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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2018 19:50:27 GMT -5
The Links at Lybster IslesLybster Isles... where for a millennium the forces of nature have continuously converged to mold and chisel the coastal landscape of Caithness in northeastern Scotland, creating a seemingly endless array of breathtaking vistas. It's here in this pastoral setting where even the titans of golf are confronted with their own mortality - drawing inspiration from the spectacular scenery while engaging in battle to avoid sporting humiliation. The course straddles two of three isolated islands (Lybster Island and McCrae Island) situated more than a mile off the eastern shores of the Scottish mainland, with the outline of Lybster Bay clearly discernible in the distance across the strait. Their companion isle is home to one of the many small fishing villages dotting the Scottish coastline. The Links course at rugged and windswept Lybster Isles runs approximately 7,500 yards. As you’d expect of a traditional Links course, it plays very firm and fast, with a 175 greens rating. The gently undulating fairways are generally wide and accepting at Lybster Isles, with plenty of light rough to assist in keeping wayward balls from becoming irretrievable victims, lost forever to the lurking gorse. The routing follows a traditional 36-36 format, with the front nine terminating back at the clubhouse, perched atop the rocky edge of Waring Cliff. While the conditions and routing are largely traditional for the area, accessing the course definitely isn’t. Golfers must arrive on one of the charter vessels operating out of Lybster Bay. Take note, however, that these operate only through the summer months to ferry tourists to Lybster Island. The rest of the year, Lybster Isles remains open only to local residents. Also take note that carts are not permitted, and caddies are available upon request. Tee times may be booked through the Scottish National Tourist Bureau, or directly via 1-800-LYBSTER. During their round at Lybster Isles, visitors will no doubt notice the farmer’s cottage and grazing sheep adjacent to the fourth green. Also in the area, there’s the lighthouse standing vigilant over Grayson Point – named for the tower’s first occupant, Terry Grayson. According to local lore, Grayson was a retired crabber who became a recluse after being left at the altar. History of the Course
While many believe that Nesbit Golf Management has had a relatively recent interest in the Lybster Isles course, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, NGM has had a long-standing relationship with the islands – its ties being much longer, and closer than one would imagine. Some 200 years ago, in 1817, the two main islands, Lybster and McCrae, belonged to a Mr. Angus Young, a sheep farmer. Although the vast majority of those involved in maintaining sheep stock prospered throughout the industrial revolution as wool prices surged, Young was not among them. The islands Lybster Isle were too remote, and his operation too small to garner much interest from buyers. Eventually, Young found himself in arrears with the local tax authorities, and the bank was moving in to foreclose. As his unruly sons had recently been deported to Australia, he had no other means of support. In desperation, Young dashed off a note to his brother-in-law in Glasgow, who had done significantly better for himself in the employ of a mercantile bank. The recipient of that letter was one Callum James Nesbit. Quick to spot the opportunity to help his family, and earn a pretty penny in the process, the great-great-great grandfather of current NGM CEO Eric Nesbit bankrolled an ambitious plan to develop the islands into a golf getaway for the Glasgow elite. Nesbit Golf Management was born. The course was completed after some delay, and despite the early setback it became an immediate success. Angus, the farmer, chose to remain on the site, albeit on just a small plot of land adjacent to the 4th green - continuing to tend his beloved sheep, but also serving as the course's first superintendent. Today, the farm remains operational, turning out the wool used to produce the entire range of officially licensed NGM clothing products, including its trademark plus fours. Course TourHole 1 – Bluebell - Par 4, 476 yds Hole 2 – Auld Point - Par 3, 196 yds Hole 3 – Crown - Par 4, 430 yds Hole 4 – Crofter’s - Par 5, 598 yds Hole 5 – Thistle - Par 4, 470 yds Hole 6 – The Dale - Par 4, 391 yds Hole 7 – Twa Dunes - Par 4, 491 yds Hole 8 – Douglas - Par 5, 590 yds Hole 9 – Fortress - Par 3, 153 yds Hole 10 – Bonnyview - Par 4, 314 yds Hole 11 – Heather & Gorse - Par 4, 426 yds Hole 12 – Purgatory - Par 5, 580 yds Hole 13 – Crescent - Par 4, 456 yds Hole 14 – Sentinel - Par 3, 236 yds Hole 15 – Byde - Par 4, 496 yds Hole 16 – Silver Hythe - Par 3, 187 yds Hole 17 – Brume - Par 4, 460 yds Hole 18 – Highlands - Par 5, 562 yds Promo Video (coming soon!)
