Ever since I had the honour of test playing this course early in the development (and pretty much throughout), I've found it pretty difficult to not post about my feelings and expectations about this course! I didnt want to tease people about it before they get to play it! But it should only be a few days left now until people get to play at least the members version, so I cant hold it back any longer
First let me get the only concern of mine out of the way - This course is playing pretty darn easy, it is really rather short and the greens are designed to play easy, so they're mostly relatively flat (just as in real life). On top of it all, many green-sides are designed to funnel landing balls inwards towards the pins. In short - it is instantly obvious that it is a resort course. Which is completely fine I guess. I really struggle to think of a single (real) proper resort course made for Links, at least any that is made to high quality, so thats a nice niche that was screaming to be filled either way. People who are fans of easy courses are most likely going to love it a whole lot.
Fans of challenging real courses, like myself, will hopefully find the future tournament version challenging enough. I think that one, as well, is going to play quite easy (because the plot doesnt leave much room for extending the course, and the greens are always going to be easy to putt on) but I hope (and believe) that it will at least not be too much of a pushover.
The thing is, even if one considers the course too easy in terms of difficulty, it is so worth playing regardless. Most of the easy holes are very far from boring. They come with dramatic and exhilarating challenges such as big elevation drop-offs, narrow tree-lines or water and OB highly in play, and usually the drama is both in the gameplay and visuals, which is just wondeful. The early holes 3 4 5 6 for example all fit into that category, and is definitely my favourite part of the course, despite them all being overall really easy holes. Such a huge treat, that stretch of holes is
Rest of the course is of course nice too, there are definitely a few snooze-holes where the birdie is basically a foregone conclusion with not much else to it, but another stretch of excellent holes on the back nine keeps things from getting dull. And besides, even during the low-key holes, you always have the really beautiful visuals and surroundings that Dan has succeeded in bringing to life. I dont feel like I need to say anything about the class of APCD work itself here, the sceenshots and course speaks for itself
Superb!Needless to say, if you dont like courses being pushovers, I highly recommend sticking to all-difficult pins, and green speeds from at least M/Fc or faster. With the overall extra ease of the members version I would even say F/Fc or faster. I dont feel like this course is all that well-suited for Windy (although, if you're a Links-god, why not?), but Gusty should be good (and authentic).
