Links Corner for all fans of Links 2003 Golf Welcome to Links Corner
The leading site for the Links series of golf sims




Other Links related sites.

Tigercats
 
Links Country Club
 
AniMasters
 
Links Sports Network
 





Smoke Rise Golf Course
by Guy Dennis

Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 839
Release Date CRZ Filesize Par Course Length
2002-04-01  11,818,845  bytes 71  6683 yards
Type Style CRZ Filename
FICTIONAL  MOUNTAIN  Smoke Rise Golf Course.crz 
Course ID Course Key
d8a657acf9ce4c59804a4c46e7318980  fa3aa1b9eec481d0d6aa1c596db42123 

COURSE SCREENSHOTS

LINKS CORNER REVIEW

Reviewed by Mike Nifong April 2002

Course type: Smoke Rise is described by its designer as a fantasy mountain-style course. If the term fantasy is taken to mean that courses so described are not likely to ever be found in real life, then I think the description fits rather well. If I am not mistaken, the pano used was first employed by Ernie Barnes in his (currently unavailable) Scissor Creek, and has since been used in such courses as Gordon Martin's Glen Devon. To me, it is the most artificial of mountain panos (okay, the one used in the Loon Lake Lodge courses is not very realistic either), reminding me more than anything of those pre-formed plastic tunnels that graced our electric train layouts when we were younger. At least in those other courses some attempt has been made to integrate the pano with the foreground; here, about all you get is a straight-line boundary.

Historical perspective: Smoke Rise is the third (and last) golf course released by Guy Dennis in the two weeks between March 18 and April 1, 2002; such fecundity, as we have come to find out, is not usually a good sign. Following closely on the heels of Point-O-Woods and Lost Island, Smoke Rise, at a very modest 9.6MB, is nonetheless also the largest of Guy's trilogy, and we have also come to find out (at least as far as Links is concerned) that good things rarely come in such small packages. As of this writing, none of these courses have achieved more than silver star status.

What is included: In addition to the very brief read-me, there is a very interesting splash screen (which has nothing to do with golf, but somehow seems to fit the spirit of a course named Smoke Rise). But there is no cameo, and there are no hole previews (which could have been helpful on this course - use of the top camera is pretty close to mandatory in their absence).

First impressions: Expectations were already low, and the opening view did nothing to dispel them: the planting is extremely repetitive, the top view shows a considerable degree of angularity, and there are bad mesh shadows in abundance. To make things even worse, your first tee shot (from the only one of the three tee boxes that actually has tee markers), is blind: you cannot even see the fairway. If you use the top view (you really do not have much choice), you will find that the hole takes a 90° turn to the left about 220 yards out; a well-placed, drawn 5W may allow you to reach the green in two by fading a 3W on your second shot. This second shot (pictured) will show you plenty of sharp edges, straight lines, and cloned planting. And when you do reach the green, you will have a great view of the scoreboard: it actually sits partially on the putting surface, and it appears to have been scaled for giants.

What comes next: A lot more of the same: more bad mesh shadows, more cloned planting (indeed, this may very well be the most repetitively planted course I have yet suffered through), more outrageously mis-scaled tournament objects. You get the picture.

Regrettably, the visual and APCD shortcomings are not the only deficits. The layout is ridiculously contrived, as are the elevations (the screenshot from #11 is but one example). It seems that the main design criterion was to take a questionable idea and absolutely beat it to death. So there are more blind tee shots (#2, #11 and #12) and more sharp doglegs where the forced lay-up means your second shot will be longer than your tee shot (#6, #7, #8, #16 and #17). Beginning with #2, a new 'trick' is introduced: trees and shrubs planted on the fairways, and we are not talking about the occasional lone tree (see screenshot from #16); this scenario was also oft repeated (#3, #11, #12, #14, #17 and #18, also). Consequently, it was during my first play-through that I divined the origin of the course name: the smoke rises from the head of the irate cybergolfer who is forced to play this (as John Buessing would likely say) 'TUPoC'.


Moreover, once you have figured out this course's bag of tricks, it presents precious little challenge. The primary reason for this is the greens, which are perfectly flat. Imagine putting on a really big billiard table. You will find absolutely no variation in any direction, so putting is simply a matter of correctly judging the firmness of your stroke and hitting your snap. How easy was it? Playing B/M/M/D conditions, I had an 18-putt round. That is right: one per hole. Sixteen birdies and two eagles (#7 and #18). For comparison purposes, I normally average 27.00 putts per round. (I also noted that, even with difficult pins selected, the flag always seemed to be near the center of the green. I suspect that the designer assigned only one pin position per hole, but I did not bother trying to confirm this suspicion.)

The bottom line: Need you ask? Not a keeper for me, and not recommended to you unless you really need to pad your putting statistics.


Course Statistics :

Par 71; 3 tee boxes, but only 1 set of tees; 6683 yards; holes are not handicapped.

This course is available as a FREE download.


Download course


Please support Links Corner





Website Security Test
Copyright © 2024 | Links Corner