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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2018 19:50:47 GMT -5
TGCT Community, The completion of this project has been a long time coming, and I want to publicly thank some folks that had a role in seeing this one get done. I started this design back in the fall of 2017, but then got involved in the first leg of the Designer Challenge Series, at which point I put Lybster Isles on hold to design The Club at Ravenswood for the contest. Upon completing that, I decided to run my own design contest, do some tutorials, put some ideas for another course on "paper" (you'll see that project next, #MarathonLives), and then I entered the second leg of the DCS and spent time making The Chastener. So with that being said, Lybster Isles just sat there in my unpublished file. Despite that, this great community had some fun with #FreeLybster campaigns on the Shoutbox and people kept asking me when I would finish it, and now here we are. There would be too many names to list, but you know who you are, and your camaraderie and encouragement on Twitch was a big key to getting this one done! I really appreciate that, because as you all know as designers as well, sometimes a project can just die on the vine and never bloom. From a design perspective, I want to thank pablo , Terry Grayson , scarpacci , Energ1ser , toddfather , CiB0RG , PithyDoctorG , titaneddie , rhino4life , jacobkessler , B.Smooth13 , staypuft39 , mattf27 , bigcat023, and reebdoog for their insights on different things during the process. A huge shout-out goes to Pablo because he played an earlier beta and made observations about many different sight-lines that could be improved, so this course wouldn't look nearly as good without the things he recommended. But then again, if you hate the course, you could always just #BlamePablo instead of me. And finally, for those of you that don't know who the brains behind the Nesbit Golf Management stories is, you need to recognize Rob Scott ( TreeWood ) for his dedication to these backstories. It's not really a joke that he is the Director of Marketing & Communications for NGM, because he has had an integral part in the story behind all 4 of my courses, including a huge part (along with Robert Stogner xEB50x ) in the Club at Ravenswood murder mystery. The truth is, Rob and I became fast friends over the fact that we both really enjoy the creative process in these designs. It's about more than just laying textures down on a plot of land and throwing it out there (partly why it takes me WAY too long to put out a course). For us it's about creating an experience for the TGCT community, and we partner together the whole way DURING the design process so that choices I'm making on the designs can be accurately represented in the backstories, and ideas he has for the story can sometimes be added in to the course design (there are about 5 easter eggs in The Club at Ravenswood that come from the murder mystery). All of the symbolic context I had for my Russian course was given to Rob and although the backstory has nothing to do with the judging for that contest, we don't care, because for us it's about putting together a complete picture of the design concept for the community to enjoy (an explanation of how The Chastener is a Russian course becomes a lot more clear if you read Rob's intro before playing because he took my symbolic concepts and articulated them on paper as a background). So, if you never read the background to my courses, hopefully you'll still find the courses I make enjoyable to play, but if you're skipping Rob's work with the pen you're definitely missing out on the what, where, who, and sometimes why of the design choices. As it relates to Lybster Isles, Rob played an early beta to get a feel for the course and then began writing the backstory. Once the course was a bit more polished, he played a later beta so that he could name the holes and put the finishing touches on his ideas. I hope you find the intros as fun as I do, and if I'm lucky, he'll stay on with NGM as long as possible. I can't thank him enough for making this such a fun creative outlet to go along with the design work. I hope you all enjoy the course! Eric
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Post by jacobkessler on May 6, 2018 20:28:15 GMT -5
Awesome! Can’t wait for my tee time!
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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2018 20:49:13 GMT -5
Enjoyed my round!
Took a minute or so to pan around and get a view of the entire plot:
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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2018 21:20:13 GMT -5
Enjoyed my round! Took a minute or so to pan around and get a view of the entire plot... That was very cool, thanks for posting that! I'm glad you had fun out there. I see you were already -6 thru 6, so I'm definitely curious what the current course record is now... how did you finish up?
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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2018 21:25:46 GMT -5
Enjoyed my round! Took a minute or so to pan around and get a view of the entire plot... That was very cool, thanks for posting that! I'm glad you had fun out there. I see you were already -6 thru 6, so I'm definitely curious what the current course record is now... how did you finish up? I enjoy links/highland layouts the most, so this one was enjoyable. I don't check course records or anything like that. It said it had 0 plays, but I guess that is just HB's servers still being crap.
