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Post by joegolferg on Jan 31, 2018 6:31:48 GMT -5
Good to see you popping your head in the door again. I enjoy your fictionals as much as your RCR's.
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Post by theclv24 on Jan 31, 2018 14:34:06 GMT -5
Good to see you popping your head in the door again. I enjoy your fictionals as much as your RCR's. Thanks! I pretty much seem to go golf crazy starting in January, and by the time we hit August I'm burnt out and ready for basketball season, so trying to capitalize on some projects while I can. Once I hit the end of my paternity leave in August last summer, that was pretty much the end for me. #5 - Bottle - Par 4 - 376 So if I understand the Bottle template correctly, essentially as you attempt a longer drive, the landing area gets smaller. I modeled this one as an inverse version of the Bottle hole at Old MacDonald. Shots taken up the left side will face a smaller landing area as the drive gets longer, and less than a driver may be required with a tailwind. The other option is to try and clear the cross bunkers, while avoiding the right fairway bunker, for the shortest approach in. A short right bailout area is also available, allowing for the left or right side to be played for the best angle in, depending on which side of the green the pin is on.
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Post by theclv24 on Jan 31, 2018 14:39:30 GMT -5
#6 - Long - Par 5 - 600 The Long template comes from the 14th hole at St Andrews, so I am very familiar with this one. The cross bunker guarding the second shot is the Hell bunker, so we'll see how hellish I can actually make it. The St Andrews green is very shallow, with a runoff in back, a false front, and a huge mound in the front right affecting most shots in. The land here will not support as severe of a green, so a bunker guards the front, while a runoff will remain in back. I will try to slope the land on the left of the green just a bit to allow for shots to be played in that way, so it can sort of be seen as an inverse of the St Andrews green.
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Post by theclv24 on Jan 31, 2018 14:46:27 GMT -5
#7 - Eden - Par 3 - 168 This is the second St Andrews template hole in a row, with the Eden being the 11th hole there. I also built an Eden hole for Doak Valley Resort, so this will actually be my third attempt at the template. The Eden has several defining features, the first being that it is a mid-length par 3 intended to challenge a player's mid-irons. The green is typically shallow, with a severe back-to-front slope, making shots that go over the green face near impossible up and downs. The original Eden features a large swale behind the green, while most MacRaynor Edens use an "Eden" bunker behind the green, as this one does. The "Hill" bunker guards the front left, while the "Strath" bunker guards front right. In my version, an existing pond will be used to punish shots aggressively played to the back right plateau.
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Post by theclv24 on Jan 31, 2018 14:53:00 GMT -5
#8 - Original Creation - Par 3 - 309 As of writing this I am 14 holes in, and so far this is the only hole that has no basis in a template or existing hole at all. This hole was in my original Links routing, and as originally intended, this is a short and possibly drivable par 4, making use of the existing ditch on the property. It was important to me to have multiple ways to play this hole, especially for less skilled players. From long to short, the playing options are to take a shot at the green, which is guarded on each side. The longest layup must clear the last fairway bunker, but remain short of the ditch. A ball that finds the bunker faces a treacherous shot over water. Mid-length layups must navigate a path between both fairway bunkers, while a short layup faces the longest approach to the guarded green.
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Post by theclv24 on Jan 31, 2018 14:57:37 GMT -5
#9 - Biarritz - Par 3 - 191 The Biarritz is probably one of the most recognizable template holes, due to the huge swale bisecting the middle of the green. This hole will reuse the green site of an existing short par 4, along with parts of the existing fairway to accommodate the 60+ yard deep green. While not a feature of many MacRaynor Biarritz holes, many modern attempts at the Biarritz tend to include a wider than normal swale, such as at Sweetens Cove, allowing for a pin position there. That sounds incredibly fun to me, so I will be adding that feature, even if I have to lengthen the green even more.
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Post by theclv24 on Jan 31, 2018 15:06:35 GMT -5
#10 - Hell's Half Acre - Par 5 - 563 This might be the biggest stretch. Technically I'm pretty sure Hall's Half Acre is not a template, although from what I can tell MacRaynor were ok with emulating a non-template hole from another course, and giving the hole credit with the hole name. The original Hell's Half Acre from Pine Valley has also been copied several times, I believe. With all that said, this still is probably not a true representation of the original hole with said name. Tee shots not finding the fairway, or those that cannot clear the diagonal bunker, will almost certainly have to lay up before the fairway split, but the lay up location will not be as severely far back as the one at Pine Valley. This hole uses the original tee location of the existing 10th hole, so I am pretty proud of that. The original green, of a par 5 hole mind you, can be seen just to the left of the lay up area.
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Post by theclv24 on Jan 31, 2018 15:10:14 GMT -5
#11 - Redan - Par 3 - 186 As promised, here is the second Redan of the course. This hole plays into the most densely treed area of the course, so we will see how many trees I save and how many I eliminate. This particular design is almost a perfect split between the Chicago Golf Club version and the National Golf Links version, so it will be classic C.B. MacDonald all of the way.
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Post by theclv24 on Jan 31, 2018 15:15:46 GMT -5
#12 - Blue Mound - Par 4 - 342 This northwest corner of the property has been the hardest to route, with a couple of shorter par 4's squeezed together. I have a list of templates to work from, but not 18 unique templates that will fit the property, so I have scoured many of the MacRaynor courses to find ideas. This hole comes from Raynor's Blue Mound, and fits nicely as a mid- to short-length par 4. There are 3 different possible landing areas off of the tee, all of which face their own obstacles. Decision-making might be the best defense for a short par 4, while giving shorter hitters a fair chance at the hole, so I like this hole's position here. An existing pond will slightly threaten any heavily pulled approach shots.
