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Augusta National
by Steve Pitchford
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 455 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2001-06-23 |
31,808,548 bytes |
72 |
6985 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
REAL |
PARKLAND |
Augusta National.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| 46d73142680911d5a0b80080ae000001 |
ab52ad12dad178f960c49a8cb50e513f |
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by Mick Lenton
June 2001
Thoughts from the 1st: I was hoping to carry out this review exactly as any other, but with the posting's on the boards that I have read, this is going to be very difficult, but I will do the best I am able.
This is Steve's first course, and to pick such a high profile course such as this for a first attempt was always fraught with danger as people were always going to go over it with a fine tooth comb.
But here I stand on the first tee and as I look out, I am thinking that for a first design, this doesn't look too bad.
The Course: The first thing I will say is that obviously I don't really know my way round Augusta, other than of course watching it many times on the TV, which sometimes gives you a very distorted view and from pics on sites such as the Webshots Community Golf pages, which, by the way, are very good pages for Golf course pics and also can be good to pick up a few grass shots. I will not therefore comment TOO much as to whether the course is totally realistic. I will leave that to your personal ideas.
I will say that stock textures have been used, with the standard striped fairway and crosshatch green. Now having studied lots of pics and digging deep into my feeble memory to remember the TV shots, I have to say that stripes do not seem to be in evidence on the actual course. I can understand that Steve has used what textures etc. he had to hand in APCD and possibly did not possess the skills and techniques to produce custom textures, but I do feel he would have been better using the St Andrews type fairway and maybe cloning the tee texture to use for the greens. Also, although is seems very indistinct on the Augusta course I would like to have seen a 1st cut, of rough and then maybe deep grass used for the rough to give the difficult play conditions to be found from Augusta's rough. But of course, remember that is a personal thing.
The square tees sit direct on the rough and 3 tees are available, Back, Middle and Ladies.
As I have said the striped fairway has no 1st cut and is unmapped. The contrast between the stock fairway and rough are IMO a bit too much compared to the real course which seems to blend gently from fairway to rough.
The greens are once again a stock texture, surrounded buy the stock fringe. I feel once again a texture without mow lines would have looked a bit more realistic.
The white sand bunkers look quite good. Steve has got the effect of the quite thin, grass lips reproduced fairly well. His skill with the edges and cleaning up the verts is a bit lacking, so there are some sharp and badly turned edges and shadows, but the overall effect is quite pleasing. They seem to have good depth perception as well. So well done there Steve. Bunkers can be very difficult to get looking good and for your first attempt yours look fairly good.
The lakes and creeks are fairly well done, but again a lack of vert tidying means there are some sharp edges, scalloping, pulled verts and texture bleeding.
IMO it is vital to tidy your verts as you go, to enable you to keep track of how things are progressing. I feel that if this is not done you can get into such a mess you cannot see the wood for the trees and it looks as if that is what has happened here.
I personally think the planting has been done quite well with what Steve had available, The lack of pano can give some 'blue screen' in the dynamic cam, but in normal mode the planting hides this and looks quite good. You can see the occasional, slightly 'airborne' tree, but not many.
Again though, it is no more than what you would expect from a first timer and in that light a reasonable job has been done.
There is a feel of Augusta as you play around and Amen corner is recognisable as such. I do not think it is fair to expect much more. Well done Steve.
Playability: Whether the course is playable or not depends almost totally on how you set up the conditions. Set it No wind/soft/slow you can murder the course because of the fairly generous fairways and not having any great problems reaching 2 of the par 5's and a slight chance, with 2 good shots, of reaching the other 2.. However, set it up for a Sunday at the Masters and it is a different course. The greens become very difficult to hold and missing them on the wrong side can be fatal. It is very important to have fairly accurate shots into the greens to enable you to only 1 or 2 putt. Being in the wrong place on a fast green can easily lead to 3,4,or even 5 putts.
I have to say I really enjoyed playing it. I suppose you could say it is akin to playing St Andrews, or one of the other 'special' courses.
Good Points: A very good attempt for a first timer. The ambiance of the course almost overcomes the faults and you end up not really seeing them.
The planting, if maybe not totally realistic, I don't know, is well done. Very playable
Bad Points: The basic design faults. IMO incorrect textures for the fairways and greens. Regarding the dynamic cam views. not having a pano.
Favourite Hole: I will have to say the Par 3 16th. Pic above.
Least Favourite Hole: The 1st. But I am not sure why. It may be that weird shaped fairway bunker!!
Final thoughts: I think it has already all been said on the boards. A good, first time effort, but not exceptional. A lot of you will have already had a look. Unfortunately it will probably be eclipsed by another version in the pipeline. But hey, that's the way of the game.
Well done for a difficult first attempt Steve.
Filesize 25MB
Course Info :
Splash Screen? Yes
Cameo Screen? Yes
Custom Flag? Yes
Custom Tee Markers? No
Hole Previews? No
Readme file? Yes, short notes course construction
This review will be based on playability, aesthetics, design, originality and construction. 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 as I am a designer myself and my comments will try to be constructive and without bias.
Tested on Power Stroke swing - Champ level - from the back tees - Breezy/M/M Moderate
I have changed my method of reviewing to try and give more value for money. I have a knock around the course to get the overall picture. I then play a round in a window, writing as I go, reviewing hole by hole. In hope people enjoy this method. I am always open to input. micklenton@hotmail.com Not too much hate mail please!!!
Test Machine - AMD Athlon 1.4 266, 512 meg DDR ram, ATI 64 meg DDR Radeon VIVO |
This course is available as a FREE download.
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