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Turtle Point at Kiawah Island
by G. D. Taylor
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 1645 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2006-01-18 |
109,662,208 bytes |
72 |
7089 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
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REAL |
PARKLAND |
TPKIFinal_locked.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
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| COURSE NOTES |
Ten years before the Ocean Course and the 1991 Ryder Cup, Kiawah Island made its first step in becoming a world-renowned golf complex with the opening of the Jack Nicklaus designed Turtle Point.
So respected was this ocean-side layout that the PGA of America chose it to host the prestigious PGA Cup in 1990 - the club pro equivalent to the Ryder Cup. Since then, it has hosted numerous state and regional competitions. Golf Digest architecture editor Ron Whitten calls Turtle Point "one of the great secrets of the coast," saying "it falls into the category with Shoal Creek and Glen Abbey as a classic of early Nicklaus design." In fact, because of its traditional design, many of the better players visiting Kiawah island make Turtle Point one of the "must play" courses on their itinerary.
I hope you enjoy my rendition of Turtle Point, one of the fantastic venues at Kiawah Island Golf Resort in South Carolina.
Dr. Glenn Taylor |
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LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
This is the second course released by Mr Taylor his first being The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island.
The Players Point of View
Waiting for the course to load I studied the magnificent splash screen and was looking forward to my first round at Turtle Point. After rendering was complete, I must say I was a little disappointed with the plainness of the view from the first tee, the textures; though matching nicely looked a little bland and upon closer inspection some were very blurred, the fringe texture around the green in particular, the fringe texture around the fairways that run up to the greens was grainy and quite unrealistic, the rough texture however looked sharp and clear fitting nicely in colour if not in resolution, Bunker lips were beautifully done but again were spoiled by the blurriness of the sand. The greens are quite small and can be extremely tough, some pin positions are incredibly difficult bordering on unfair. The over all playability of the course is nice with welcoming fairways, the few fairway bunkers that there are rarely come into play, this is probably because of the fact that this is a real course played by real people who can't hit as accurately or as far as one can with the computer golfer, I would imagine in real life this is one tough course.
Turtle Point is a fun if not too challenging course to play, that is until you reach the greens, there are some very nasty breaks slopes and mounds that can be difficult to negotiate, so finding the right part of the green is essential if you don't want to chance the three put. With the smallness of the greens make sure you take your best chipping game with you or you are going to suffer. The fairways are fairly flat and offer only slight undulations, it's worth checking your lie though because there are quite a few subtle slopes that can be missed and will affect your approach. This is quite an enjoyable course to play offering something different on most if not all holes, the ones running alongside the ocean are particularly nice. Each hole is an individual and should be approached as such.
The planting could have been better, there are very few clones due to the fact of the amount of different trees that have been included, I have never seen the course in real life but the massive range of tree species used seemed very unrealistic, there are quite a few floating trees to be found and some of the flowers planted at the bases of the hole signs are badly cloned and some are floating too.
This is a recreation of a real course; to me it looked false and did not resemble a real course at all.
Having said all that I will reiterate that this is a fun and playable course well worth checking out, though aesthetically not perfect, it is still enjoyable.
The Designers Point of View
Looking closely at the course there is nothing really wrong with the APCD work, there are no major faults just a few things that could have been better.
It is obvious that the designer has a good grasp of the design process just by looking at the different mappings that have been used and how well they have been done, the construction of quite a beautiful clubhouse enforces this point. Hole previews too are extremely well done; the hole notes may be a little small for some to read, but none the less look very professional.
There are things that do need improvement, texture choice is one, quite a few of the textures used were blurred and looked like low resolution 256 X 256 tgas' try looking for some high res 512 X 512 textures or making some yourself, ask in the forums for help if you get stuck, there is a wealth of knowledge out there and freely available. The bunker work is spot on and very convincing only to be spoiled by a blurred sand texture. A little more attention to detail with pin placement and planting in general is needed, play test the course over and over and get it checked out by a beta tester, floating trees and odd looking flowers would have been spotted and put right. Think a little more about the course topography, the greens display some well made and very smooth elevation work, to me if the greens are as contoured as they are the fairways should look like something similar, I realise that this is a real course and understand that this is how it may be in real life, I would doubt it though. Some of the sand patches along the ocean side dissecting the course may have needed a few more verts to round off the edges, as they stand they are a little pointed and angular.
All of these points are minor faults that if spotted and addressed before release would have made Turtle Point a far more polished article.
Never be afraid to ask for help, try posting some pictures in the preview forum to get some feedback, you would be surprised how much of a difference that can make to a course, you will find the people there honest and helpful. Most of all keep at it there are a lot of good things evident in Turtle Point to take into the next one.
I have tried to offer advice and hope my comments are taken in the way they are meant, I understand how difficult and frustrating designing a course can be, and can only offer my congratulations to anyone taking on the complexities of the APCD and putting their neck on the line by releasing the final product for the enjoyment of others.
Extras
Hole previews, custom flag, custom 2D and 3D objects, crowds, tournament objects, splash screens and logo. The file does not contain a read me.
Download Value
At nearly 107 meg this is not a small download, those on dial up may want to give this one a miss. It does however render quite quickly and is a fun track, definitely worth a download for people who appreciate the real course designs. Ultimately it's not a keeper for me.
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