Augusta National 2023

[ColinC]

Getting back on track. Thanks Linkster for the time and effort you put into this, its a really nice design and the update is very much appreciated. I had a very enjoyable round and found it interesting to just focus on the course without all the crowds and objects. The only issue I noted was that some of the green and fairway colours were so similar on the front nine they washed out a bit, but that could just be the settings on my monitor. The trees, water and blooming Magnolias looked great!

[chad]

If this has been reported already, my apologies. I played an online match today, and when the ball is resting on the fringe, the default club selection is the putter. When I played hole 3, I was 27 yards short of the cup and on the fringe, requiring a chip shot for my third. Usually the LW or chipper club is the default and the pin is in.

Great course, thanks!

[Weeler]

I'll agree with Colin C. concerning the green and fairway textures/colors. They're a little too similar. Maybe something a tad darker for the fairways. Otherwise it's really great to have a new Augusta with hole yardage updates, and a changed tee box on 13. Very well done !!

[linkster]

If this has been reported already, my apologies. I played an online match today, and when the ball is resting on the fringe, the default club selection is the putter. When I played hole 3, I was 27 yards short of the cup and on the fringe, requiring a chip shot for my third. Usually the LW or chipper club is the default and the pin is in.

The Fringe texture plays as green. That is why the caddie gave you the putter as the default club selection. Even though the fringe looks more similar to fairway, it plays as a putting green. I did this to recreate the roll off from the greens. The fairway texture in Links is just too sticky to have the ball roll away from the green as it does in real life. Hopefully you had the "Allow chipping on greens" option enabled in the round settings to get around this, but the pin would still be out of the cup.

I'll agree with Colin C. concerning the green and fairway textures/colors. They're a little too similar. Maybe something a tad darker for the fairways. Otherwise it's really great to have a new Augusta with hole yardage updates, and a changed tee box on 13. Very well done !!

I'll revisit the texture colours. Likely I'll put the same textures from 2009 back in.

Looks like I will also be taking some pines out from the left side of the 17th tee. In all seriousness, it was pure luck that no one was injured or worse. I have a suspicion that Augusta will be taking out some of the tall pines before next year simple due to patron safety.

There would be no reason to keep lengthening the course if every tournament was played in cold and wet conditions!

[morvio100]

...."Likely I'll put the same textures from 2009 back in......dont....if anything at all....possibly alter the saturation level fg the current(pallet)....possible making the green color in general a more deeper lush green for the fairways and greens

[gene_golf]

...."Likely I'll put the same textures from 2009 back in......dont....if anything at all....possibly alter the saturation level fg the current(pallet)....possible making the green color in general a more deeper lush green for the fairways and greens

:sad:

[chad]

'The Fringe texture plays as green. That is why the caddie gave you the putter as the default club selection. Even though the fringe looks more similar to fairway, it plays as a putting green. I did this to recreate the roll off from the greens. The fairway texture in Links is just too sticky to have the ball roll away from the green as it does in real life. Hopefully you had the "Allow chipping on greens" option enabled in the round settings to get around this, but the pin would still be out of the cup.'

That sounds good. I'll just keep it in mind to select the LW or chipper club in those situations.

[morvio100]

Shout out to the Linkster.....re...the wind/brezezy settings....I've near masterd hole 12...)...(three HIO'S)....what a beautiful job on the planting....uuuuhhh yyeeaaahh....caveat...because the breezy settting is coming from a set point every time....the wind /and windy ///haven't not tried gusty as yet is coming from a set point every time ..thus making the course too easy....all windy breezy and gusty settings need to be made much more variable..and ANIMAL HARD....this is AUGUSTA after all...the green settings for ..(use course recommended settings)...should be made as though your putting on glass ....wonderful creation...visually stunning ...and its still in Beta.....! ps hope the Final arrives with all tourney objects in place ...all bells and whistles...looking forward to the Final immensely

[gene_golf]

