|
Post by theclv24 on Jul 24, 2020 21:46:52 GMT -5
I don't like making a WIP thread unless I think a course is going to make it into existence. I've started and stopped so many fictional courses that I never know when one is actually going to make it to see the light. Sometimes you gotta be on your Lavar Ball, though, and speak it into existence!
I've been dipping back into my old courses lately, probably thanks to that Best of 18 post that got me thinking. This certainly isn't the first time, I've actually been trying to turn this file, which was last published as Old MacArthur in TGC2, into a Bandon-like resort for awhile now. I finally got some juice now after listening to Shane Bacon and Joel Klatt talk about every course on the property, and playing some of Bandon and Pacific lidar courses. I also think I have a look that works for me.
I whacked about 8 holes I think, and I'm going to try and incorporate more of the coastline, more than the previous version of the course did, anyways. I'm 3 holes in and going strong, so We. Shall. See!
Before/Afters:
1st hole Mostly the same footprint. Tried to incorporate a little Alps vibe for shots coming in from the right.
2nd hole Took out an awkward out of place pond and made the hole landlocked now. Used the extra space to blow up the green and give it some Eden tendencies.
3rd hole Not much change here, just expanded the green slightly. Has a Biarritz-like swale about 2/3 of the way in to the green, and some fun pins.
|
|
|
Post by theclv24 on Jul 26, 2020 19:51:28 GMT -5
Even though I like the colors when it's cloudy, I'm experimenting with a brighter setting. I don't know, what do you guys think?
The planting meter is filling up fast, I don't know if I can sustain this style for the whole course. Fingers crossed.
Before/Afters:
The new 4th tees off from the old 8th tee, making the hole a long dogleg left, instead of straight.
The old green was quite small, the new green expands the footprint into a double Punchbowl green to accommodate longer shots, for a more fun experience, hopefully.
|
|
|
Post by b101 on Jul 27, 2020 1:15:52 GMT -5
You had me at Double Punchbowl.
You're nailing the Bandon vibe, for sure. Keeping close tabs on this one. Lighting is always a bit of a compromise - this looks like a course that could deal with both clouds and clear. Maybe try a bit overcast meaning you get those gorgeous moments when the sun breaks through?
|
|
|
Post by 15eicheltower9 on Jul 27, 2020 6:39:36 GMT -5
These before and afters are stunning. Really love this look you're creating. Bookmarked.
|
|
|
Post by gamesdecent on Jul 27, 2020 8:10:44 GMT -5
Thank you for sinking the tree trunks down into the ground in version 2. Looks night and day better than the first. I like the big dune that comes in behind the green too.
|
|
|
Post by jwtexan on Jul 30, 2020 23:27:08 GMT -5
Sweet mother of Moses
|
|
|
Post by theclv24 on Jul 31, 2020 21:02:55 GMT -5
I've been having to cut back on the planting to save meter space, so everything is now about efficiency. Which also means I have to go slower. Boooo!
5th hole This uses almost the exact same footprint as the old hole. I actually just eliminated the back tee, so it's slightly shorter. I took the ridge already in the line of play and blew it up into a dune to hit over, so it now plays like a Leven off the tee.
I eliminated the out of place water behind the green and made it much bigger and wilder (as you can see I also eliminated the green in the distance, which was the old par 5 16th. More on that when I get to it). The dune front left also gives the hole some Leven properties for approaches to left pins, making it possibly more advantageous to play short and right of the large dune off of the tee.
6th hole Here's where I really blew up the routing. I eliminated the old par 3 6th (lower right), the par 5 7th (top middle), and par 4 8th (coming back towards the water), and created two new holes in parts of the same footprint.
The new 6th, a par 4, plays towards a dune along the left side. Anything played right of the dune tends to run even farther right, and leaves a blind approach over a large dune short and right of the green. A 3 wood (generally) played along the left side of the fairway and short of the dune offers an actual look at the green on approach.
The general-ish area of where the new 6th green is now.
This was my first area of real trouble, trying to come up with an interesting green. I had something that was just ok at best, and I blew it up today after hearing a podcast with Colton Craig. He talked about a green in his head, but which he may never be able to make. He called it a Cowboy Hat. The edges kid of roll up, leaving a bowl around the perimeter, and in the middle is like two muffins, with a dip in the middle, like the top of a cowboy hat. I don't know if that makes sense, but everyone knows what the hat looks like, so just picture that. I tried it, and it's nice and wild in keeping with the rest of the course.
7th hole The new par 3 7th sits in the general area of the approach shot for the previous par 4 8th hole, with the tee sitting a little to the right and above where the old fairway was.
