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Capdepera Golf Resort
by Jorg Jobmann
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 424 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2001-06-04 |
50,501,879 bytes |
72 |
7827 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
IMAGINARY |
MOUNTAIN |
capdepera.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| 033c8de0589111d5accec30cff977b63 |
9e5a81c1bafedb5f14f227b0b94dd297 |
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by Dave Campbell
July 2001
Expectations: I could not find any word or derivative of Capdepera so I'm not sure what to expect. It is a large download though so I hope that translates to 'very good'.
First Impressions: According to the readme file supplied this is Jorg's second course but for the life of me I couldn't find a first design. Maybe it was a test course he never submitted so I apologize in advance if I missed something obvious. This course is a par 72 measuring 7,827 yards from the back tees with a couple of other tee choices and was posted to The Links Corner on 6/4/01. It is listed as 'imaginary' but I'm not so sure about that. It is very long from the tips and there are some crazy, unreal elevations at times but the layout is pretty real and quite good. All things considered I guess fantasy gets the nod but not by much, this is definitely not 'Devil's Island' type of imaginary.
Playability: Since this course is listed as imaginary let me start with layout. Jorg has put together a real fun design with elevations going from rolling to severe to unreal at times, with awesome rock, cliff and terrace work and a couple of the finest par 3's I've seen on any course. It has six par 3's and six par 5's with only one par 4 on the back nine, different for sure. Normally that many par 5's has you thinking about birdies and eagles but don't look to this group of holes for any help, well maybe a few birdie opportunities. In fact I'd say that the par 5's on this course will most likely make or break your round. Only one of the six is less than 600 yards and two are close to 700 yards and that's only part of it. Unusually shaped fairways and all manner of hazards are there to snatch your ball. Water and sand in the usual spots (as well as some unusual spots). A creek splits the par 5 6th fairway all the way to the beautiful rock wall and water encased green. This is only one example, all par 5's will require at least two or three good shots to get even a decent sniff at birdie.
As I mentioned the fairways can be pretty wild at times with elevations bordering on unrealistic. Some landing zones are tight demanding near perfect snaps but most of the time you'll have room to maneuver a little. You can say the same for the bunkers, some are very undulating. I've got a few screenshots where you are looking at nothing but sand, the whole screen! All that being said, it is really the exception and not the rule. Most holes are fairly standard in layout and done very well I might add.
Once on the greens you'll have varied swales and breaks with nothing too severe, I even had a few completely flat runs. I played two full rounds, one with moderate pins and one with difficult pins. I can't think of one pin I thought was unfair and I don't recall the difficult placements being that tough, other than locations near hazards on a few.
Planting is very strong on this course and really makes this design fly, particularly around the water banks. Woodland areas all looked natural with a wide variety of trees and liberal under planting. Some of the goodies that Jorg included are a lighthouse visible on the 4th, windmill, boat and pier on 1st and what appear to be ruins of some old structure around the 8th green. There is a stately manor house behind the 11th green which you need to drive around on the 12th fairway. I talked about the great rockwork and cliffs earlier and they deserve mention again. Jorg has managed to make these look very real, which is not easy. I've seen some pretty cheesy looking rock in some designs, stretched looking textures and such, but the cliff you see on the left going up the 14th fairway is great stuff. The sandstone terrace effect he created on 2nd hole is also pretty amazing.
My second test round was played from the front tees and even though the conditions were tougher my score was actually better. For a more realistic golf experience choose a more forward tee and shorten the course a bit. There will still be plenty of teeth left even from the front tees. For the ultimate challenge try the big boys.
Drawbacks: In the beginning of the design in particular there are some jagged fairway, fringe and green edges. These looked very noticeable in the dynamic and top cam views. From the back tees there were some unreal force carries from the tee, death to a power stroker carrying only a 3W. From the back tees on the 7th you cannot clear the stand of trees for a clear approach to the green in regulation, even with a booming 1W drive. I noticed a tree just edging on to the left side of the green fringe on the 8th green. It may have been planned but didn't look natural.
Some of the fairways and bunkers need some general mesh cleaning with very nasty shadows and wavy looking effects. It's too bad because there are so many good things happening that the untidy mesh really stands out.
I was playing at 1024x768x32 utilizing hardware rendering and some screens rendered painfully slow, so much so that I thought the game had locked up a few times. We're probably talking 5-10 seconds. Not all the time, just on a few redraws.
