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McNeely Lakes C.C.
by Paul Nicholson
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 507 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2001-08-02 |
15,808,954 bytes |
73 |
7642 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
FICTIONAL |
PARKLAND |
mcneelylakes.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| d733a940879d11d5bf7a00105ac838ea |
decec80e240a82b88dad92b13f666806 |
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by Dave Campbell
Expectations: I have played three of Paul's designs and have really only liked Cooper Chapel so I'm not sure what to expect. His other two were 'The Island' series and were not to my liking.
First Impressions: McNeeley Lakes G.C. is Paul's seventh course design and was posted at the Links Corner on 8/2/01. His others in order of release are; The Island, The Desert, The Pines, Cooper Chapel G.C., The Island II and Charleswood G.C. I have only played the two 'Island' courses (I reviewed The Island II) and Cooper Chapel, the latter being a course I've always liked a lot. I've been meaning to play Charleswood sometime as well, as I've heard good things about this course, but haven't had a chance to yet. McNeely Lakes is a fictional wooded, parkland design and is a par 73 measuring 7,642 yards from the gold tees. Five tee options are available with the ladies tees just dipping under 7,000 yards total.
Paul has tried different things in his many design, desert, realistic designs and fantasy. So where does he go with this one?
Playability: As I stand on the 1st tee I see an appealing, well-planted hole layout. Things appear pretty open but this belies the many hidden dangers in this design. If your snap is suspect then this course can cause big trouble, as water makes an appearance on almost every hole and it most definitely comes into play. It's not named McNeely Lakes for nothing.
The tee boxes appear to be stock with five sets (gold, blue, white, green and red). Open looks can be had on all tees but I did shift from side to side more than once for a better angle into the fairway. The fairways, fringe and rough appear to be custom textures (bluegrass) and work very well together. Most landing areas are fair (some are a bit tight) but subtly planted trees on many holes can block an approach shot that is sitting on the short grass. The drive on the 8th hole is treacherous and requires a long force carry over water and dense ground cover all around the landing area. Smooth fairway elevations are the norm.
The bunkers are decent and the mesh seems clean. You get many different shapes and placements, both fairway and greenside, and all use the 'white raked' texture. Most exhibit a slight lip and I had a good recovery opportunity from every one I visited.
The water is ever present and dangerous in this design. I saw water on fifteen of the eighteen holes and it's in large quantities, in the form of lakes not ponds. There is one island green (the 18th), many fairways with water down the side the length of the hole (3rd, 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 11th, 12th, 15th and 17th), or water down both sides of fairway (1st and 10th), and water butted right up to the green (4th and 18th). I think you get the point, you better hit it straight or you're in big trouble. All are constructed nicely with great lakeside planting and most have some great fence work running alongside.
Greens are inviting targets and are also subtly elevated, with a well-done fringe collar. The 18th features a great looking three-tier island green and makes for an exciting finishing hole. Good luck in trying to keep it on the middle tier. I had 30 putts in my test round but I'd call these greens fair and you should be able to use all speed settings.
Planting is great. I saw nothing that looked out of place. As mentioned there are solitary or small stands of trees that can impede many approaches, even if you're in the fairway. The lightly wooded areas lining the fairways are realistic and the choice of trees appropriate. I noticed some ball washers and waste cans as well as some tourney object placed about (grandstands, camera and TV towers, scoreboards) but the course has a very uncluttered feel in general.
MaNeely Lakes is a very realistic, well-crafted design that probably caters to the pro level click swing more so than powerstroke or champ level, but it is definitely playable.
Drawbacks: I noticed a tree in the 3rd fairway didn't show up in the top cam, and I ended up behind it of course ;-) Along the same lines I had way too many perfect 3W drives that ended up being blocked by the aforementioned small group of trees. Usually you will clear this obstacle with a driver but I rarely use the 1W (many other PS'ers are the same way), and I consider it too penal to have perfect tee shots rewarded with no approach.
On a reverse cam approach to the 10th green I noticed something funny in the water, almost like the fence along the hole was reflecting unnaturally across the water. If you like I can e-mail you the screenshot Paul. Not sure if this is a design thing or an APCD problem.
I feel a need to single out the 8th hole. This is a pretty hole but is too punishing IMO, even for the clicker. This one hole could ruin your whole round. It's a 529-yard par 5 that has a force carry over water on the drive of 255 yards. That's not the worst part, the fairway landing is fairly tight and if you miss right you'll find yourself in plantings so dense that it may take you three or four shots to get out. You can't miss to the right either being that there is a lake all the way down the left side of the hole. Even if you hit the fairway you have a small group of trees that may block an approach. If you can nail the drive down the middle then you will have a realistic birdie chance but I think there is a much greater chance of par or worse than there is of a birdie or better. Champ level players of either swing type will be shaking on this tee for sure. This is a challenging hole for the pro click player even. In playing an online match on this course one of the pro clickers ended up picking up their ball when he wound up in the ground cover right of the fairway, and tried to hack out three times in vain.
Best Hole: My favorite is the 537-yard par 5 18th, a great finishing hole. It is an island green that will make you risk a reachable 2nd shot approach. The green has three tiers and if you end up on the wrong one it will really get your attention, particularly if the greens are fast. For my screenshot I chose my approach to the par 4 17th because I thought is showed many of the things I talked about in my review (lake and lakeside planting, light forest, tight fairways, nice bunker and green, tree stand blocking approach near lake and the great fences). The par 3 4th hole is visually beautiful al well. Full carry over water to green perched on a rocky outcrop.
Test round stats: -1 68%FIR 72% GIR 30 putts. A pretty good round, I think I should have putted better but considering the abundant hazards I'm happy.
Comparable courses: Cooper Chapel G.C. by Paul Nicholson
Overall: McNeely Lakes G.C. is a very tight design and shows that Paul has honed his APCD skills with his many releases. This is his best that I've played and I prefer his realistic courses to his fantasy ones. I would recommend that everyone give this course a try, with maybe some slight reservations to the powerstroker and Champ level player (PS or click). The ever-present water and the 8th hole will make this a struggle to stay at par and should be a great pro click challenge, particularly if you turn up the wind. Great match play or skins game course though, and should produce many swings back and forth on the leader board. This way the one real bad hole won't hurt you too much. Great design Paul, thanks for the obvious time and effort.
Course Info :
Cameo Screen? Yes
Splash Screen? Yes
Text file? No
Hole Previews? No
10mb
Reviewed September 2001 |
This course is available as a FREE download.
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