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Mowsbury Golf Club
by Lez Marwick Note: This course contains 1024x1024 textures and can only be played in version 1.07 or later of Links 2003
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 2094 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2012-09-11 |
82,681,856 bytes |
72 |
6451 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
REAL |
PARKLAND |
MowsburyGolfClub.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| 8fa58f37cd424477ab607d617283ea2e |
88bb240fdedcb6bf3a1e1b900a36b34f |
| COURSE NOTES |
Mowsbury Golf Club is a real golf course, located in Bedford, England. It is a council owned course, and it was opened to the public in the 70's.
It is the course I spent the most time playing IRL, and this is the reason I created it for Links 2003. It really plays far too easy in Links, so I would suggest you try playing it as I do, on a harder difficulty than you would normally use. The fairway bunkers are all set around the 200 to 220 yard range from the back tees, so they will not come into play in the game unless you tee off with irons, or short woods. the natural soil is clay, so the real course plays soft in the Winter as it holds the water, and like rock in the Summer, if we have a dry spell.
The green slopes are fictional, and tougher than the real greens, to try to provide a little challenge in the game.
There are some internal out of bounds on the course, to stop short cutting of holes. (Between 13 and 14, it is only OOB on 14. Between 14 and 15, it is only OOB on 15. Between 15 and 16, it is only OOB on 16).
The hole previews are straight off the course card, and I don't think that they've been updated for decades! I take no responsibility for any inaccuracies on them!!
You can play off the Winter frost mats by selecting the forward tees.
There are 18 pins on each green, so for once I've made them compatible with the Links pin difficulty option.
While it may not offer much of a challenge in Links, the course holds a lot of memories for me, and for that reason alone I am glad I took the time to re-create it.
Thanks, as always go to Mike and Shez, for the hours of testing they put in.
Enjoy your visit to Bedford!
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CLIPNOTES by Ben Bateson (ousgg) |
Description
Real, farmland course |
Location
Bedfordshire. |
Conditions
S*/F* strikes an interesting balance and is recommended by the designer. |
Concept 5/10
Self-admittedly no more than a small, local course, Mowbury nevertheless retains much of the charm of Lez's larger-than-life creations,
due to the lifelike handling of the mesh and colour scheme, and the extensive background knowledge which makes the course
realistic. There are a few nice dogleg Par 4s on the way around, but it's true that to all but the most dedicated fan, much of this course
will quickly slip from the memory. |
Appearance 9/10
Not much wrong here, and Lez's ability to draw you into a scene remains a big feature. As is often the case, you need to look around
to get the very best out of this course: the fences, buildings, ditches and surrounding fields look great. Only a few straight-lined shapes
take the edge off. |
Playability 8/10
I doubt I'll ever get tired of the 'local' genre of courses - certainly they've almost universally got more charm than your average Tour
stop - and when you take the designer's advice of shortening your hitting distance and toughening up the greens, then there is plenty
to get excited about at Mowsbury. Sure, it's easy to take the bunkers and dog-legs out of contention, but there's a lot to be said for
playing the course the way it was intended. |
Challenge 4/10
OK, so even with the limitations above, this isn't a difficult course. I don't generally agree with artificially increasing the greens'
difficulty, but in this case, it has been done reasonably sensitively, and it's a designer change that probably is necessary to stop people
methodically taking the course to pieces. The woods and ditches provide their own modicum of challenge in any case. |
Technical 9/10
Comfortably up to standard from Lez, with much of his hallmark playability. Being able to design innately interesting courses is no mean
feat, but Mowsbury has proved that he has the gift, even with raw material that is perhaps less than exciting. |
| Overall |
Short and municipal, but with life breathed into it by great design, Mowsbury hence
makes a realistic choice for competitive play. |
35/50 |
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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