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Hell Fire Golf Club.
by John Aherne
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 1576 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2005-04-28 |
54,071,296 bytes |
73 |
7498 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
FICTIONAL |
MOUNTAIN |
Hell Fire Final..crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
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LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by Chris Gormley
Background Info:
This is the 1st course released by John and is a Fictional Mountain course and was designed with Links 2003 in mind. Here is a little bit from the readme:
'The elusive and rather ambiguous exploits of the Irish Hell Fire Club have intrigued blather for some time. While for most people 'Hell Fire' is a ruined hunting lodge in the forested Dublin Mountains, visited on Sundays by hordes of escaping suburbanites, it originally refers to an organisation alleged to have devoted to their time to the practice of unbridled hedonism.
"A set of worthy, jolly fellows, happy disciples of Venus and Bacchus, got together to celebrate women in wine and to give more zest to the festive meeting, they plucked every luxurious idea from the ancients and enriched their own modern pleasures with the tradition of ancient luxury." - John Wilkes (Hell Fire member?)
Since I was a kid these old ruins have fascinated me, they evoked feelings of dread and excitement, I remember being in school (back in the days of Leaderboard for the C64) and drawing out imaginary golf courses set here ... Then 20 years later along came the APCD. Like many others I became hooked.
So the golf course-. Originally I wanted to set it in the Dublin Mountains, but making a good pano was too hard, so it's set just down the road from 'Crystal Pines'. The course takes a lot of influence from O' Meara's course at Carton House. But for the most part this is a fictional design.
This is my first full design, so I'm sure there are many mistakes, hopefully they won't be too noticeable.
There are a number of people I want too thank, firstly the Ape, back when I started to use the designer he tutored me through many of the basics, without his help I might well have given up before I started, Mike Jones for the use of his textures from 'Shadow lands' and some of his 2d stuff from 'Crystal Pines' - MJ's textures have become something akin to the horny milkman with offspring all over the place. Crow for his book, €10 well spent. All the linksters at LC especially JW and Grooch, who answered all my questions, no mater how trivial.
I would especially like to thank Vivo and Crusader who beta tested for me.
A small note on the hole previews, distances are measured from the bottom of the barber pole, just like in the game.
Enough waffle - go play the course and I hope you enjoy it!
John Aherne'
Overall Impressions:
HellFire is one of the better '1st design' courses this reviewer has seen. The APCD work for the most part is excellent with no major flaws visible. I am also glad to see that all of the advanced techniques of the 1.5 APCD have been used to their full extent.
This is mostly an open course giving the players some great looks from hole to hole. One would think that this is just a plain old 'grip it and rip it' course because of its open feel, but this is not the case on some of the holes. Shot selection will be very important if you want to score well on Hellfire. There is an adequate amount of risk/reward although I would have liked to have seen more of it on the tees. The approach shots are where most of the thinking must take place if you are not careful you could end up with some very tough putts to save par. The course is contoured very well and everything seems to be very natural looking.
This is a very long course with most of the par 5's not being able to be reached in 2 shots but this does not detract from the courses overall appeal to players. You just have to manage the course differently because of its length, which is not always a bad thing.
The fairways for the most part are pretty open and spacious, thus giving a player an easy time off of the tee. Hitting the fairways is not the hardest part of this course. The fairways are shaped very well and offer a lot of variety in their contouring. In keeping with the design pattern of the fairways the greens are also large and spacious, but here is where your approach shots must be on the money. The greens are contoured very well thus forcing a player to either get it close to the pin or force a tough putt towards the hole. There is a fine line between greens being contoured so much as to make them unfair but Hell Fire has not crossed this line. I really like the greens on this course, they offer a lot of variety to the player.
The hazards that are occur throughout the course are placed very well. I especially like the variety in the bunkers, adds a nice touch to the course. The placement of the hazards will challenge a players shot making ability that is for sure, not so much off the tee but from that 2nd shot to the green is where they will have the most effect.
The planting throughout the course is done very well, especially the under planting. There are very few clones throughout the course and the few that I did find were in areas where a player really has not business being. I would have liked to have seen a little more variation in the water planting in some areas, but then there were areas like on Hole #14 where the water planting was done very well, just a personal preference, not a negative on the course at all. Also a personal preference thing would have been the deep rough texture. It did not quite match the other textures that were used, a little to blue for me but for the most part the textures were very good and complimented each other.
Closing comments:
Hell Fire is a great course with all the bells and whistles that a player would want in a course. There is great variety in this course and I am sure people will be enjoying it for quite a while as there is always something new to challenge a player on each of the holes. I highly recommend this course to all Linksters.
"I am writing this review from the viewpoint of not only a player but as a Tour Director. Although I am not a designer I understand the work that goes into a design as I have beta tested many courses and my review is simply how I as a player/Tour Director would view this course."
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CLIPNOTES by Ben Bateson (ousgg) |
Description
Fictional, mountain course |
Location
TBA |
Conditions
TBA |
Concept 6/10
Another one of those courses with something of an idiosyncratic name; visitors to Hell Fire might expect something outlandish and impossible. What they're actually presented with is a clean, fresh and rolling mountain environment with an American-style target course cut through the middle. I can't honestly say it feels anything like the Dublin-esque scenario that it presents; as a course in the Appalachians, it would surely cut the mustard with a little more conviction. |
Appearance 9/10
Some top-notch pine forest planting is the hallmark of this course. It's one of the most difficult areas for clone avoidance, yet the pine forest seems utterly natural as it hugs you to the landscape. Aside from this, some of the texture seams are either too feathered or a little broad, but the many elevations changes have been carried off with perfect conviction. The overall effect is very, very impressive indeed. |
Playability 4/10
There's a lot of deception on this course, and it could justifiably be accused of making the player work hard. Elevations and hidden hazards are on the menu, and several holes offer a distorting perspective, making them seem a different length. It's tough stuff for the mind and the morale, and there aren't too many 'fun' shots to compensate. |
Challenge 5/10
Never has one course swung my score around both sides of 72 so much. At various points in my two test rounds I was +7 and -4. Part of your score will depend on being able to read the constantly changing elevations and the odd perspective: the rest seemed to be almost dumb luck. There's an overwhelming fear that you're at the whims of the course, and that at tough conditions (my test rounds were both at relatively gentle settings) you'd be better off packing up and going home. |
Technical 9/10
An undeniably solid effort as we should expect from this designer. Some weaknesses in the seams can be attributed to age, but the course management as a whole is highly impressive, with peripheral buildings, water features and especially planting being impressive without being intrusive. |
| Overall |
Marvellous technically, but you sense Hell Fire has not quite achieved the goal that its designer set out to attain. Worthwhile, but no more. |
33/50 |
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.
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