It is interesting to see course stretched to longest length now existing at present, but with distance range limited for Links players it is not accurate to play from tips. I will say on some holes such as a couple of par 3's that with historical pins that on those holes only that tees are moved forward slightly making course play slightly shorter than 7,700 yards, but even if were to be able to use pro distance mod that some here have seen having problems loading it recently---that this would not totally equal out distance. There has been some discussion about Linkster setting fringe to act like green to get roll off so far instead of having a fairway reaction being more sticky. I am just wondering if fringe or runup area texture properties would have suited that need for reaction with runoff slopes around greens at Augusta instead of setting it as green texture might have been done by Linkster instead and pin would have been in when not on real green. Occasionally with having a long, say 75 feet putt over several slopes in green---I choose to chip on green and the pin is not in hole if were to chip, so when on green the flag is always out and that in last year or so has been a rule change not taken into account 20 years back when Links 2003 came out. Speaking of ball rolling reactions---setting the course up to be slower with the rain does not compute totally. Downhill holes such as #2 usually got roll out despite soggy fairway whereas hole #8 going uphill for second shot posed more of a problem for players to reach that green in two shots. Another thing despite underground drainage system for course it got soggy for fairways, but not as much for the greens cut lower and on severe slopes where Masters is known over years as favoring fast greens to test players. Here I am remembering such was not always the case going back to the 60's watching tournament on tv where course was not in as green condition as is now and believe a different grass possibly bermuda might have been on greens then. Setting the course up one way---thinking here of soft/slow possibility does not account for different speeds for fairways and greens, which unfortunately is a flaw there in the Links program where they are connected. Another thought I have being the wind direction set up in APCD. I checked provisualizer and going by map with top as true north it would appear that Linkster set up prevailing wind to come from SW and not sure what variance was given for change of direction that understand is randomly chosen by the computer within what range settings allowed as also set up by the course's designer when play game and this is yet another flaw in Links program where cannot accurately set an exact direction point only that wind is coming from to account for strange days that players had facing them. If course's designer were to do that---then would have an entirely different course that designer could name as Augusta played with bad conditions and have virtually the same file size occupying computer hard drive space. The announcers said that with cold, rainy and windy conditions that the the wind was coming from a NE direction or 180 degrees different from way that Linkster set wind and on good days normally in year that is what usually experience in Georgia that wind does come from a SW direction. My first round playing had on hole #11 a drive and second shot into headwinds on a 550 yard par 4. I can see where players in the past such as Larry Mize layed out to right side of green there and chipped third shot onto green, given the pond lurking on left side of green there.

[gene_golf]

https://www.pgatour.com/article/news/ne ... ub-masters

CONCERNING THE GREENS FROM THE ARTICLE:
8. BERMUDA TO BENT
One of the biggest changes in Augusta National’s history took place four decades ago, when the course’s famous putting surfaces were converted from Bermuda to bentgrass, which isn’t common in the South because it is harder to maintain in warm temperatures. Augusta National is closed during the summer, however, and the course’s Bermudagrass greens had slowed in the years preceding the change. Bentgrass plays faster than Bermuda, allowing the tournament to achieve the green speeds that it is known for.

The experiment was first conducted on the club’s par-3 course. Those surfaces were switched to bentgrass in 1978, and after that experiment was a success, the greens on the big course were switched after the 1980 Masters.

“We could make them so slick we’d have to furnish ice skates on the first tee,” said former Augusta National chairman Hord Hardin. The bentgrass greens debuted in the 1981 Masters and immediately struck fear into players.

“The faster bentgrass surfaces have made the course play to an entirely different tune,” said Arnold Palmer. “Augusta National’s greens already are among the most undulating in the world – that’s part of the Masters tradition. Bentgrass greens are lightning fast; when the speed combines with the severe sloping of Augusta’s greens, they can get out of hand.”

Many of those extreme undulations are credited to another famed architect, Perry Maxwell, who was a partner of MacKenzie’s in the latter stages of his life and did further work on Augusta National in the late 1930s.

“Such undulations were his trademark and were known as ‘Maxwell rolls,’” Owen wrote. “MacKenzie was no longer alive at the time, but he undoubtedly would have approved. He loved dramatic contours.”