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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2018 11:02:04 GMT -5
# 24 The Shores at Gondawana GC 121.75 total points
Judge's comments:
Points Added: - The extras are quite nice! The clubhouse, the shipwreck, the range, etc all contribute to the ambiance Points Lost: - Need to use the sculpting tool Other Notes: Work on green sizes, macro-sculpting, micro-sculpting, etc. You need more practice in the designer ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Not a horrible first effort.... gets swallowed up by the big guns in this contest, but I'm sure can be benefited by Griff's walkthrough. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OK, so it's pretty clear that we've got a newbie here. Welcome to the club and don't get discouraged by this result. Learn from the feedback you are going to receive and get better. As for the course itself, it's too flat and the greens are too small. The tees weren't flattened in spots and it just lacked polish overall. These are mistakes I expect a rookie to make. One of my biggest gripes early in the course was the lack of definition -- especially with the green/bunker complexes. Just raising up the greenswards even 3-4 feet would have helped set the target and provided more definition to the bunkers. That being said, I started to see some improvement here over the last 6 holes or so. There are some decent golf thoughts here, they just lack proper execution ... The strategy play off the tee on 7 did not work, but here's how to fix it - change the orientation of the green so it quarters away at 45 degrees front left to back right. Orient the fronting bunker in the same direction. Then, bring the shortcut fairway to it runs between the water and the fairway bunker at the current dogleg. Now the golfer has to decide if he wants to take on the water and the sand for a shorter 2nd with a better angle or play it safe out the the right and leave a longer 2nd with a forced carry. Tee shot on 16 would have benefitted from a similar cape mentality. On 12, there's no real penalty for missing the green. Bunker short left was still an easy up and down for birdie. Make more trouble left & expand bunker far down the fairway to really set the left edge. On the right side have the sloping running down toward the green so there's a chance you can use the slope to run it on. I'd be OK with a pot bunker right of green to catch and shots that were too greedy ... I'll commend the designer for making the holes playable when he took driver out of our hand. If I were the designer, here's what I'd do for my next course - I'd go with an autogenned plot and map out 18 holes, using the terrain as your guide. Look for natural hills and vales that look like places a golf hole SHOULD belong, and place them there. You'll need to learn how to manage your plot, as you'll have to do a lot of the work with the blue brushes to get the look you wanted before the game laid down its surfaces, but it the more familiar you become with the sculpting tools, the more comfortable you will get and the smoother your courses will look. Starting on a bare flat plot is very difficult and it wasn't until my 6th publish that I actually pulled one off that was dead flat to start. Take time, be patient, ask for advise and study up on Twitch feeds and tutorials. While this course won't do well in the standings, it's a starting point and I hope the designer takes it and learns from it because I see some potential for him to put out some good courses once he gets more familiar in the designer. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Continuity was lacking throughout the course and the greens were way too small.... |
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2018 11:27:13 GMT -5
# 23 Dambulla Golfing Society 126.8 total points
Judge's comments:
Points Added: - The macro sculpting/terraforming is creative, as well as the towns, city, ruins, and clubhouse - Bridge-work, steps, and waterfall are well made Points Lost: - TONS of technical and cleanliness issues - Greens are WAY too big - Inside the ropes sculpting and contouring is extremely rough and overdone… or underdone with the flat spots on the greens - The bunkers running down both sides of 6 is a bad look - Autogen plants in view just off of tees - Rocks feel very forced on 12 Other Notes: This course just needed a lot more time in the designer. It felt like an adventure, but it also felt unfinished. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loved the extras that went into the outskirts of this course... just wish some of that time had been focused on the courses aspects. It shines off the course, but the on the course stuff needs work ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are things to love and things not to love about this course. The time and thought put into some of the extra elements surrounding the course was excellent. I can really appreciate the time and imagination put into the clubhouse, bridges, villages and Lion's Cave. That should be commended. Overall, I think lighting was a solid choice as well. However, the golfing aspect of this course is in need of refinement. While there is a place for course that attempt to protect par, this one did it in a contrived manner with blind/obstructed shots, over-exaggerated green features and greenswards that were not appropriate for the club in hand. While there are many holes I could point out, I'm going to focus on only a couple. I actually thought the Dell concept on the par-3 third was a clever idea. However, with a mid-iron for a blind, downhill teeshot, I'm not expecting a heavily-bunkered green that runs front to back and relatively small target to boot. Take out the bunkers, widen the green and give it a bit of a punchbowl effect at the bottom of the dell and you have a fun, interesting hole. Let's move to 5. This hole had the potential to be a phenomenial short par 4, but comes up empty on a couple of levels. First, the blind tee shot really detracts from the hole in general. It's great to see the top of the waterfall, but imagine having a clear view