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Apple Mountain Golf Club
by Christopher Blanchard
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 1662 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2006-03-30 |
18,493,440 bytes |
71 |
6656 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
REAL |
MOUNTAIN |
amgc.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
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| COURSE NOTES |
This is a real course in Belvidere NJ.
The slopes on the course are realistic and though sometimes the greens seem extreme, they are in fact that sloped with some greens having a drop of 5-6 feet from front to back.
The frills of little bushes hiding the forest line are intentionally left out as my goal was to make a quality replication of the course without exceeding 20Meg.
The course was 6 months in the making and was measured using a GPS Pocket PC so some holes may vary slightly from scorecard as they do in real life. |
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LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Designer: Having previously released Percival Lake and Percival Prairie, both of which were 2001 designs, this is Christopher Blanchard's first 2003 course, while also being his first real design.
Course History: Located in Warren County, New Jersey, Apple Mountain offers player's picture perfect scenery of the surrounding area, including views of the Delaware Water Gap and Elk Mountain. Opening in 1973, the course encompasses the best of the region's natural aspects, with fragrances from the Apple Blossoms, through to the beautiful mountain foliage in spring. With a challenging amount of terrain, water hazards on eleven holes and 'one of the 18 most perfect holes in New Jersey' as listed by N.J. Monthly Magazine in 1997, Apple Mountain is sure to be enjoyed by all. More information can be found at http://www.applemountaingolf.com.
Course: One of the first impressions player's will get when playing off the first tee is that Apple Mountain is very simplistic in it's design, but in no way is this a sign of the enjoyability one can get from playing a full round on the course. Elevation is a vital part of the design, with player's hitting up and down off the tee quite often on most of the holes, while with only one bunker on the layout, water is a subtle, but very effective hazard on the course. The Par 3's are one of the best features of the course, due to how well they use elevation in their design, while tiny greens are a constant throughout the layout. With some large driving opportunities, don't get distracted by the great visuals offered up such as the Par 4 on Hole 14, as even though Apple Mountain is not a flashy design, it certainly is a course that will leave an impression on you if you give it the chance it deserves.
Favourite Hole: The Par 3 on Hole 4 was my favourite hole on the course, as it had some nice visuals with water next to the tees, as well as being a challenging hole, with a tough uphill shot to the green.
Playability: There is no doubt that if you played Apple Mountain Golf Club in real life, you would find yourself faced with an extremely testing round of golf due to the amount of extreme elevations throughout the layout, but unfortunately, this doesn't completely transfer to Links, and therefore, the course is very friendly in regard to shooting a low score. Don't think though that each hole is an automatic birdie opportunity, as a lot of strategy is needed on each hole, as with tight fairways, a low percentage of fairways in regulation will make getting anything better than Par a difficult task. The greens are not difficult, and are rather friendly to the average putter, but even if a hole has an easy pin placement, make sure to be aware of how the ball lies before hitting into the green, as backspin is a very important factor to be aware of when calculating the distance needed with uphill holes being a regular feature on the course.
Right off the first tee, player's have a shot at eagle, with the hole being a drivable Par 4, while the Par 5's on Holes 3 and 15 are also reachable in two shots, but only depending on how you play off the tee, with some strategic options being available to those wanting to capitalize on eagle opportunities. The Par 3 on Hole 15 is a lengthy hole, and because it is downhill all the way to the green, don't be too aggressive, as your ball could well roll through the back of the green, while even though the Par 5 on Hole 17 is not directly reachable if you play it as it is laid out, there is an opportunity to shortcut onto another hole for those who like difficult risks, something which is probably nigh on impossible to ever accomplish in real life. Lastly, the Par 4 on Hole 18 is reachable distance wise off the back tee, but due to tree placements and the design of the hole, it's not possible to hit onto the green with your drive. Apple Mountain is a very fun course to play, and in difficult conditions, is quite a test, so don't underestimate the challenge of this simple, but pleasing layout.
Technically: For its size, one would almost expect this course to be nothing special in regard to technical application, which in many regards is well true, but the designer has certainly taken the design to a respectable level, utilizing all the necessary features of the APCD to create a clean looking course. There aren't any high resolution textures, or any seam blending throughout the layout, but all the lines between textures are tidy and even though many trees are used repetitively, they don't impact upon the look of the course. Some of the tee areas and placements seemed to be a bit rushed, while some custom textures would have been great to see, but creating a course so small to such a good standard is testament to the designer and hopefully we will see another release from him in the future.
Other: The course includes a cameo, custom flag and tees, handicaps and a splash screen, but doesn't have any hole previews, while the zip file only contains the course file and a scorecard, with no read-me being included.
Download Value: At just over 17mb, this course is a rare small download for all speed users, but because of that, don't be disappointed to not find any advanced APCD features within the design. The sheer challenge in regard to the course's playability is what makes this real design enjoyable to play, so if you are a fan of smaller real courses without all the added extras, then I'd recommending giving this course a look, as it's one I will be burning to CD.
Information:
Course Statistics:
2003 - Real Mountain - Par 71 - 4 Tees
6656yds (Back) - 6003yds (Forward)
Par 3's: 4 - Par 4's: 11 - Par 5's: 3
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CLIPNOTES by Ben Bateson (ousgg) |
Description
Real, mountain course. |
Location
TBA |
Conditions
TBA |
Concept 6/10
Every now and then, it's refreshing to see a course where the landscape
provides the challenge, rather than a multitude of artificial hazards. There
is only one bunker at Apple Mountain: instead the course relies on some
devilish uphill approaches and sharp green run-offs to dazzle the punters.
Variety it's not, but a different round of golf it most certainly is. |
Appearance 4/10
For a recent release, this is disappointing. The designer explicitly says he left out detail in order to keep the filesize down, which seems
like a nonsense. There is little in terms of texture use or blending that really stands out, and despite the paucity of forest areas, some
clones are apparent. The surface water is, on occasion, far too shallow and poorly blended. |
Playability 6/10
Despite the mediocre look to the course, this plays reasonably well. After a while you will tire of your approaches missing the high
greens, but the holes around the turn, as well as the excellent 18th
, provide some additional stimulus and should keep most golfers
happy. It's one of those that you'll come back to every now and then to relive some adrenaline-pumping moment. |
Challenge 5/10
I thought, starting off, that Apple Mountain would provide a stern test. The first is easy to birdie, but then you find the true tests of the
course, and your score will remain static. Unbelievably then, I birdied seven straight holes around the turn, and it seems that playing
this course is a one-trick deal. If you find the way to birdie one hole, the same tricks will help time and time again. |
Technical 4/10
So much more could have been done here, and people who deliberately keep file sizes low will win few favours from me. The textures
and shapes look old-hat and amateurish and without those tricky bunkers far more time could have been spent on smoothing out the
elevations. Credit to the designer in that the course plays well despite these problems, but up to date it's not. |
| Overall |
Those who hate bunkers will love it here; the rest will soon get to grips with the elevations, and the course will become routine. |
25/50 |
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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