|
Blue Heron
by James Wood
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 41 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2001-05-09 |
43,643,629 bytes |
72 |
7103 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
FICTIONAL |
WOODLAND |
BHeron.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| f9763e803bf511d5bffb00c0f055fe70 |
96fdcd4951cc09bd5f80592b3994a3c2 |
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by Dave Campbell
Expectations: I honestly thought this course would not suit my comfort level. The information I had on this course was from the designer himself as well as reading some of the early reviews in the forum lobby. They all screamed 'powerstroker beware'.
First Impressions: Blue Heron is Jim's sixth design posted to the Links Corner and was a runner up in the P.C. Gamer course competition. It was posted to the Links Corner on 5/9/01 and joins these offerings; The Reservoir, Highland Lakes, Black Crater, Six Lakes and Pagoda Run. Jim, you're going to need your own fileplanet server soon. The course is a fictional woodland par 72 that plays 7,103 yards from the back tees. Jim mentioned that the course is loosely based on a course in New Jersey called 'Sea Oaks'. Once again this proves that the only way to truly judge a course is to play it for yourself. The course is absolutely beautiful in every way. Once I got a few holes into it I realized that this course is very playable with no forced hooks or fades needed, as long as you stay on or near the fairway. This is easier said than done as there are some tight driving lanes and landing areas but they're not taken to the extreme or tricked up beyond reality. It has the low rolling hill panorama that has the granite wall looking edifice that really makes for some nice views and lake reflections.
I'll start with the general layout and course feel. It could easily be a real course and the design flows smoothly. It looks gorgeous with its lush checkered fairways, Munich North first cut, superb and varied bunkers, well done greens and dense woodlands, with ground planting second to none. Every tee offers you a floral bouquet of planting, at least from the back tees. This course must have taken forever to plant and nothing looks out of place in this regard. Every screen render was a delight to the eyes; I have so many great screenshots it's going to be hard to choose one. As mentioned the fairways are noticeably tight, particularly when viewed in the top cam. It looks more menacing with the dense planting that frames the fairway. They are drivable though even for the powerstroke player. I was -7 during my review round with 78% FIR and 94% GIR and 29 putts played in the above-mentioned conditions. I only pulled the driver out on two holes and the rest of the time the 3W did the trick, leaving reachable iron shots to the greens. If you take a chance and try for the greens all the par 5's can be scored on but danger is always lurking. Now if Jim had lengthened this course by several hundred yards it might be a different story but as is, it's the perfect blend of toughness and length.
The bunkers on this course deserve some special mention. They appear in all shapes and sizes and are well placed. They greenside traps present the most problems and will come into to play on virtually every approach. The tight fairways bring sand into play on many drives as well. The bunkers on the 10th, 11th, 15th and 18th are the ones that really caught my eye. They have what appear to be 'bunker islands' within them. Extruded mounds of earth that have wispy grass plantings on top. I've seen this done before but never better than on this course (see screenshot). I noticed a few 'grass bunkers', depressions in the fairway near the green. The two I saw were planted with grasses and plants and it looked like you better steer clear of these. I never ended up in one but it looked like you may need several strokes to get out of there.
The fairways are tight and many had fairly severe slants right or left, making you think long over your second shots. The greens are superb and have some of the same slants and elevation influences as the fairways. All looked perfect to me, no apparent errors.
There are custom sounds and many objects placed throughout and all worked well. The two sounds most noticeable are the herons (of course) and a nice sounding thunderclap on the 16th tee that I must admit, scared the heck out of me. The objects I saw were ball washers, leader boards and camera towers, couple of different bridges, satellite dish, houses, a birdhouse, some beautiful fences, deer behind the 5th green and the trademark Jim Wood hot air balloons.
Drawbacks: Nothing to mention here except the tight fairways again. You have to be on with your snap or you will be punished. If you end up in some of the dense woodland areas you'll probably have to drop as often as not.
On the 16th and 17th holes there are visible rock like formations that criss-cross the fairways. They are all well done but I didn't care much for the texture, sort of a salt and pepper look. This is obviously just a personal opinion; you'll have to judge for yourselves.
Best Hole: I literally had to stop and think for several minutes here. I've never had a course that's done this to me. All are wonderful! The par 3 12th, a long carry with a wood plank fence retaining wall and great elevation work from fairway into sand. The back-to-back par 5 9th and 10th were great. The 7th hole par 3 with a carry completely over sand, and on and on. You just have to download and choose for yourself because I'm torn, all are marvelous. My screenshot is a reverse of my approach to the par 4 11th. I chose this to illustrate the island bunkers. I had ten different screenies that were worthy of posting.
Comparable courses: Gator Lakes and Foxfire C.C. by Lacy Gearheart, Barrington Hills by Delinda Wood, Stoney Run by Ed Balaun
Overall: They don't come any better than this. Jim displays a true mastery of the APCD tools and this stunning course is the result. The planting alone warrants a download but that's only the beginning. I think I can sum it up in one sentence. Looks like Barrington Hills and Stoney Run (texture wise) with the playability of Gator Lakes mixed in, and is on a par with all three. All that being said it may not be to everyone's liking so pay attention to the review forum to what other players say. I do powerstroke and found this course to be very fair. It's just an added bonus that it is so beautiful. I highly recommend this course for download.
Course Info :
Splash Screen? Yes
Cameo Screen? Yes
Text file? No
Hole Previews? No
38mb
Reviewed May 2001 |
|
CLIPNOTES by Ben Bateson (ousgg) |
Description
Fictional, forest course |
Location
Widespread opinion is that this is in New Jersey |
Conditions
S*/S* is as far as you'd want to go |
Concept 6/10
A silly name, no doubt, but Blue Heron is deep, dark and mysterious. Wrapped in incredibly dense forest that is remarkably well-planted, there are a selection of great golfing puzzles to be solved here. Perhaps it's a little lacking in coherence, thanks to the designer's insistence on cramming in all sorts of obstacles, and the lustre is definitely removed by the lack of hole previews, but there's enough consistency here to keep you interested. |
Appearance 6/10
Showing its age now, there are plenty of mismatched and featureless textures and obvious extrusions around all the bunkers in place of proper lips. The planting is suitably commendable, though, and the elevations are well-handled and appropriate to the environment. Some Easter Egg moments include some nice underplanting and the clever storytelling behind the final green, where the woodland has been swathed aside for a TV tower. It's a little bit too easy to come across parts of the plot that haven't received due care and attention, though. |
Playability 8/10
This is where Blue Heron has really held its own over the years. There are still fresh and original ideas in this course, and a lot of pressure to manage the course well, particularly off the tee. There's some good ambient sound planting, but it's not as consistent as it should be. Two or three holes are determinedly difficult to analyse without a Top Cam, though, which continues to be a frustration. |
Challenge 5/10
Very much of a muchness. You really need to select slow green conditions to avoid going mad, and under such circumstances, the course is just a fraction too easy. Sensible play - fairways and greens - will inevitably result in birdie putts going down. The flipside, of course, is to increase the green speeds and present yourself with a test that is all out of balance. |
Technical 5/10
There are plenty of highlights still here, but the course now has a determinedly quaint look, hardly helped by the old-fashioned textures from stock. Blue Heron has done well enough not to date itself into unplayability. |
| Overall |
A clever design which probably won't continue to get the outings it deserves. |
30/50 |
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.
|
|
Download course
|
Please support Links Corner
|
|
|
