes. This is despite the fact that neither the Hole Previews nor the website list yardages for these tees. Apparently, this is a planned stretching of the course. Mr. Taylor took it upon himself to add Black Tees on the rest of the holes to create the Back tees. Therefore, playing the course from the 7232 yard Middle tees is closer to the course as it is played, and was played in the Ryder Cup and is the set of tees that I would recommend. The course is playable from the back tees (and I have scored well from them) but expect to miss a lot of greens due to the many long iron or even fairway wood approaches combined with the elevated nature of the greens. It is a real test from the back tees.
Also, the yardages on the holes vary a bit from the actual yardages on the Hole Previews. This could in part be due to the way the APCD measures distance in the program. None of the differences are drastic, and Mr. Taylor's tee locations seem to be fairly accurate to those shown on the Hole Previews. That being said, the layout and individual hole designs appear to be a quite accurate representation of the course, and that is the most important item.
Bottom line on Kiawah is this: Despite there being aspects of the design (mostly in the planting) that probably do not accurately reflect the real thing, Mr. Taylor has done a very nice job of capturing the feel, essence and spirit of the Ocean course. He has brought us the opportunity to experience one of the top rated courses in the US, not to mention a course with substantial historical importance despite its young age.
The course layout is in the shape of a figure eight and sandwiched between the Kiawah River and marshes on the landward side and sand dunes on the Atlantic Ocean side. The ocean is never in play and really doesn't come into view very often, but on occasion it is visible in the background. One look at this course from an overhead view instantly confirms that this is a Pete Dye design. The layout of individual holes is somewhat reminiscent of a tree-less TPC at Sawgrass, although Kiawah Island has more open fairways. Still, the jogs in the fairway, the huge waste areas alongside the fairway, all sorts of lakes, ponds and the Kiawah River, marshes, and vast areas of tall grasses all combine to say this is a Pete Dye design. If you do not use the overhead cam, all of the humps, bumps and swales in the fairway and greens will soon remind you that you are playing a Pete Dye course. It is not unusual to see a poorly planned or mis-hit shot deflect away from your intended location.
Most of the greens are on a raised plateau, so generally you are not going to run up or bounce on here. A mis-hit or short approach will usually be deflected away from the green, leaving some interesting and delicate chipping situations. Despite the humps and swales, the greens were challenging but fair using the M/M setting playing the 1.06 Mod.
The fairways are mostly generous, but straying from them is an invitation to disaster. There is a collar of Light Rough (playing as rough) about 10 to 12 feet wide, followed by Heavy Rough (which also plays as rough). Anything beyond that is a potential problem. There is an area of Long Grass (deep grass) that forms a collar between the Heavy Rough and the bunkers and hazards. In the narrower places this is not planted. In the wider areas the Long Grass is heavily planted with all manner of tall grasses and reeds. If your shot lands in here, it is best to forget about any advancement of the ball and just play out sideways to the fairway. Stray shots will frequently land in the waste areas that play as sand shots. Some of the waste areas also feature a heavy planting of the tall grasses, reeds and bushes. Of course, any poor shot also faces the possibility of finding a stroke-costing marsh, lake or river.
My favorite holes are the stretch of 10 through 13. Holes 10, 12 and 13 are all lengthy Par 4s ranging from 464 to 491 yards from the back tees, with the 583 yard Par 5 11th mixed in. First there is the length; throw in a nice mixture of all of the previously mentioned hazards and finish it off with the Kiawah River being hard to the right hand side of all 4 holes - including a couple of holes where it is the next thing after the Heavy Rough - and you have the recipe for about the hardest 4 hole stretch you might ever want to experience. I had plenty of rounds where one of these holes cost me a double bogey or worse.
Planting/Textures: The planting does a nice job of capturing the general look and feel of the course, despite probably not being real accurate. The grasses are mixed well, generally yellow-brown in color with spots of green mixed in, although cloning is an issue. The grasses are on the high/large side, and are planted unrealistically close to (and sometimes in) the tee boxes. The density of the grass planting has caused many to complain about a significant delay when rendering the next shot. Slower machines are going to have a real problem with this course. The reeds planted in the marsh areas are overly cloned. Overall though, Mr. Taylor generally succeeds in getting the general feel and nature of the planting across. The pictures of Kiawah frequently show a particular type of wind swept tree that you won't find in this rendition (a type that would have required a custom object), so comparing this course to photos of the real one makes some of the deciduous trees that were used look out of place. The textures chosen are okay, but the Long Grass texture seems out of place and too yellow. The Heavy Rough texture is too grainy for my taste. The Heavy Rough texture also should have been labeled as Rough or have the properties set to deep grass. The sod texture on the 1st hole was not mapped and is terribly stretched and oversized. Overall though, as has been my theme in this review, Mr. Taylor has managed to capture the general essence of the course even if it could have been executed better.