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Post by theclv24 on Jan 31, 2018 15:22:21 GMT -5
#13 - Hog's Back - Par 4 - 446 The land here will not provide a natural Hog's Back, so some built up mounding will serve the purpose of dividing the fairway here. There are a number of strategic options and obstacles off of the tee to contend with. The fairway will feed naturally into the right side of the green, so shots played from the right fairway will have the advantageous approach angle. The left fairway allows for longer hitters to attempt to shorten the approach, however. The Hog's Back will likely steer more balls to the right for the average slicer, but could be used strategically to springboard a draw away from the centerline bunkers. That's all for my run of hole previews for now. It was a fun use of some office time! More to come soon, as I have the 14th hole basically done, and the 15th-17th planned out in my head. The 18th will take some thinking and creativity.
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Post by theclv24 on Feb 5, 2018 12:38:12 GMT -5
#14 - Chicago - Par 4 - 353 This hole is tucked into the NW corner of the property and working with limited space, so I scoured the MacRaynor landscape for a suitable short par 4 to cram in here. I plucked this hole from Chicago Golf Club, and while not a carbon copy, it is pretty close to the original hole (whose number at CGC I can no longer recall without looking it up). There is somewhat of a Bottle element to this hole, as the fairway narrows as it gets closer to the green, with water guarding the right and bunkers long. I believe a carry of 300-310 or so is required from the back tee to have a shot at the green in one, but the closer tees will bring this element into play. I will have to study the CGC green to see what should be done here, but being a short hole, I would expect this green to be severe and interesting.
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Post by theclv24 on Feb 5, 2018 12:44:16 GMT -5
#15 - Par 5 - Shore Acres - 584 The last par 5 of the day, this hole, like the last 2, does not follow a strict template. I was looking for a par 5 with some slight bend to it, and located a suitable source of inspiration at Chicago Golf Club (again, I don't recall the exact hole number). The tee shot did not feel very satisfying to me, nor the idea of using two straight CGC holes in a row, and I went digging a little deeper for inspiration. I didn't have to go far, as the Raynor-designed Shore Acres in the nearby northern 'burbs of Chicago has a really nice set of bunkers that come into play on the 18th, along with what I believe is the shared fairway of the 9th hole. I kept the original Chicago green complex, but introduced the fairway bunker complex from Shore Acres to bottle drives and encourage them farther to the left. A leftside drive for longer hitters brings both the second approach bunker and the left greenside bunker into play, while layup shots will need to contend with the larger approach bunker.
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Post by theclv24 on Feb 5, 2018 12:49:06 GMT -5
#16 - Short - Par 3 - 134 This one was easy, as I already had a short par 3 here, and was one of the first holes I identified in the routing for a template, convincing me that the MacRaynor theme could work throughout the course. The ditch guards the front of the green, which sits on the site of the existing 18th green, and the small pond defends the right side. Some of the more well-known Short hole templates in existence feature a "thumbprint" in the middle of the green, making for very severe pin placements and putts. The most famous thumbprint green may be at the recently restored 18th at TPC Old White, which you will see on TV during the Greenbrier. I am very much looking forward to working on my own thumbprint here.
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Post by theclv24 on Feb 5, 2018 12:54:51 GMT -5
#17 - Punchbowl - Par 4 - 428 I was holding on to the Punchbowl throughout the design process, as I wanted to make sure I used it in the right place. I thought any of the 12th-15th holes might end up with a Punchbowl, but it wasn't until this hole that it felt right to use. I looked at a lot of different punchbowls while researching, and the NGLA version seemed to provide the best inspiration for this hole layout. The cross bunker can be easily cleared from the back tee by most players, and the closer tees are also situated to give each player a chance at the thrill of clearing a crossing hazard. The follow-up bunker on the right makes distance control a priority, however, as opposed to a simple bomb off of the tee. Any tee shots that find trouble face the real possibility of not being able to clear the fronting greenside bunkers, although the left fairway area next to the green will help steer shots from any length down into the punchbowl. If this works, and I can make it look natural in the landscape, it should be a really fun hole.
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Post by theclv24 on Feb 5, 2018 13:04:08 GMT -5
#18 - Home - Par 4 - 441 I had some trouble finding a precedent in the MacRaynor catalogue for a dogleg par 4 featuring a green fronted by water, so I had to do some real scouring for this one. I think I won't know until I've built this hole if I like it or not, but for now I've settled on this fairway layout that is somewhat reminiscent of (I want to say) the 12th at TPC Old White. Taking on the dogleg goes a long ways toward shortening the hole, while short and right shots must face a difficult clearing of the ditch in front of the green. For high handicappers, there is a fairly ample layup area short of the ditch should they not have the distance to clear it. This also allows for the possibility of playing one tee farther back as a par 5, if desired (not applicable to TGC, of course). That's it for the concept phase. I started building the plot last night, and needless to say it is going to be a meticulous process to make sure the size of the plot and the locations of the ditch and boundary are accurate, allowing for these holes to be fit into place. I'm sure some modifications will need to be made in the name of playability, interest, and logistics.
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