This seemed like the perfect spot for a downhill Redan.
I eliminated yet another needless inland body of water, which really wasn't vibin' with what I was going for.
|
|
|
Post by theclv24 on Aug 4, 2020 22:02:38 GMT -5
Continuing on, the old 9th hole becomes the 8th hole now. I had to keep the two original bunkers because I liked them, and this was one of the signature tee shots.
Instead of squeezing an awkward shot between the two bunkers, I used the new space from eliminating the old par 3 to the right to reroute the hole around the 2nd bunker. There is still a tiny ribbon of fairway to try and squeeze through on the left, otherwise the safe play is to the right.
The new collection area along the left side of the green now factors into the approach shot. I've played a whole lot of chips from down there already, and they aren't always easy.
The old 10th hole becomes the 9th hole now. Yes, the course still features back-to-back par 3's (2 and 3) and par 5's (8 and 9), and no, I don't care!
The tee shot gets narrower the farther you hit it, so it has some Bottle properties I suppose?
I always liked this greensite, but never so much the green itself.
Say hello to the Double Plateau!
|
|
|
Post by b101 on Aug 5, 2020 0:01:25 GMT -5
The tee shot gets narrower the farther you hit it, so it has some Bottle properties I suppose?
Narrows . Bottle is the direct/ideal line narrowing or cutting off whilst the non-ideal line allows you to hit further. Also, this looks amazing. Love the before and after pics and all in on the back-to-back threes and fives - works for Cypress Point.
|
|
|
Post by hallzballz6908 on Aug 6, 2020 21:04:50 GMT -5
Those dunes look absolutely gorgeous. I really like what you’ve done so far!
|
|
|
Post by theclv24 on Aug 7, 2020 14:37:59 GMT -5
The new 10th hole is the old 11th hole. This was the signature hole on the old course, and signature tee shot.
The view hasn't changed too much.
The old hole didn't have many options off of the tee. Either thread it between the bunker and cliff, or lay back for a barely wider fairway to hit at.
For more options off of the tee, I borrowed heavily from the 16th at Bandon Dunes. Would this be considered a Bottle? I don't know. But the best line along the cliff narrows and then ends, maybe slightly short of a full driver. Otherwise you can hit more left over the bunkers/dunes to a wider fairway. In a stiff breeze, short of the dunes will probably be the call, leaving a tough approach. I could see many different ways to play this in a variety of conditions.
The original hole was a play on the 9th at Pebble Beach, with a shot coming from the fairway bunker having a lot of trouble both clearing the front left bunker, and staying on the small green that slopes away.
The small green wouldn't play here, so the new green is much bigger, but the strategy is the same, making safer tee shots to the left have a much more difficult angle.
The new 11th hole is a brand new hole. I used to look at all of that unused coastline and wonder why I didn't use it.
The new 11th is a short par 4, possibly driveable with a helping wind.
The new green is here-ish.
A drive towards the green has to carry the cross bunker and have enough juice left to clear the valley of sin. Otherwise there is plenty of room to the left, bringing in the greenside bunker and some tougher pin angles. A good wedge player might have a field day laying up and using the green slopes to get close to each pin.
|
|
|
Post by theclv24 on Aug 8, 2020 21:53:34 GMT -5
I'm moving through these back 9 holes pretty quickly, as I haven't done much in the way of planting. I'm at about 75-80% on the meter, so I'm going to circle back later once all the holes are in place and the dunes are added, so I kind of know exactly what I have left to work with.
12th hole This has been a problem area in previous attempts to rework this file, as I've found it difficult to return from the far corner of the plot when using the full length of coastline.
I stared at this one for awhile, and eventually came to the conclusion that I could get a play on the Road hole to work here.
The old 12th was a par 3, teeing off downhill from near the 11th (now 10th) green.
The new hole retains two of the original bunkers from that hole.
It's a little funky, and safer drives have a blind shot in, but overall I think between the heroic line off the tee and the wild interpretation of the Road hole green, it should play as a fun hole and bridge a tough area of the plot.
The new 13th hole is a par 5, and utilizing a part of the old 12th teeing ground, it follows a large part of the old 13th footprint.
Since I didn't utilize a Principal's Nose on the Double Plateau, I've used it here as a central hazard off the tee.
After the tee shot, the approach is fairly similar to the old hole, albeit longer, being a par 5.
There is an abundance of central hazards on the hole, so the pin should determine the line of play on the first and second shots.
The meeting of greens from the old course is retained.
No need for a tree to spoil the views from each green!
We are back on track by the 14th hole, with a relatively similar footprint for the par 3.
Once again, a tiny green is not going to cut it on the new course, so I blew up the 15th tee ground to take back some land, and made a Short hole.