Best Hole: This is going to be tough. Many great holes here including some of the best par 3's I've ever seen. I've touched on the par 5's earlier, some beautiful but potentially deadly holes. The par 4's are pretty standard with mix of hard and easy holes, but OHH those par 3's. I'll make it a tie between the 2nd, 9th and 13th. The second is a long 247 yards uphill with the aforementioned sandstone terraces, tough but pretty hole. The 9th features a little bridge to a finger of land that leads to an island green, so nice. I think my favorite is the 13th though, from the back tees your treated to a nicely done ravine on the left. Great elevations lead you to a green surrounded by bunkers with a lake all the way down the right. My screenshot shows me on the back tees and hopefully does justice to the nice elevation work left of the tee box.
Test round stats: -1 83%FIR 33%GIR 22 putts in above conditions with 10 mulligans (sorry, I mullied to get better screenshots and try a few different shots) -5 75%FIR 72%GIR 26 putts in B/F/F with difficult pins from front tees.
Comparable courses: Kerry Glen by Brent Aschacher
Overall: Capdepera is an exciting course that had my attention the whole time I was playing it. There is some absolutely astounding stuff going on here, and then you see some ragged edges or bad mesh and bunkers. Normally I'm not a big fan of reworking a course, just put all you've learned into your next design. This course is one I would gladly download again if some of the simple errors were corrected. All the hard APCD things are done so well that I'm puzzled by the lack of fine-tuning the simpler things. After saying all that I'm still scoring this course pretty high, with a hope of appealing to Jorg for a reworked version. It is a big file so I'm hesitant to give a download endorsement to all users. If you have cable or DSL I say go for it. I hope I've been descriptive enough for the slower modem users. Heck, the par 3's I've mentioned may warrant a download all by themselves. Jorg, feel free to drop me an e-mail if you have specific questions on anything I've written about. Well done, this one stays on my drive.
Filesize 46MB
Course Info :
Splash Screen? Yes
Cameo Screen? Yes
Text file? Yes
Hole Previews? No
This review will be based on playability, aesthetics and originality. Please keep in mind that this is only my opinion following my play-testing of the completed course.
I fully understand the hard work and immense skill that is involved in the designing of these courses and my comments will try to be constructive and without bias.
Tested on Power Stroke swing - Champ level - from the back tees - N/M/M Mod
PIII 667 / 256 meg memory / 32 meg GeForce2 MX video card / Hardware Rendering |
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CLIPNOTES by Ben Bateson (ousgg) |
Description
Imaginary, canyon course. |
Location
TBC |
Conditions
TBC |
Concept 3/10
This is a course that doesn't really know what it wants to be. My instinct, based on the name and environment, would be a tropical or Southern European course, but it is often reminiscent of North USA parkland courses or on occasion English moorland. Individual holes have a tendency to be over-wrought and heavy on the gimmicks, Par 3s excepted. |
Appearance 4/10
There are some great views to be had at Capdepera, but too much is completely unrealistic due to careless elevation work or lumpy greens. There are some exciting features, particularly the rock faces, but the unsuitable panorama and occasional blocked view are too much of a downer. |
Playability 4/10
This is too much hard work to be considered as playable. There are no 'up and hit them' shots; everything requires careful thought and preparation. While this is initially enjoyable, it eventually requires too much mental taxing to be enjoyable, more so when your carefully thought-out shots don't pay off. |
Challenge 1/10
Far too hard, to put it succinctly. Too often, you will be in water or an unplayable lie. The greens and elevations are ramped way up and are extremely hard. The Par 5s are all but impossible to hit in sub-par and the Par 3s are overlong and one is almost impossible to hit with the drive. Gimmicky hole routes don't add much; more than one fairway feels forced and you can just hear the strokes piling up. |
Technical 3/10
The area most in need of work is the elevations. While the rock features are admirable, a couple of poor extrusions stand proud, and unrealistic slopes are rife. The designer has much better courses to his name, which makes this early effort stick out like a sore thumb. A lot of work on both concept and hole design will turn this into a much better course. |
| Overall |
Sadly a let-down. Too difficult and too forced to hole the attention for long. Despite being a fan of fantasy courses, I did not find this to be my cup of tea. |
15/50 |
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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