Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 1776 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
2007-07-04 |
55,939,072 bytes |
72 |
7379 yards |
Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
FICTIONAL |
DESERT |
Candlestick Blue_locked.crz |
Course ID |
Course Key |
d6bdb8c445bd4337ba7961a11ba150c0 |
94882796cc99da176065a0e878f59219 |
CLIPNOTES by Ben Bateson (ousgg) |
Description Fictional, desert course |
Location TBC |
Conditions TBC |
Concept 5/10 With a yawning chasm under the heading of 'good desert courses for
Links 2003', Paul Seaman has released this ambitious project. It's full of
enormously clever hole design and some landscape that would normally
be way off this designer's radar. If truth be told, it's not really much of a
desert course at all: it's too enclosed and too heavily reliant on good
golfing design rather than the natural terrain. But that's not too say it's not
good. It's just not great, that's all. |
Appearance 7/10 The impressive array of low-level planting is a major selling point here. Candlestick Blue is a real credit to its designer in avoiding the
clones and forced artificiality of other desert courses. But the arrays of rocks seemed forcedly random, the elevations are simply too
grandiose to be convincing, and for the life of me, I can't get on board with the desert texture. The whole thing is just a little too green
by half. |
Playability 10/10 This is where the course earns its spurs. It's doubtful whether any course has featured such an intriguing and outstandingly clever set
of holes. Hazards are legion, but you never feel punished by them. Instead, the course is an intriguing exercise in precise shot-play
and judgement, with the elevations used as much for hazarding as the desert regions, water or deep bunkers. I doubt whether any
other course could boast so many novel and original hole designs, perhaps excluding the Par 3s, and there's an appropriately
absorbing round to be had. |
Challenge 10/10 It might sound hard, but play Candlestick Blue with appropriate respect and there's a remarkably fair challenge to be had.
Conservatively-played holes are more likely to throw up birdie opportunities than penalties, and you're aided by some even-minded
greening and an impressive absence of unplayable lies. Marking the desert areas as hazard is not the arduousness that it could have
been, and the careful player should come up smelling at least of dahlias, if not roses. |
Technical 9/10 The natural exuberance and talent of someone who is already one of the top APCD-men spills all over this creation. OK, so it'll never
be authentic desert, and the water hazards look rather hastily inserted, but the texture set and the planting are magnificent, and if you
can overlook some of the absurdities, it's still the best in it s genre. |
Overall |
A big-hitter's grave that is virtually a shoe-in for the most manageable desert
course, and hence an automatic part of many players' rotations. |
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. |
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