This was a tiny, weird green with not much identity.
Can't have a Short without left, center, and right green sections!
|
|
|
Post by jwtexan on Aug 9, 2020 11:19:57 GMT -5
Since I didn't utilize a Principal's Nose on the Double Plateau, I've used it here as a central hazard off the tee. This... this is doing things to me...
|
|
|
Post by theclv24 on Aug 11, 2020 13:29:34 GMT -5
My last WIP update. I hope to fully plant the back 9 in the next 1-2 days, and do some playtesting and tightening up. If I can get this out by, say, Thursday, I'll be happy. Consider it a trial run, with the final version coming in 2k21. I'll work that release in between my first couple of RCR ports, if all goes well with importing *fingers crossed*
(I made sure it was sunny for pics this time! )
Hole 15 This little corner of the plot and coastline I really botched in the old version, as you'll see over the next 3 holes of pics.
I've moved the tee to the right from the original and the green to the left. So now you are hitting along dunes, towards the cliff.
Instead of putting the green against the water, I moved it in a little, and made a little jut out of land, and then put a weird inlet in behind the green. No idea what I was doing.
Maximum cliff values! I was going for the Coore and Crenshaw template, although it doesn't have a name (I don't think), where at some point you have to take on the cliff, either on the drive, or on the approach at an acute angle if you play it safe off of the tee. Unfortunately the hole is too short for it to really matter, so I'll keep tweaking the green to ensure that it's interesting enough for short shots in, even though the hole can be kind of easy. We'll see with testing in wind how much that affects things.
16th Hole So the old hole, a par 5, teed off across the water, as you can see in the 1st picture. Why would there be a covered bridge across this inlet, preventing any boat traffic, and generally just being out of place?!
The hole then wrapped around this weird inlet, finishing way inland, close to the 5th green. You can also see the old 17th going off to the right.
So scrap all that! I filled in the weird water and made it continuous cliff. This new par 3 (which replaces the lost par 3 in the old 12th hole, bringing the course back to 5 total par 3's) tees off near the new 15th green, crosses the old inlet, and plays to a spot just past and above where the old 16th tee used to be.
This is the approximate area of the new green on the old course.
If the 15th hole plays a little on the easy side, then this hole should make up for it as the lone toughy on the closing stretch. The dune protects the front right, while massive falloffs plague the front and left side (the 4th pin is brutal, sorry!).
17th hole The old 17th meandered through so relatively lifeless land, while massive dunes sat unused 50 yards to the right.
The new tee sits near the 16th green on top of newly built up dunes to replace the old inlet. This massive sprawling par 5 occupies the space between the old fairway and the dunes on the right. The tee shot and down and then back up nature of the hole is reminiscent of the 3rd at Seminole, and is the hole I had in mind on the tee shot. I think you could call this a Cape hole, as you choose how much to bite off from the tee, and the same dunes challenge the right side on approach.
The main lodging for the course (yes, this is an important topic!) is along the 10th hole, and can be seen in the distance. There is some alternate lodging here along 17, with 3 "villas" that can be rented out. It doesn't have the massive Punchbowl-style putting green like the main lodging, but it does have its own firepit, so that's important.
The new green sits right about here (notice the dune, which is now front right), so you can see how far the hole shifted over.
The hole is reachable, but the green is a little wild. The slopes help a lot of the time, making this an eagle hole, but not always.
18th hole After much deliberation, I actually kept this hole mostly the same.
I always thought the bunker placement felt odd on this hole, but with the dunes flowing into them it feels better to me. And I opened up the left side more just slightly.
The green remains 2-tiered, with the upper right shelf being a little harder to reach.
The new green has been expanded and taken up a notch, of course. The far right corner (pin 1) has a small but pronounced bowl that is difficult to get into, but quite rewarding if you do.
Lastly, a very modest driving range exists on the other side of the clubhouse. But really, are you here to practice, or are you here to play golf?
|
|
|
Post by theclv24 on Aug 12, 2020 22:04:20 GMT -5
Hit the planting meter limit tonight, so not much else I can do. Just cleaning up stray autogen objects and fixing questionable pins left, and I'll get it out some time tomorrow morning or afternoon.
Just for fun tonight I played pin 4 with 20 mph winds and everything turned up to max firm and fast. I had 1 eagle, 4 birdies, 2 bogeys, a double and a triple, for a +1. That's the kind of tragic comedy I was looking for, so I'm feeling happy about it. It would be great if the 2k21 port freed up some meter and allowed me to possibly experiment with new objects available, but I won't get my hopes up about that. If it ports and it works, I'll be mostly content.
|
|