from the tee running downhill to a green sitting the the base of the waterfall? Could have been an epic look. Also, how the fairway is constructed takes away much of the strategy. Because the FW doesn't start until beyond 200 yards and goes from narrow to wide, it begs driver off the tee. Extending/widening fairway short and creating more peril for the driver would increase the interest of this hole ten-fold. Those are just 2 examples, but there are plenty of holes on the course where I thought better design decisions could have been made that maybe wouldn't make the course play necessarily easier, but would open up a lot more options and strategy. Furthermore, there was a ton of technical stuff that couldn't be ignored from tee boxes, to fairway smoothing, to putting only 1 pin on the 10th hole. Don't be afraid to check out the tutorials and streams of some of your fellow designers to pick up on what they're doing and then just play around in the designer. Those are the two best ways to get better at this, I feel. Overall, I thought the extras were excellent, and if the golf had only received the same level of attention, this course would have been a stunner. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Transitioning is off and light rough needs work. Just not polished |
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2018 11:35:54 GMT -5
# 22 The Maghreb Imperial 150.85 total points
Judge's comments:
Points Added: - Airport is super creative! (though is the runway long enough? I wouldn’t know so I’m not taking anything off for that) - Planting is decent - The rocks coming out of the ground look natural on most holes and aren’t overused Points Lost: - Clubhouse and practice are need some more love - 4 tees in such a close proximity is pointless on several holes. Maybe 3 tee sets would make more sense - A lot of 8-4 bunkering - Heavy rough brushes need work - Scale is off on a few holes - Fairway connecting into greens technical problems. Also, A LOT of straight edges - The sculpting in every part of the course is rather bland other than the macro - 3 is awful. The fairway runs away from the water. You can’t lay-up in said fairway. I don’t understand the fairway shape or green shape. What is the point of the rough strip short left of the fairway? What is the strategy? Why would I ever not go for it? The last two sentences can be applied to 10. - BATHTUB. BUNKERS. - The sliver of fairway near the green on 6 is too small - Nice puddles would form on 10 and 17 greens. An even sweeter pond on the back half of 11 green. - Why force the player to lay-up and then have a green fronted by a bunker on 11 when you make them hit a long iron in? - 90 degree dogleg on 16 plays poorly. Also, the rock-work holding up the right part looks super unrealistic ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is the course that has a little bit of everything. Some things well done, others not so much. Pick a strategy and stick with it (Do I want a long course? Short Course? etc)! Didn't feel like it flowed all that well as I never knew what was coming from one hole to the next. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What we have here is a course with an identity crisis. Do I play long or short? Wide or narrow? Hilly or flat? Ground of aerial? In the end, it tries to do a little bit of everything, without really pulling off any of it. Some hole flat out didn't work. 3 made little sense to me. Long forced carry over trouble to shelf on 8 I'm not OK with, nor am I OK w/ the hidden bunker on 9 that takes the ability to use the ground for your second off the table. Hole 11's length was iffy to begin with if you're going to use a Lion's Mouth green. Becomes doubly iffy if you are going to truncate the fairway in a way that the players can see and takes driver out of their hands. That said there were some holes that worked. 13 I thought was a delightful Par 3 with a green complex appropriate for the distance. The short par 4s, while breaking up the round, didn't really have big trouble in play. Even driving into pond twice on 3, I walked away w/ par both times. Despite all of this, the course is very getable in light to moderate winds and some very simple putts to be had once you get on the green. Technically speaking, the course felt a little crude. Take 2 for example, you can see the ridge in the middle of the fairway where someone took the square raise tool to jack up the left side, with no effort shown to smooth out the lines. While multiple stock shapes were used to create bunkers and greens, better care was needed at times to make the shapes not so conspicuous. But, in the end, I come back to my original statement, instead of picking a lane and sticking with it, ends up all over the place. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Course started nice then deteriorated, bunkers turned into bathtub bunkers and course just felt off. |
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2018 11:45:51 GMT -5
# 21 Psychosis @ Star Mountain 158.8 total points
Judge's comments:
Points Added: - The macro-sculpting is well done - The helicopter ride up to the par 3 18th up on top is creative Points Lost: - How do you get back to the clubhouse after the helicopter ride back down from 18 to 17? Hike past 8 and 9? No one would want to do that - Every green has technical problems. Puddles and flat spots galore. Lost the scale and too big often - Range into the ocean seemed like an afterthought - 90 degree dogleg on 2 is a flaw in routing - 90 degree dogleg on 6 is another flaw in routing - Close enough of a 90 degree dogleg AND using the same fairway as is another flaw in routing Other notes: You have a ton of good ideas: some I’ve never seen before. You need some more time in the designer to pull them off correctly. There are a lot of rough edges. Also, a lot of the routing issues I mentioned is because you tried to squeeze too many holes on one side of the mountain. There are two solutions to this. Either not put the mountain in the middle of the plot, or don’t bring the second nine back to the front nine side." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This course wins the best name award. This course literally drove me insane playing it, which I am not sure is a good thing or a bad thing. I enjoyed playing it, but not sure I'd want to play it on tour. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This course isn't named Pychosis for nothing. It effed with my mind the entire way. That said, I found the course to be a bit tiring with forced carries, contrived slopes and pins tucked on knobs. I'll give the designer credit, this course defintiely has a way of creating variance on the scorecard -- I made everything from 2 to 7 my first round alone -- but it feels a bit gimmicky how it goes about its business. From a playability standpoint, I think all the heavily planted ravines should have been made OB, because you're basically taking an unplayable regardless. Also, several greens didn't work for the length of shot coupled w/ elevation. Hole 9 was an example. I don't need a 10-yard deep green fronted by hazard when I have no clue on my distance control on a shot playing 100 feet downhill. I also didn't like the right green on 12. Pin 4 especially was a middle finger pin postion with no real safe place to play. You're either short and well below the hole or left and well below the hole with a nearly impossible chip/pitch. The drivable par 4s were interesting, but I don't know if I needed 3 of them on the course. As for planting/lighting, there were simply some areas of the course that were entirely too dark and some greens that had major shadow issues that made putting difficult, even with grids on. Also, while I liked the densely planted look overall, I thought bushes were too big too close to the play area. I said this on a different course as well, start small and get deeper the further away from the play area you go. The designer certainly took some risk here, which I appreciate. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Course was a typical Moe course, but was enjoyable. needs a bit more polish however.. |
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2018 11:53:03 GMT -5
# 20 The National Course at Rose Hall 160.5 total points
Judge's comments:
Notes: The bones of a very good golf course. Easily could be in the top 5 for playability. The greens need some reworking. The aesthetics are lacking. Nothing makes this scream Jamaica other than the theme. There are no extras to add anything to the course. The bunkers need sculpting at the backs. Overall, the course feels like a beta and incomplete. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Not a bad course, but felt very safe to me. Would love to have seen some more risks in both the design aspect and the shot requirement aspect. The shorter holes felt like driver, wedge, 1 putt. Didn't feel like I thought a lot around this track, when a few changes could have made that. No clubhouse? Some lack of scenery detail.. seems like somebody ran out of time.... too bad... lost some of the feel that the designer probably imagined was there. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are clean courses and there are sterile courses. This course fits into the latter category. Technically, it's very clean, but it's also very safe and sanitary and the few risks that were taken (like the dams on 14 & 15) didn't pan out. Felt some of the design choices were so-so. Would like to see the lengths of the short par 4s on the back flipped. 13 had the potential to be great risk/reward drivable hole, but tees at 375 make it drive, wedge, 1-putt, yawn. 16 doesn't have the inherit danger of 13, but has an interesting bunker complex that makes you think about the angle in. That hole I'd go 375-350, and make golfer think which club am I hitting & which route am I taking. There really wasn't much to the par 5s, all of which were reachable, even w/ player clubs. Think I played them in a combined -14 or -15 and they were easy birdies, if I'm being honest. As for planting, I get the look he was going for in the woods, and it's actually one I'm fond of, but too many oversized bushes too close to the edge of the woods throws off the look. Start small on the wood line and increase the size the deeper you get into the woods. Could tell there was a lack of finishing polish with no clubhouse and the overall lack of detail along the shoreline. Not a dealbreaker, but something that would have helped, considering the competition. Overall this course is nice, but it comes off as a little flat and drab. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Course lacked any pop, felt unfinished with many opportunities being passed on.. |
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2018 9:54:45 GMT -5
# 19 Attaturk GC at Cappadocia 164.5 total points
Judge's comments:
Points Added: - The bridgework, the fences, the rock-work and planting are very well done - The waterfalls as well as the hot air balloons in background - The amphitheater is exquisite Points Lost: - Generic shapes used frequently - Sense of scale is off. Greens too big on most holes - The town feels more fictional than real - Bunkers are not in the right places on a few holes. Some bunkers are also sculpted poorly and/or are bathtubs - 2 played far easier than it should. The tees are too close to the green for any strategy to play out - 4 might be the worst hole I’ve seen in the competition. That is not how you make strategy. Same goes with 11. - The greens on 6 and 7 feel the same - So many greens run perpendicular to the line of play asking for a forced carry. Angles aren’t valued at all. Some other design elements need to be used - A few greens will have some nice puddles and ponds in them - Several cleanliness and technical issues. It leads to a feeling of this being rushed out or incompleteness ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Course had little refinement, not much polish and lacked in many areas. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'll get this out of the way at the start. I think this designer has a chance to break through and be one of next wave of stars in this game, but the skills aren't quite refined yet. I like a lot of the thoughts that went into this course from a strategic standpoint, but the execution was lacking at times. I'll take 4, 11 & 15 as examples. All had chances to be great holes had elements been moved just slightly -- change the angle of the water here, add a different carry there. In general, I thought the narrow strips of land he used to create strategy on some holes didn't work as well as he would have hoped. Another relatively novice mistake I saw came in sculpting. There were times where he made nice features on the hole, and then blocked them out with poor terrain work. Fairway bunker on 10 and island green on 18 jump immediately to mind. Also, there were a few instances of greens sloping front to back on holes where the approach was too long and the landing zone too narrow for it to really work. Another issue -- continuity. Let's start with the tees. Square to start, some funky shapes in the middle of the round, circles on one hole and then back to squares. Some were flat. Some had 10-foot drops on the tee texture between tee sets. Fairways? Sometimes they blended into the green, sometimes they circled the green, sometimes they weren't there at all. While 17 might have been my favorite hole on the course, individually, that and 16 I felt were out of character from the rest of the course. You go from relatively flat most of the round to a roller coaster on 16 and 17. Also, felt like he maybe hit a wall at some points during the design as some areas felt mailed in as far as shapes & sculpting -- greens on 10, 11, 15 & 18 for example -- pretty generic looking. All that being said, I thought the creative elements outside the course were well done and he used the routing effectively to showcase those elements multiple times during the round. That and the strategy elements tell me his thought process is going in the right direction. Biggest thing this course lacks is refinement, which I feel will come with time. Wasn't familiar with this designer prior to the comp, but one I'll be keeping my eye on in the future. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Continuity was lacking throughout the course and the greens were way too big.... |
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2018 10:00:03 GMT -5
# 18 Usui Ogawa Golf Club 173.35 total points
Judge's comments:
Points Added: - Micro-sculpting on the fairways and greens is very good - The clubhouse/PG area is very cool - The Japan flag of flowers is perfect - Fantastic hole variety! Points Lost: - Sculpt the backside of bunkers to give the bunkers even more depth. Your pans are sculpted well - Macro-sculpting could be better. The course feels too flat in places, especially the first 3 holes - Because you don’t have a lot of elevation change or slopes outside of the holes, there are a lot of empty spots. Planting would have really helped in several places - Lacking some extras that would have really helped the ambiance. How do the players get to the clubhouse? No range? Nothing? It feels like it is in the middle of nowhere - Puddles would form on the greens on 5, 6, 7, 16, and 17. The rest are very realistic - A couple of sketchy hole locations ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I could be wrong, but when I think of Japan, I don't think of a course with long par 4's. I especially don't see it with big ridges in the middle of them. I can kinda see the way the bunkers are, but meh. The Scenery here is excellent.. probably top 5. I just pictured something else with a Japan course. Technically pretty sound and probably a nice venue for the lower tours. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This course just underwhelms. Feels too safe in terms of sculpting, planting, etc. Definitely in need of some more dynamic sculpting. Think a couple of strategy plays went awry in particular a couple of holes where the seemingly more aggressive play (3 and 17 come to mind) actually give you a worse angle in. Wasn't a fan of 14 green running away from the play with a long second in and, strategically, there was nothing to hole 7 -- just a drive, pitch and putt. There really isn't too much to say otherwise about the course because there really isn't much going on to begin with. Is it playable? Yes. Tour-worthy? Probably CC-Am. Is it much more than that. Not really. And in this contest, you really have to go all out to score well. This course felt timid and reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Course has great potential, however there were missed opportunities throughout and unfortunately it felt a bit neglected. My advice would be to focus on one course at a time. |
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2018 10:06:34 GMT -5
# 17 Bhavacakra GC, Nepal 183.0 total points
Judge's comments:
Points Added: - WOW! The terraforming is jaw-dropping! What a wild ride of a course! - The extras like the temple, the Nepal shaped flag tee markers, and the aiming marker on 9 all make it very clear you are in Nepal - The waterfalls, rivers, and bridges are extremely creative and gorgeous all around the course - No planting works given the country - Not normally a fan of animals, but because of the no planting, they add to the aesthetics Points Lost: - A little more fairway or green contouring on some holes would have added to some needed strategy. The flat spots on these greens don’t match the surroundings - Cart paths were not laid well in some areas - Big ole’ pond would form on the greens on 8, - The sculpting on 9 doesn’t feel as natural as the rest of the course. it looks like you took a nice scoop out - All the par 3s play uphill and ask the same shot from you - A couple of the drives are too straight and “bleh,” especially 10. You put a couple fairway bunkers in on 17. A couple more around the course could have really helped - 3 fairways on 18 is pointless. Take out the furthest one on the left ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tons of interesting choices made here. One of the few courses that has no light rough.. one tee set? Tones of eye candy here, but some things seemed rush. If this spends some more time in the oven, this could be one of the better courses in the comp, just felt like the designer ran out of time. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As you'll see by my relative lack of notes, this course threw me for a loop from the get go and I could never really wrap my head around it. I'll say this -- this course was by far the riskiest of any in the comp so far. Design gambles abound and the ones that work are spectacular but overall, I think the execution sabotaged the strategy. What this course really seems to be is an intriguing concept without many of the finishing touches. To be sure there's plenty of eye candy, but lack of trees, uninspired bunkers and rushed work on waterfalls are all things that detracted from the final product. Two tee shots that were good but could have been great were 3 & 13. On 3, move the tee left, extend the right fairway and make that a true cape tee shot, which is never a bad strategy for a risk-reward par 5. Same on 13. If you're going to try to clear the mountain, make the carry OB to strike the fear of God (or Buddha?) into the player. In reality, you're screwed if you don't make it over, but reinforce that psychologically with OB. Slow greens, lack of light rough, lack of planting and a single tee set were all gambles which were hit or miss in their execution. I certainly applaud the designer for taking a home run swing on this one. He didn't whiff entirely, but I think he fouled it off his foot. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loved hole 3 just needed rocks in that creek. Lawsuit waiting to happen with that path on hole 5.... |
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2018 10:18:10 GMT -5
# 16 Valle Sagrado de los Incas 183.45 total points
Judge's comments:
Points Added: - The extras are incredible. The temples, statues, ruins, Inca drawing, flag, etc are all incredibly creative - The aesthetics and ambiance is perfect - I know I’m in Peru - The bunker pans are sculpted Points Lost: - Lost the scale of some of the greens as the get too big on some holes - The routing is a mess. Disjointedness between 1, 2, and 3. On 5, you tee over 7 green. HUGE routing gap between 14 and 15. - Rough around the edges. Bushes and autogen plants crowd the fairways Other Notes: Technical problems everywhere. The outside of the course stuff is incredible! The course itself needs more time in the designer" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Totally felt like I was in the middle of Peru. Another course that could do with some massaging, especially on the later pin sets. Really wish some holes had options.. certain tee shots felt forced, and didn't see the risk reward potential that some holes looked like they could provide. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This course is clever with its landscape and setting -- perhaps one of the most creative in the contest so far. I really enjoyed the effort made into the Peru-centric items from the temples to the other touches and the uber-mountainous terrain really matches what we're trying to accomplish with a Peru course. Unfortunately, as the novelty of this course began to fade over the duration of 72 holes, the enjoyment did as well. Some tee shots felt arbitrarily tight. Pins, especially later in the pinsets, while not violating the 9-box rule were put on sidehills and knobs that were very difficult to putt, and there were too many of these pins grouped together for an enjoyable round. This course certainly presents a challenge with undulation -- one that I feel several golfers, myself included will struggle with. That said, for as much as this course made you think about distances, I don't feel there that much attention paid to angles, and alternate ways of play. Hole 8 a prime example. Unable to clear the bunkers left from the tips w/ player clubs, I'm forced to play out right to a hog's back fairway that not only leaves me a further distance from the hole, but also stymies me behind a palm tree. Same on 9, once you realize the aimpoints putting you square in the grass bunker, if you play properly out to left, not only do you have to clear a tree with the tee shot, but you're partially blocked out on your second, with OB lurking on the line you have to play. All of that just kind of wears on a golfer after a while and takes away from the enjoyment of a course. Let's talk bunkering. It just felt kinda meh ... don't how to describe it except it felt uninspired. Funny thing is, I didn't really mind the lack of bunkers through the first 3 holes and I thought the grass bunkers sprinkled throughout the course were a nice touch. That all makes me wonder if he could have gotten away with making the entire course bunkerless. It would have been a bold strategy and a risk, but I think he could have pulled it off the way the course was looking through 3 holes. In the end, I commend the creativity, especially with the use of objects but the golf needs a little refinement to go from novel cult classic to a true work of art. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One of the best environments in the competition, felt like I was in the jungle, attention to detail and polish were off unfortunately... |
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2018 10:25:06 GMT -5
# 15 Club Deportivo Nacional de Cuba 184.2 total points
Judge's comments:
Points Added: - Turn Shack, starter shack, lower clubhouse, the villas on the hill, the macro sculpting/terraforming, the beach all contribute to making this feel like Cuba - The planting and rock-work are, in general, very well done. The shipwreck was a lovely touch - Fantastic hole variety. I loved the shapes of many of the holes and no hole ever felt the same - The bridge on 16 is terrific - Actually felt like I was on an adventure Points Lost: - General technical and cleanliness issues with brushes, mound sculpting, stream sculpting, and bunker sculpting on most holes - The drive on 1 is too pinched between those first two bunkers. One of those bunkers needs to be removed - Puddles would form on the greens on 2, 3, 4, 8, 11 (and it’s fairway middle left), 13, 15, - The mulch is not needed anywhere on the course - The palm on the right side of 3 is out of place - Not sure the light green bush was the right one to spam a lot on the beaches - The individual steps and stairs left of 4 and 14 greens are out of place - Green is too big on 8 - I have no clue what I’m doing off the 10th tee based on the view you gave me - Missed potential on 13 - Need to take out the last few trees on the other side of the river on 15 in case of heavy headwind - Tree clearing needed on 17. More views into and over the gorge would help the hole out - Views of tees aren’t the best on quite a few holes ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nice clean course. A bit boring only for the fact that there wasn't a whole lot of thinking involved... one way to play the hole. 3 was one of the few holes that required some thinking. Seemed like a lot of carries, would have liked to see some run ups to greens. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This course is pretty clean overall, couple small technical things but has polish ... My biggest issue is some of the tee shots & approaches felt forced, as if there was only one real decent way to play hole. Notable exceptions include tee shot on 3 and second shot into 10, especially when pin's up. These spots made me really think about positioning. Would have liked to have seen more of that throughout. Fairways wider in strategic areas and greens that allow for run-up shots would have enhanced the playability ... Of the courses I've played so far, hole 16 may be the prettiest hole of the bunch. The forced carry over ravine and framing of the hills long scream "signature hole." My only niggle there is move the palm in front of tee a little left. Didn't affect play from back tee, but felt like it could. Overall a solid course, definitely tour-worthy, but in general missing that something extra to put in the elite category. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Transitions were off and just not polished. |
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2018 10:18:16 GMT -5
# 14 Transylvania Municipal Golf Park 184.4 total points
Judge's comments:
Points Added: - Rocks are well utilized, as well as the rock walls are beautifully crafted - The water features look incredible - For being minimalistic, you still are able to get a sense of variety between the holes - The use of the terrain on the back nine make it feel more dynamic/3-D Points Lost: - On the flip side to my last point above, the front nine falls a little flat IMO - Other than the church on the hill, there is nothing to tell me this is Romania - Bunkers with big lobes like you chose to have on this course are EXTREMELY difficult to sculpt the pans correctly and have them have depth. Unfortunately, you didn’t concur these difficult tasks - Additionally, the way you use some of the fairway bunkers are poor, too. The side-by-side strips on 3, the bunker on 6, the first one on the right on 10, the one on 13, and the one on 18 feel more autogen than genuine - Puddle would form on the greens on 4, 5, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, and 18 - Flat spots on the greens on 6, 9, - Overplanting to the point of stuttering in the places you planted and underplanting in the spots you didn’t plant and needed to fill some holes - Big missed opportunity on 7. It falls flat and could be seen as a fault in the routing - The hill on the fairway run up on 8 could be sculpted better ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Just a bit of lack of polish on this one. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From a technical standpoint, there's not much to fault on this course. Overall it was clean and well executed. Thought was given to the scenery though I thought more could have been done to emphasize the high points. The course isn't overly difficult, especially in the early tee sets ... but it felt like this course just kinda of sucked the life out of me the more I played it. In terms of hole design, two themes really wore on me 1) the bunkers that protruded into the fairway in the landing zone and 2) long par 4s with big ridges in them. Made this course more exacting and penal than fun and strategic. The attempt at a Redan on hole 7 didn't quite come off as well as I think he would have hoped either and you're pretty much screwed if you can't hit the correct portion of the green. Thought first 2 pinsets were pretty fair, but then 3 and 4 were tucked much more on shelves and knolls, again adding the the penal aspect of the course. I know there are conflicting theories on pin placement in course set up, but I'm firmly in the camp of providing a relatively even mix of difficulties locations relative to the center of the green throughout all four sets. Best part of the course is clearly the sculpting as the hills frame many holes exceptionally -- especially the tee shots on the par 3s. It's a very nice course but, in the end, playability decisions and a lack of an OMG moment hold it back, for me at least, from being one of the top in the competition. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2018 10:25:52 GMT -5
# 13 Jumeirah Club 186.80 total points
Judge's comments:
Points added: - Lights are very creative - The planting is perfect - The skybox with the two different skyscrapers are jaw-dropping - Unique clubhouse - Good lighting Points lost: - Did someone invent teleportation? Extremely disjointed routing - No hole ever plays south, so a northerly wind means no downwind holes. It also means 2 par 5s are running one direction and the other 2 are running 90 degrees from that, so if the wind is blowing from a certain direction, they all are unreachable - Light rough is extremely uneven on some holes - Green sizes got a bit out of hand on a couple holes. - For the length of the hole, the 4th green sloping away with nowhere to land it short does not play well. - Poor fairway sloping on the 11th fairway. Unfairly punishes a drive into the gap. The gap becomes important with a headwind. - The benefit of playing left on 12 is…. what? Angle? The shot is so short angle doesn’t matter. Not a well designed hole. - Too many holes fall flat in terms of strategy. You have some interesting green complexes and bunker shapes, yet rarely use that to your advantage in terms of strategy when approaching. Most approaches only ask you to avoid some massive yellow or red slope. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the top 3 in terms of nailing the country. Gorgeous shots a plenty. Points off for me though for an unrealistic routing. Literally felt like all but 3 holes were in the sun? Another course where it's obvious who the designer is. Not necessarily a bad thing, but noticeable none the less. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Let's start with the good. This course nailed my image of UAE better than any course has capture any country of the courses I've judged so far. Yet, I feel this course screams "Reality TV star," in that it's gobsmackingly gorgeous but, after about 5-10 minutes you realize it has absolutely zero substance or personality. From a playability standpoint, it's OK at best -- definitely suited toward Rocher/PGA level players and places a high emphasis on target golf while not presenting many strategic options for lesser players. Really don't care for the unrealistic routing. Yeah, orienting holes in a certain light makes each hole pop, I thought straight into sun was too much, actually didn't mind the look of the 1 or 2 holes that ran away from it. Especially if we end up having user controlled time of day (or worse) in TGC2019, making holes look good in multiple lighting scenarios is going to be key for designers. Points off in technical areas as well. Some light rough splines didn't look good at all. Also some sloppiness on where heavy rough was planted & meshpoints between rough-fairway. Tried to ask myself "was this done intentionally?" and gave benefit of the doubt where I thought it COULD have been but, overall, those flaws popped up in enough spots where it clearly wasn't intentional that I gave max deductions on those items. At the end of the day, between the looks and the playability, this felt like a one-trick pony that produced 18 pretty pictures rather than a dynamic environment that captivated you from first tee to last green. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Course was very sloppy, too many unfinished spots kinda disappointed given the great planting... |
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2018 10:34:02 GMT -5
# 12 Cyprus National at Nicosia 186.95 total points
Judge's comments:
Points Added: - The planting and rock work is well done when used. You used incredible restraint. I think the minimal planting fits the country, but you used enough to not make the course feel empty. Very well done. - The cart paths are perfect - Greens are very appropriate in size - Very clean - While simplistic, you were still able to make every hole feel different with some very nice variety in hole design Points Lost: - While clean, there are some technical flaws - Bunkers feel very flat. The pans and mounding around them need more sculpting. Adjusting the lighting could have helped too - Bunker positioning is also questionable at times - The ambiance was lacking. This also goes hand in hand with wanting a little more creativity. - Puddle would form on the greens on 4, 6, 9, 11, 16 - Tee on 5 isn’t flat - The fairways get too squiggly at times, especially on 7 - 3 of the 4 par 3s play the same direction ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This course feels a bit safe to me. Didn't need to think around it too much. Greens were uber soft and super slow which doesn't help. Relied on wind a bit too much to get some difficulty. Unflattened tees! Needs some work, but has some potential! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- While aesthetically clean and pleasing, I found a number of technical flaws (especially non-flattened tees) that took away from the experience. While the course was simplistic and solid, it also lacked a wow factor for me. Soft-119 greens, while ensuring every pin is very playable -- even if on some big slopes -- didn't work as well as I would of hoped. Especially in lighter winds, which the majority of my rounds were, it turned into a dart contest and I had to think very little around the course. 18 is a prime example. Blast driver, blast 3 word, stock LW pitch, tap-in birdie, yawn. Feel like there were a couple of missed opportunities on 15 & 16 to tuck greens closer to the water and add some drama. The rock work along the shore on 8 was very well done, but that's really the only place we see it. Could have been used on 7, 15 & 16 I feel. Overall, this course screams "good enough." The playabilty is good enough, the ambiance is good enough, the technical misses were good enough to hope no one notices. Good enough is good, but likely not good enough in this competition. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Excellent and clean track, just needs a bit more pop and excitement to contend. |
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2018 10:41:37 GMT -5
# 11 Israeli National at Negev Valley 188.0 total points
Judge's comments:
Points Added: - Planting, rock-work, and bridge-work are well done - I like the idea of the rock paths - Creative pillars/temple area - I love the 5th hole. The framing, the natural areas behind, the rough connection from 2. - Great variation of fairway shapes and green complexes - I love the design on 15 as well as the bridge across the wash Points Lost: - Bathtub bunkers on several holes and other bunkers need some more love. Their placement around some greens are questionable on a few holes, too - I think the white sand was a bad choice. With them set off in the brown sand, white sand looks bad - No benefit to playing to the right-half of the fairway on 4 - Sculpting is a little rough around some of the edges - Nice puddles or ponds would form on 3, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18 greens - I think the rough strip right of 12 fairway is pointless - 90 degree dogleg on 17 doesn’t play well ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Liked the layout and the setting. Colors clashed and course was a bit narrow in a few spots. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This course is very clean and polished. Fairly easy to play overall but can lull you into a false sense of security and then bite you with a long, tight par 4 or a scoreable hole that has a dastardly pin position. There were a few nice strategy holes out there -- like the tee shots on 3 and 12 in that regard especially, but a few hole missed the mark there. I'll use the other Par 5, hole 14 as an example. Double dogleg that's on the fringe of reachable in 2. Now if you move that planted area closer to tee and too right and wrap fairway around bunker to right, you open up a heroic straight line approach to the hole with trouble off tee left & right. Would have made that hole much more interesting. Perhaps it was because I didn't have the right wind, or maybe was playing player clubs from the tips but some holes felt about 10-15 yards too long to fully capitalize on the strategy. While the course was very clean, I felt how it was constructed was over-simplistic in area with numerous stock-shaped bunkers and tees, and a pretty good indication of how stock shapes were used to create fairways and greens. Additionally, some of the out-of-play elements were single-feature designs and lacked a creative pop. To expand on the design choices that got dinged in the country category. Everything I Googled on Negev was dry and arid -- No lushness and no palm trees. Therefore, while it would have been harder to pull off, I think a more drab color palette & planting scheme would have fit the course well. I'll take the natural hazard to the right of the 9th green as an example. I would liked to have seen more of that around the course. Also, the water features I Googled were shallow and stagnant. These were fairly deep. While not bad ideas for a generic desert course, I think it missed the mark of the location the designer was trying to recreate. In the end a very good and enjoyable course, but a bit too close to the vest to jump up to elite status. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2018 11:01:49 GMT -5
# 10 The Jewel at Ko Phi Phi Le 188.70 total points
Judge's comments:
Points Added: - The aesthetics and ambiance of this course are perfect. - I know that I’m in Thailand with the ocean sculpting, the beach, the town, etc. The overall feel is great - You have such great creativity on and off the course. - Great hole variety Points Lost: - Greens got a bit big in scale. As an indirect result, puddles and flat spots are on some your greens. Also, your green side bunkers don’t feel like they are in play on said holes. - Playability… your course is a series of missed opportunities. - View off the tee on 4 could be much better and the shaping short tight could be better - 8 is a missed opportunity, You have so much clutter and I don’t understand what’s going on up by the green - 10….. oh no no no. give the person an option. Forcing me to lay up with a 175 yard club is awful. Shame cause the approach is so cool - This is a cart course, right? you have the cart paths. How is that supposed to work on 11? - Oh my… What is the approach on 14?? Tear those awful trees don on the right. Bring the water into play on the approach, and angle the green a bit. - 16… - 18… A mistake in routing made 16 and 18 not play or look nearly as nice as they could have. Especially 18. What a letdown after a great course - Your shaping around the backs of bunkers and your pans, in general, are good, but there are several instances when you do one right for the bunker but don’t do the other one right. You are close to putting it all together ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This course is close to being a star! It's just lacking in the finite details. Some tee boxes need flattening, pins need massaging. I've been giving out awards in my other comments.. may have to give best short par 4 to #10. When this course gets its massaging, we'll definitely see it on tour. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Details, details, details. I'll say it three times because that's the only thing holding this course back. It felt like things got sloppy from a technical standpoint as we got further into a round and those mistakes -- tee boxes not flattened, missed patches of light rough/fairway, pin placements too close to edge or on yellow -- are simply mistakes that cannot be overlooked. I can say this definitively, as this is the last course I'm judging, there were roughly 4.5 points left on the table in playability and techinal categories that could have been easily been rectified with a little quality control before publishing. That takes this course from middle of the pack to top 5 -- which I feel is where this course belongs from a looks/playabilty standpoint overall. I loved how the terrain and the planting tied together in a cohesive manner and Hole 10 may be the best driveable par 4 in the enitre competition from a looks & playabilty standpoint. There were a couple of chances missed on sculpting. I would have liked to have seen the fairway bunker on 14 because that's the element that really sets off the strategy of where to place your drive on that hole. I though the 15th was framed well with its bunkering scheme, but there's a ridge about 100 yards out that completely blocks out the view from the middle of the fairway. My two niggles on playability are that the greens on the short par 3s (8 & 11) were a little shallow and that all the par 5s felt similar in that they were are borderline reachable for me on player clubs w/ Driver-3 Wood. Overall though it's a fun course to play, and one I'm sure John Q. Public will enjoy playing once, twice or four times when it eventually lands on tour, but in this design contest, where the competition is so close and so good throughout the field, the little details matter. They were missed here and that, ultimately, shows in the final score. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The rock spires looked amazing and the tee shot on 11 looks very impressive. Needs more polish |
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