|
The Golf Club of Great Britain
by Russell Bain
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 806 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2002-03-05 |
9,768,750 bytes |
71 |
7107 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
IMAGINARY |
PARKLAND |
Rb4v2.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| bb725bd3ee3a45fcbe14162b1fcd69bc |
b01d5a8c0628411ba0657c61479f3d63 |
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by James Wood
Course type: Listed by its designer as an imaginary, parkland-style golf course, The Golf Club of Great Britain could easily be designated a fictional course, as it has more in common with the typical fictional course than with the typical fantasy/imaginary course. The course itself is quite flat, and the pano incorporates hillsides (both with houses and without) and a river.
Historical perspective: This appears to be the first course submitted to the Links Corner by Russell Bain (although the name designation on the .crz file would suggest that it is not his first design, or at least that it is not the first version of this course). The release was accompanied by little fanfare, and the user response has been both minimal and unenthusiastic - the dreaded silver star.
What is included: Next to nothing. The very cursory read-me contains the designer's designation of course type and the assertion that the course is not too difficult. That there are no hole previews is not surprising in a course of this modest (9.4MB) size, but the absence of a cameo and splash screen is both unexpected and disappointing (and, in my opinion, unwise for any designer who aspires to APCD credibility).
First impressions: Frankly, I was not expecting much. The modest file size, the paucity of the inclusion list, and the lacklustre user response all contributed to the lowering of my expectations. And once the first hole rendered, nothing drastically changed that feeling. The most overused tree in the APCD was present (although I was thankful that there was only one copy of it), and the textures chosen, while not inappropriate, were rather bland. The view from the slightly elevated tee was, as might be expected from the course style, open, with a good view of the pin. The lone fairway bunker was not in play, but a tree just to the left of the fairway about 280 yards out well could be. The fairway itself is plain, with no mow lines and no first cut, but all the surrounding texture is mere rough, so an errant tee shot is not too severely punished, and the second shot, whatever the lie, should be pretty open. So, nothing very exciting yet, but also nothing that would immediately mark this one for the recycle bin, either.
What comes next: At first, it appears that the course will simply continue in the same not-very-interesting fashion. The first four holes all play pretty much straight ahead, although there is reasonably good variation in length. You will see a fair number of mild mesh shadows in the top view, but they are only occasionally visible (and rarely distracting) in the main view. The bunkers are very consistent, and a little unusual. The bottoms are almost completely flat, making it appear that they were formed by using a cookie cutter to punch holes in the grass. This impression is reinforced by the construction, in which the surrounding texture is merely extruded straight down; this actually works better than you might expect with the shallow bunkers where the extrusion appears to be only a few inches, but the deeper greenside bunkers (some 36 inches or more) really cry out for the assignment of another texture to the wall (probably sod) or a substantially gentler transition. As you might imagine from this description, the bunkers do not pose much threat: unless you are right up against the wall of one of the deeper ones, the flat bottoms allow for easy extraction. On the other hand, this construction method does avoid the ugly shadows and gravity-defying sand slopes often seen in the bunker work of APCD novices. On balance, however, the bunkers could have benefited greatly from a little more finesse.
Planting, predictably enough for a parkland-style course, is relatively sparse, but at least it is tasteful and natural looking (no garishly colored flowers to add artificial brightness); it is also a lot less repetitive than you might expect. There are islands of trees and lower-level plants, set primarily in a mulch texture that plays as a hazard. These become a more regular feature of the terrain after the first few holes and often require you to shape your shot. Water is a feature on only two holes (#10 and #18); the use of a single small lake serves to simplify the APCD work (and, concomitantly, minimizes opportunity to get tripped up in an area that often exposes inadequacy of technique). Edges are treated simply and are a little on the flat side, but they avoid the appearance of the texture having been painted on. I have seen much worse.
Although no one will ever accuse this course of being scintillating, it does tend to get more interesting as it goes along, providing good variety within its somewhat limited framework. More importantly, Russell comes across as someone who has an appreciation of what a real golf course entails. You do not get much eye candy here, and the course plays a bit too easy to provide much challenge (or long-term interest) for an average pro clicker, but there is no artificiality either. What you get is the kind of course that most weekend golfers play at home; that might not sound like much, but the fact that even that much as been believably realized by a first-time designer is no small accomplishment.
For those of you who are interested in such things, two of the three par-5's (#6 and #10) are reachable from the back tees unless you are playing into the wind. The par-4 #4 is also drivable from the back under favorable wind conditions. The greens tend to be large and flat, although difficult pin placements can sometimes bring the greenside bunkers significantly into play. Every hole may be considered to provide a good birdie chance (or better on #4, #6 and #10), so you should expect to score well here.
The bottom line: Not essential, and not very challenging, but better than the lack of features and the low user rating might make you think. This is a course that could benefit from a general clean-up and a bunker redesign, but there is only so much improvement that can be made within this context, so I hope that Russell will devote his energies toward making the requisite improvements in his next course instead. I get the feeling that, with a little more practice, he could give us something really worth having.
Course Info :
Cameo Screen? No
Splash Screen? No
Text file? Yes
Hole Previews? No
9mb
Reviewed March 2002 |
This course is available as a FREE download.
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