Rough Rider Golf Club
by Mike (Pecos Bill) Nicely

Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 224 Release Date CRZ Filesize Par Course Length 2001-04-23  47,832,377  bytes 72  7062 yards Type Style CRZ Filename IMAGINARY  WOODLAND  Rough Rider Golf Club.crz  Course ID Course Key 7d34be40376911d59ed6817b29223a50  f591a31e5102ac842067ada90b0e0192  LINKS CORNER REVIEW Reviewed by Mick Lenton Thoughts from the 1st: Standing there I was thinking, 'This doesn't really look like a Fantasy course' But as you go round you do realise that it is a bit too imaginative to be classed as Fictional. Close though. The Course: The course is set in woodland with rock outcrops and quite a few lakes, ponds, water tanks, whatever you would like to call them and connecting stone banked streams. However not much of the water actually comes into play, which IMO is a shame. As I wandered round I noticed that some of the rock was a bit stretched and some lake edges and all the bunker lips weren't mapped. In fact when I looked in APCD there were NO mapping assignments. How Mike managed to get it to look so good without mapping I don't know. Unless you get close to them the unmapped areas do tend to blend in. The course looks quite difficult at first view, but once you have played it you realise that not much has actually put in the way to make it difficult, so providing your driving is accurate you can score well here. A garish tiled cart path goes all round the course which does look out of place, which may be the idea I suppose. The planting is mostly normal with the odd bright red tree dotted about. Watch out for this tree, it is solid. That imported image bug again. A nice little touch is the driving range and practice greens and bunkers. A couple of attempts have been made to produce waterfalls. I am not sure!! The tees sit straight in the rough with no edging. All 5 positions are available. The fairways are the stock striped fairway and are edged by a cut of rough that IMO is a little too bright. After the 1st cut it goes straight to the rough, which covers most of the course. There are some patches of green brush and a large area of brown dry grass. The greens are the stock texture, fringed with fringe. There are quite a variety of greens, with some 2 tier, some quite undulating and some fairly easy. Now, the bunkers. The way it appears most of them have been done, is to extrude the bunker slightly and give the extrude an unmapped dirt texture. This has then been surrounded with a ring of rough and the whole bunker lowered within that ring. The edge of the rough has then been left sharp. Now, as there are so few sharp edges in the rest of the course, maybe this is meant to be. Personally I would like to have seen it softened. However as they are all the same it does not look anywhere near as bad as if it was only a few edges. The course looks generally smooth as the mesh is nice and tidy. Very well done there Mike. I wish they were all like that. In general this is a well layed out course, nicely ( no pun there!!) planted. As you play around there is plenty to look at and it has mostly been well done. I am not sure about the use of the rock wall texture for the area of the water tanks/lakes, as the individual stone type texture doesn't seem to sit right and maybe a solid rock texture would have looked better. Again, my opinion. Playability: The course is very playable, though to some may appear a bit too easy. However your snap does need to be on song, as many of the fairways are quite narrow and if you miss, you can be blocked from the green. As I have said earlier, I wish the water had been brought into play more, as even when it is a feature of the hole, it does not really figure in play. I would say that all the par 5's can be reached with accurate shots, as none of them are very long, but a couple are quite tight, requiring accurate 2nd's to hit the green.. A lot of the greens need an accurate shot in, or you can be left with a difficult putt, especially on the 2 tier ones. Bunkers are in evidence on most holes, but are not too deep, with narrow edges, so playing out should present no problems, Quite a nice course to play if you like something a bit quirky. Good Points: Nicely laid out course, with interesting planting. Plenty to look at and a playable course. Definitely different!! Bad Points: I did not like the sharp edges on the bunkers. Also the fact that none of the extruded edges had been mapped. This is for Mike. If you look at the lake on the left from the 9th tee, there is a problem. There is no reflection. However the lake looks normal from the fairway. Favourite Hole: I think the 1st, pic above, as it does set up the rest of the round quite well. There are probably better holes, but it does set you up nicely. Least Favourite Hole: The 18th, only because I felt a little let down. I would have liked to have seen a bit if a blockbuster to finish with. Final thoughts: Nice interesting course. Nice to play and something to look at as you do. Worth a look and maybe a keeper for some who like a different outlook. This is not a Devils Island though and I would say it is closer to Fictional than Fantasy. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dave Campbell's thoughts.. This is an imaginary woodland Par 72 that is really more of a fictional design in my book. It plays very smoothly and has a real crisp, clean look and feel that made it fun to play. The course is choke full of charming additions such as rock banked water, good tree plantings (if not a bit too much of the red maple), several nice looking flower planters, many boulders strewn about and a lovely and striking cart path that wind throughout the course. I think it would have benefitted from stronger ground level planting. There are many object placed about such as houses, signs, custom flags and the textures are wonderful. Mick mentions in his review about the first cut standing out a bit in contrast to the fairway texture but I liked the look myself. I'll agree with Mick about the water, it looks good with the nice rock bank but isn't much of a hazard. All in all a lovely and visually pretty layout. Lots of different looks to keep you interested. This is one that will stay on my drive. Thanks for the time and effort on this course Mike. It's the first of your courses I've played and it won't be the last. Very well done! Comparable courses: Cogitara by Lars Rudbeck Test round score: -6 92%FIR 83%GIR 30 putts. I eagled the first two par 5's on the front nine and just missed another on one of the back nine par 5's. This may be my best score since I started to play PS Champ. That being said you can get into trouble amongst the trees but if your snap is on you can really attack this course. Course Info : Cameo Screen? Yes Splash Screen? Yes Text file? No Hole Previews? No 40mb Reviewed June 2001 This course is available as a FREE download. Download course Please support Links Corner