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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2018 21:30:00 GMT -5
@swaeromotion - "It said it had 0 plays, but I guess that is just HB's servers still being crap."
That could be Bob, but I literally just published this course, so the other possibility is that you were the first golfer off the ferry and up to the first tee!
Just curious, since you're a fan of highlands/links style courses, what did you think of the design and style? I had a bit of a different vision for this being on the cliffs of northern Scotland rather than nestled in the sand dunes... did that come across okay or was it a futile effort?
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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2018 21:49:55 GMT -5
@swaeromotion - "It said it had 0 plays, but I guess that is just HB's servers still being crap." That could be Bob, but I literally just published this course, so the other possibility is that you were the first golfer off the ferry and up to the first tee! Just curious, since you're a fan of highlands/links style courses, what did you think of the design and style? I had a bit of a different vision for this being on the cliffs of northern Scotland rather than nestled in the sand dunes... did that come across okay or was it a futile effort? I liked how the water divided the course. That is how I envision links golf the most with courses on the coast. Uneven, jaggy water coastlines with maybe a jut inland of the ocean. I didn't get as much of a cliffs area feel (maybe my mind just envisions cliffs as harsh ones rather than moderate or rolling), rather a coastal feel with the lighthouse, the boats, etc. on the water. Keep in mind I am by no means a course expert. I just know what feels right to me and what doesn't. Nuances in that department are better left to others. I thought the greens were done well, albeit a bit on the easy side. I did play pinset #1, so other pinsets might be more challenging. A bit more undulation offset by slower speeds if needs be would be my .02, but that is personal taste. At 7500 yards or so from the tips it didn't feel quite that long, but there is definitely trouble out there. Plenty of bunkering all over the place, and I only had to deal with one once.
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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2018 22:16:01 GMT -5
@swaeromotion - Awesome, thank you for the insights. And you're exactly right, it definitely doesn't play to 7,500 yards most of the time. Thanks again for playing, I've posted your scorecard in the clubhouse as the current course record holder!
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Post by mattf27 on May 7, 2018 6:33:01 GMT -5
It's happening!
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Post by Terry Grayson on May 7, 2018 7:55:39 GMT -5
Ahhhhhh we are finally treated to the release of Lobster Bays...
"Grayson was a crabber but became a recluse after being left at the Altar" My wife got a great chuckle out of that one
On to the dog track....er I mean course..
Loved the course.... loved the story behind the course as well cept some hussy left me at the altar....
Very good construction, loved the layout, the routing and the sculpting was dead on in my opinion
My last playtest on the LiBeta6 last night I came to 2 fired it a bit short and it rolled up to one inch from an ace... I cussed you a tad blaming you Then on 10 I fired one short of the pin it bounces up and hits the pin and falls again on inch short (Story of my life) and again I cussed you a tad blaming you...
Then I remembers, its Pablo's fault so I am sorry for cussing you
Outstanding course sir, we are lucky we have someone like you so involved in the community whether it be by twitch, design sessions, course building,design contests and plus you are just an all around decent fella....Appreciate all the hard work...Great job on Lybster..
Terry
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Post by lastchancehombre on May 7, 2018 13:04:46 GMT -5
As mentioned above this course really doesn't feel 7500 yds but plays great anyway you cut it! Another quality design Eric! Had fun running through it last night, didn't finish the round as it was late & I was starting to see double but I'll be jumping in again later this eve to put a full round in or two. No doubt a course headed for tours which will be a blast!
Not much to say that hasn't already been said other that you continue to pump out well thought out meticulously designed courses for us to enjoy!
Your time & effort is very much appreciated by this happy camper! Thanks man!
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Post by kvand on May 7, 2018 14:47:17 GMT -5
@swaeromotion - Awesome, thank you for the insights. And you're exactly right, it definitely doesn't play to 7,500 yards most of the time. Thanks again for playing, I've posted your scorecard in the clubhouse as the current course record holder! . Have been waiting for this one. I have a tee time waiting for me later tonight. May have to break out the Glenfiddich while I play.
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2018 18:30:39 GMT -5
Thank you for those kind words Kerry! I hope your rounds go well. I'll make sure to let the caddie master know you're coming back so he can fix you up with our best looper.
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2018 18:31:17 GMT -5
kvand - I'll definitely be looking forward to your thoughts on the course, as you've already proven to have a great eye for this.
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