| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 910 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2002-05-16 |
22,633,326 bytes |
72 |
7271 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
FICTIONAL |
MOUNTAIN |
Bald Mountain GC.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| 2e989ce5416b4d5faac53896639f5058 |
81a040062b050d9088b028be2359f303 |
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by
Nilkas Oscarsson
June 2002
Expectations:
I've lost count of how many courses Mr. Misener has made. They seem to come every two months or so. The quality has improved slowly with every new course. Bald Mountain however, has not been received very well by the users, so I'm not expecting a masterpiece here. Previous reviewers have always urged to Bill to make some beta testing before releasing a course. I don't think it ever worked. I have a feeling this will be more of a beta test than a review. Well, let's see.
First impression:
Unfortunately, the first hole is the most boring on the whole course. A long narrow par 4 that bends a little to the right. Fairway bunker at driver distance. Green bunkers left and right at the same height. A flat standard shaped green. I've seen this before all right. There is small outhouse left of the tee. I'm not sure what it is there for, but it will haunt you for the next eight holes. After that, another model will take its place, but rest assure, it will always be misplaced and incorrectly scaled. I've seen the panorama before. Trees and textures are familiar as well.
The bunkers are very plain. No trace of any extrusions here. A lot of time can be saved this way I guess, but it looks poor.
A walk through the course:
My misgivings turned out to be justified. There are a lot of errors in this course. Sharp edges and strange shadows can be seen everywhere. It's extremely annoying when in happens on the green surface. Expect some weird breaks on this one. It seems Bill used a second shape that he inserted on the green and then 'forgot' to adjust the sharpness of the edges. Some other faults include repetitive planting, incorrect scaling of objects, bunkers that go up instead of down, poorly matched textures, visible course limits, incorrect caddie, trees that hang in the air or are planted in the bunker and to round things off, the thing crashed on me.
There are lot of dogleg holes on this course. Hardly anything goes in a straight line here. Strangely enough, in spite of all its errors, many holes are quite beautiful to look at. There is nothing sensational about the design, but many holes are both interesting and challenging. A fair amount of risk/reward shots can be made here. My favourite hole is the #16, a par four that plays towards the lake and the green is placed on a small peninsula. If you play it safe to the left, you'll have a difficult approach shot over water. The front side of the green is protected by a bunker, the only frontal bunker on the whole course. The last three holes are really fun to play and saves the final impression a bit.
The verdict:
I disagree with the previous reviewers. This course is in no need of a beta test. It is much worse than that. The errors are so obvious, the designer should have seen them for himself. After all his courses, Mr. Misener still makes errors I didn't do on my first one. I'm not saying I'm a genius, but when will this guy learn? He has the talent to make both fun and beautiful holes, but what's the use when they are wrapped in such a poor package?
I wouldn't waste any time downloading this course unless you are determined to own every course ever produced for Links 2001.
As I write this, there is already another Misener design on the server. Maybe this time? I wouldn't bet on it...
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