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Medinah C.C. #3 v2005
by John Pineda
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 1588 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2005-05-26 |
91,713,536 bytes |
72 |
7403 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
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REAL |
WOODLAND |
Medinah C.C. #3 v2005_locked.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
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LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by: Chuck Clark
Background: This is the second remake of this classic golf course by Mr. Pineda. The first version was done for Links 2001 and was released way back in 2001. The second version was done in late 2002 for Links 2003. That update was done to take advantage of the return of shadows and seam blending. This version was made to fix up a few small problems and to make the course a bit more mod friendly. The designer, John Pineda is one of the most accomplished and talented designers currently working with the apcd. His work includes the Firehead Course at Kiss Tours and his efforts with the Dark Horse group. He has also been a huge help to many other people in the designer community with his web site and his video tutorials. John is also an extremely nice person and quite interesting to boot. The following is from the read-me and describes what is new about this version:
'I started polishing up the course last year and the release of the mod made me tinker with some greens to make it play mod-friendly as well. The most significant changes are listed below. While the course was renovated IRL, the changes are not reflected here.
• Grass/bunker textures sharpened
• Bunker seam blends improved
• Tee seam blends added
• Divots added on par 3 tees
• Duckweeds added on lake
• Adjusted some plantings
• SET PROPERTY OF FIRST CUT TO ROUGH
• SET PROPERTY OF ROUGH TO DEEP ROUGH
• Added more shadows on certain areas.
• Newly built full 3d clubhouse
• Reworked the greens on 4,5,7,8,10,11,16 to make it mod-friendly
• More readable text on hole previews
Hopefully fixed the problem causing the weird crashes with the previous version. The lake had to be broken down with non-reflective textures under the bridges though.'
Overall Impression: Medinah is a classic tree-line Midwestern (US) golf course. It is also a classic US Open type golf course; high rough, big trees, deep bunkers and sloping greens. There has been three US Opens played on this golf course, a PGA Championship and many other important tournaments. This rendition by Mr. Pineda is extremely well done. It captures the look and feel of this course perfectly. The textures, planting, blending and elevations appear to be spot-on! If you are looking for a US Open type experience on a classic type golf course then this is your course. I won't spend a lot of words re-reviewing this course. It was extremely highly rated in 2001 and in 2002. This version just takes an already great course and elevates it even further.
Playability/Shot Values: This is a US Open course. Drive it long and straight, hit great iron shots and carefully putt on the sloping greens; and you can score just fine here. Hit it a bit wild or wrong-side yourself too much and you're gonna have a long day.
Visuals: This is a fantastic real course rendition. The textures, planting and apcd extras capture the look and feel just perfectly. John is one of the most accomplished designers at doing 3D from terrain. He has proved this again with the majestic clubhouse here at Medinah. Make sure you play in practice mode and take a look around.
Technique: Beautiful technique here in every way. I didn't see a single error. Mr. Pineda is one of the best and it's pretty obvious when you play this course.
Favorite Hole: I really like to play the 16th hole. This is the hole that made Sergio Garcia famous. In the 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah (won by Tiger Woods) Sergio burst onto the golf scene by almost stealing the championship from Tiger. The following is from the PGA of America's web site describing how Sergio played the 16th hole in the last round:
Garcia nearly endangered himself and perhaps those in the gallery before hitting perhaps the greatest recovery shot in major championship golf.
On the par-4, 452-yard 16th, Garcia pushed a 3-wood and the ball landed 189 yards from the green in the exposed roots behind a large tree.
Garcia elected to hit the ball, not chip safely to the fairway. He opened the face of a 6-iron and as he swung, closed his eyes at impact. The ball rocketed into a high left-to-right trajectory, landing on the green some 60 feet from the hole. Garcia sprinted up the fairway and did a scissors kick leap to see the green. Once he settled down, he went on to two-putt for par.
Summary: A fantastic update to an already beautiful real course rendition. If you like US Open type golf courses and/or classic tree lined golf courses then you can't find one better than Medinah. Thanks again John for all your hard work! Nicely done!
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CLIPNOTES by Ben Bateson (ousgg) |
Description
Real, forest course |
Location
Illinois |
Conditions
Most greens are pretty acceptable, but I'd play a little safe with F*/M* |
Concept 9/10
Unlike some other US Major courses, Medinah has a real story to tell, and the strips of densely-wooded forest separated by a strip of
water are something of a God's gift to a designer setting out to create professional-level difficulty golf. Naturally, it's designed to reward
those who hit straight and long and reward some imagination from the tee and on the inevitable escape shots - this is one of the first
championship courses to use a universal deep rough. The thematics are little tiring and repetitive over multiple rounds of golf, but
there's plenty of extra visuals by way of compensation. |
Appearance 8/10
There are plenty of stand-out features, including a plethora of carefully-worked 3D and excellent plot textures. The forests must have
been extremely difficult to plant convincingly and it's been done reasonably well, with minimal clones, although a fair few trees are less
impressive in low-res close-up. That one flaw taken into account, though, Medinah does well to bely its age. |
Playability 7/10
Deliciously subtle golf, although I do have to concede that the endless need to strike near-perfect drives continuously, does become
tedious. Thankfully, there's lots of room for creativity in avoiding a claustrophobic treeline, and some entertaining and surprisingly
under-bunkered green complexes. |
Challenge 9/10
Not in the slightest bit as hard as some recent Major venues, Medinah nevertheless provides an imposing challenge with its highlygraded
texture setups and (excessive?) demands on you to hit long and straight. Thankfully, you'd never come out of a hole feeling
that you'd been unfairly treated, but it's hard to play pretty golf here unless you're millimetrically accurate. A score under 70 would
represent a great achievement on anything but light conditions. |
Technical 8/10
A few elevation and planting problems aside, this course earns marks because of the impressive effort that has gone into the forests, and
the excellent recreation of Medinah's imposing atmosphere. The bunkers are extremely fine, too. |
| Overall |
Justifiably a favourite among those who like demanding championship golf.
Medinah has just a little more soul and storyline than some others. |
41/50 |
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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