APCD: Mr. Taylor could use some work in this department, but that is to be expected from a first time designer. Most of the work is done fairly well, but there are many areas that need attention. Some of the seam blending leaves a bit to be desired. The mulch areas in the waste bunkers have a seam blend property of Mud between the mulch and the sand. The mulch itself is listed as a free drop (I don't know if that is accurate or not) and the mud is a hazard. If you make it into the middle of the mulch you are rewarded with a free drop, while a shot on the fringes of the mulch penalizes you with the loss of a stroke. The seam between the types of rough reads as 'rgh2fwy' instead of Light or Heavy rough, although this does not impact the playability. There is some stretching of textures (some quite extreme), particularly in the waste bunker areas. The mesh needs quite a bit of work as there is some overlapping of vertices and faces noticeable in the APCD. Some of the extrusions are not very well executed. Overall though, it probably sounds worse than it really is and to most it will look adequately good.
Extras: There are a couple of nice custom splash screens made from photos of the real course, and Mr. Taylor did a nice job of designing a custom flag with the course logo on it. The crowd and tournament options are also well done. He also used a lot of custom sounds. The sounds were a mixed bag. The first handful of holes had a very nice mixture of birds and wildlife sounds included. The volume was excellent and the frequency was done very nicely. After that, the bird sounds either all but disappeared, or were drowned out by the ocean sounds. The ocean sounds were poorly implemented and really detracted from my general enjoyment of the course. The course, although considered coastal, is really located well away from the ocean and none of the holes play directly along the ocean; all are separated by the large grassy areas and/or marshes and beyond that the sand dunes. Secondly, the surf along that part of the ocean is not known to be very intense compared to some areas of the world. I thought the ocean sound on the holes along the landward side of the course were entirely too loud considering the substantial distance from the sea. That is, until I made the turn for home. The 14th through the 18th holes had me thinking the sound on the landward holes was not so bad. At times, the surf sounds were nearly deafening, and unless the holes were situated on the beach and the play was occurring during a hurricane, the volume and intensity of the ocean sounds was entirely unrealistic. I talked with several people who have played the course in real life and they all said the ocean sounds were way over done. Further additions of the excellent sound work found on the first 4 holes and dramatically turning down the volume and distance of the ocean sounds would have been a welcome addition to the design.
Mod Notes: All of my numerous test rounds were played on M/M settings. I did not find any unfair hole locations, although the numerous bumps and swales certainly offered a good solid test of the chipping and putting game. I suspect that the course would play fairly for most (if not all) hole locations at M/F or F/M settings.
Summary: I have thoroughly enjoyed playing this course and I would recommend this course as a download; a definite download if you are a real course junkie. Overlook some of the first-time designer shortcomings and enjoy the playability this course offers. Those with slower machines may find the rendering times unacceptable, but I think most can bear them. If you only play or keep the Top 100 courses, this course may not make the cut, although some have rated it that high. Play it a few times and see if it continues to grow on you as it has on me. There is a good chance that you will be as surprised as I was how much this course got under my skin and has become a welcome addition to my course rotation.
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CLIPNOTES by Ben Bateson (ousgg) |
Description
Real, marshland course. |
Location
TBA |
Conditions
TBA |
Concept 9/10
Renowned as a stand-out among American courses, Kiawah is almost
links-like in the way it threads through a coastal swamp. Holes are
refreshingly open and surprisingly tolerant of wayward shots: it's the
rolling, hummocked fairways that will really cost you dear. This re-creation
has its flaws, but the course should be considered a must-own just
because it's not quite like anything else. |
Appearance 8/10
It's not a course heavy on spectacular views, and there's a stretched texture or two, but the aura is surprisingly realistic. The swamps
are carefully planted - particularly around water - and the extras are thin on the ground but very impressive when they appear. Most of
all, the elevation work is deftly carried out and lifts the course above other deliberately-barren courses. |
Playability 6/10
Two or three issues might cloud your enjoyment of this course. Sound is a major problem and the incessant cricket noises will become
majorly annoying. Additionally, the roar of the ocean is too loud and will probably cause you to play with sound off. There are long
rendering times also, which doesn't help matters. But the brilliance of the course negates this to some extent, and plenty of holes will
engage and challenge you. With a more professional reworking, this course could be brilliant to play. |
Challenge 8/10
It's not impossible to make birdies here: most greens are fair, and the hole design is generous for the large part. Of course, hitting the
long grass will cost strokes, and the water might claim one or two more, but for the large part Kiawah shows why it was such a
challenge in the Ryder Cup. |
Technical 7/10
By all accounts, this is a first-time design, and it has certainly been carried out with panache. While the planting is occasionally
inappropriate, and the sound requires some attention, tricky technical aspects such as elevation work and bunkers have been
executed nearly flawlessly. A couple of mesh flaws are evident, unfortunately, but it barely detracts from the play. A very good piece of
work on a course that might otherwise have been difficult. |
| Overall |
Worth having, certainly as an example of a unique course idea, more so because
the excellent shotmaking values that these eighteen holes offer. |
38/50 |
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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