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Snodgrass (Ver 2)
by Bill Misener
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 485 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2001-07-22 |
27,859,371 bytes |
72 |
6869 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
REAL |
PARKLAND |
Snodgrass.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| 91f63f8179df11d59c5bb9222f6df346 |
b1953563dddcc7f6338f9c6cb990d434 |
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed byDave Campbell
July 2001
Expectations: Wasn't sure what to expect with a name like this. I noticed it is a real course and couldn't figure out who would use this as a real course name.
First Impressions: Snodgrass is the ninth course design that Bill has uploaded to the Links Corner and was posted on 7/22/01. His other courses in order of release are; Tropicana, Foothills G.C., Many Lakes G.C., Regal Palms G.C., Elk Ridge G.C., Oak Tree G.C., Sandpiper G.C. and Alpen Hills G.C. (which was released on the same day as Snodgrass). The number of courses Bill has released surely has to be near the top for one designer. I'm trying to recall whether I had played any of his courses. I believe I had tried Tropicana and Many Lakes, but had played neither in quite some time. So I'm going in cold as to Bill's course history and style. After playing the course for a few holes it became obvious which course he was trying to recreate, the inimitable TPC @ Sawgrass - Stadium course. His readme didn't say as much but any doubt I had was laid to rest on the 17th tee. Here is an excerpt from the Sawgrass website;
When this course was first used for the Players Championship in 1982, the competitors might have wanted to do what Pete Dye used as his title 12 years later for his autobiography: "Bury Me in a Pot Bunker," that is.
Ben Crenshaw weighed in with this comment: "This is Star Wars golf, designed by Darth Vader." Jack Nicklaus said he was never very good "at stopping a 5-iron on the hood of a car." Did Dye care? Not at all; he thrives on controversy, and loved every minute that the pros went after him verbally.
But eventually the PGA Tour succumbed to the golfers'' wishes and softened the course. The greens were made more inviting to approach shots, which was the biggest change. And nowadays the course yields high scores or low scores depending on how much wind blows and how firm the course gets.
I guess this begs the question, how is this recreation?
Playability: Let me start off by saying I'm not the expert on Sawgrass, nor does a real course have to be perfect in my estimation. My guides as to the accuracy of this design come from a scorecard I printed and firing up PGA2000 and playing Chris Anderson's beautiful version of this course. Too bad I don't have two computers I can play side by side. From all I can tell Bill's version stays pretty true to form although the elevations between the two golf sim versions were different. I would say that the Chris Anderson PGA version is probably more accurate from all that I have read, and he is one of the top designers within that community.
Snodgrass is a fun course to play, particularly for the powerstroker. The fairways are wide open, with a few exceptions, and you can really be aggressive with regard to scoring. The layout is sound, as you would expect following a Pete Dye design. Hazards are here for sure, especially water, but most can be avoided if your swing is fairly sound. Lets face it, if I can score on this course anyone can.
The tee areas seemed stock with good, open views to the fairway or green. I didn't have to shape one shot. There is a stretch of holes mid round that are gorgeous from the back tees, holes 9 through 15. All have nice creeks within wood bulkhead banks. Three tee choices are available. As mentioned the fairways are generous in their landing zones and only a few come to mind as giving me pause for thought (the 18th being one with water all the way down the left). The fairway texture looks nice and there is a nice 1st cut border around them all. There is a 'Bermuda rough' texture lurking not too far off the fairway that you'd be wise to avoid. It has the deep grass properties and will have you struggling to make par, fortunately you have to miss your snap pretty bad to get to it.
The greens are well done with very testing elevations. There is a nice looking fringe and fairway run-ups to some greens. My test round included only 26 putts, which is great for me, so they can't be that tough. I did have an eagle chip from the rough on the par 5 2nd, and a birdie chip from the sand on the par 3 13th. This always helps your putting stats :^)
As mentioned there is much water and a pretty standard amount of bunkers. There is some interesting greenside bunkering around some of the greens, a real mix of bunker types. I think this looks good. Bill uses a technique I saw in Cedar Creek which is fairway traps using a brown texture, and as you get closer to the green they turn to a white sand look (see screenshot). This may not be for everyone but I personally like the look.
Snodgrass is a playable, fairly accurate version of the Sawgrass - Stadium course. You can score at will in moderate conditions so if your Links ego needs some stroking give this one a try.
Drawbacks: There are many small design errors that start wearing on you as you go through the round, particularly for a veteran of nine designs. The occasional mesh shadow and wavy textured bunker, not many but noticed a few. The worst thing is that none of the bunker lips have any texture mapped, at least none that I saw. This leaves the dreaded 'red line' that really starts becoming an eyesore as the round progresses.
The water reflects properly but has a 'flooded' look to me, in other words no discernable bank. This doesn't give the impression that the pond or lake has been there for any length of time.
The most noticeable problem is the water fronting the 16th tee. It is a wood planked body of water that doesn't appear to have the 'reflective property' box ticked. There is some waterfowl sitting in what appears to be the bottom of the pano, ocean looking water and the light blue color. I can't believe this would not be seen in play testing. On a reverse cam shot approach to the 4th green there appears to be a tree planted right in the creek.
In the Links forums there was mention of a bug that caused the game to crash when rendering the 9th hole. This may be why there is a version 2. There is a big lake to the right and I know that rendering large bodies of water with many verts has caused this problem on other courses (Boondock Way comes to mind). I did not have this problem myself but thought I would at least mention it.
Best Hole: I bet you all are expecting the famous 17th hole, which is actually pretty well done. My choice is the 583-yard par 5 9th hole (there's that 9th hole again). This hole starts that run of visually beautiful holes from the tee. A creek runs right of the tee box and the fairway is split by water with a lake running all the way down the right side of the hole. Great fairway bunkers get your attention and you'll be hitting into a two tiered, heavily bunkered green. Probably can't be reached in two but that's never been high on my list for a great par 5. My screenshot is a panoramic view of me waiting to hit my drive.
Test round stats: -6 71% FIR 72% GIR 26 putts in above conditions. I also missed many putts under 10' (which is no big surprise) so I could have gone lower. Two off green chip-ins as well, one for eagle.
Comparable courses: The Olympic Club by Matt Desouza
Overall: Snodgrass is a playable fairly accurate recreation of a very famous venue. In my opinion this design falls short of what I would expect from a designer with this many courses released. Some of the errors are in the beginner category. That being said I enjoyed my round, I don't normally shoot that low. For real course lovers this may satisfy your need for a version of Sawgrass. I suspect a reworked version of this course or a brand new offering from another designer will ultimately have to be done to satisfy the masses. I have many screenshots Bill if you want to e-mail me and discuss anything I've talked about. Thanks for your time and effort and the 'stones' to take on Sawgrass.
Filesize 27MB
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 |
This course is available as a FREE download.
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