Post by reebdoog on Feb 14, 2020 15:07:29 GMT -5
Brookfield Landing 2-0-1 7 points ADVANCES
TPC Badlands 2-1-0 6 points ADVANCES
The Glades 0-1-2 2 points
Frankston Heath GC 0-2-1 1 point
TPC Badlands vs. Frankston Heath
Judge 1:
TPC Badlands - Decent course that lacked some technical elements and routing/flow issues. Planting looked good and natural in some areas but a bit forced in others. 17th had a large green but only needed a pitch shot to approach it so was far too big then it needed to be and was quite a bit bigger than other greens on the course
Frankston Heath - Too many holes had bunkers cutting into the green. Lots of red slopes on greens too with small precise landing areas meaning if you missed by a couple of feet it was bye bye ball especially on default settings with firm, fast greens. Those two things combined made the course very tough to play and almost unplayable. It also was not enjoyable to see you ball so close and then roll off the green making par almost impossible at times. The technical side of things though were well done.
WINNER: TPC Badlands
Judge 2:
TPC Badlands - An interesting and playable course with fun well sculpted greens and good looking bunkers. Not much strategy needed to get around here. Hit the fairway and get the next shot as close as possible to the pin. It scores very well on routing this round and alhough not the best course played in this contest it will win this round fairly easlily due to the harsh penalties inflicted on course no 2. Some of the planting especially along parts of water edges could be better. Not much strategy required or risk reward holes here. I was hoping to see a proper drivable par 4 but alas.....Not one of the fairways offered a flat shot as most had yellow or red lines coming into greens.
Frankston Heath - A first course flyover that starts out with huge potential. I said to myself "YES" as I saw the color and the planting. Very well done. Great looking course but it was let down die to the fairway/green/bunker transition areas, which would be an issue IRL on any course. It all felt the same after a while and repeated play on this course might be superflous. Although I picked up lag on about 4 different shot I will not deduct scoring for this as I couldn't see why. Nothing major was built by the designer. The clubhouse area was fine but the course must have been closed as there was no cars in the parking lot. A pity about the glaring errors here. This could have been a nice course but designing rules and basics are there to set standards in design.
WINNER: TPC Badlands
The Glades vs. Brookfield Landing
Judge 1:
The Glades - The Glades is awesome. This is a beautiful design with some truly memorable moments. Lots of rewarding shot options from tee to green. Each round is it's own unique experience and very replayable. It's the easy winner in this match up.
Brookfield Landing - Brookfield Landing is boring, I played it twice with different options and still have a hard time remembering any details about the course without looking at my notes or looking up a video playthrough. Technically this course is very well made and the environment works very well for what it is, it just seems like an odd choice for a golf course in the world cup.
WINNER: The Glades
Judge 2:
The Glades - Some of the playing surfaces on The Glades weren't as believable as they could have been. Difficulty felt a little forced in areas. It's an interesting course with a bit of a different color scheme.
Brookfield Landing - Brookfield Landing won this one because it felt very authentic. The realism as well as fun hole layouts and very good technical use of the tools took it above The Glades on my scoresheet.
WINNER: Brookfield Landing
TPC Badlands vs. The Glades
Judge 1:
TPC Badlands - TPC Badlands was clean and technically sound. The hole designs had a nice variety to them and required a lot of thinking off the tee and into the greens.
The Glades - A good course in its own right but lacked a bit of polish when compared with TPC Badlands. Shot planning isn't quite as necessary here.
WINNER: TPC Badlands
Judge 2:
TPC Badlands - A very solid, enjoyable course with fun greens and some decent shot values to it. A few holes could be improved with a touch more fairway width. This course has some significant framing issues, mainly from lack of undulation in off-fairway areas I believe, and some tee / green heights could be adjusted. Sculpting-wise the course was pretty good. Hole 13 was my least favorite on the course: A shallow green over water that runs away from the player feels forced and artificial to me. There were a couple rough spots on 18 fairway and in a few greens (4 comes to mind), and there were also some occasional scale issues with bunker size / fairway width related to hole corridor width, but all in all quite solid.
The Glades - This course is an environmental masterpiece in places, although it doesn’t serve to benefit the course as a whole. It encroaches too much on play in spots, especially on the opening hole, which could use a thorough redesign. Throughout the course there was an emphasis more on punishing missed shots than rewarding good ones, and in very few places was I able to think my way around the golf course to attain some kind of small advantage (even hole 9 didn’t quite deliver there). Technically speaking, bunkers tended to be too close to playing surfaces which led to some moderate sculpting issues and a mix of different sculpting styles (some bunkers on 7, 12 and 14 were much more ‘grass wall’ as they had enough space to make them more bold and menacing). Fairway shapes were a mixed bag: some had slightly inconsistent edges, while others were far more angular than others. There were also some noticeable lag issues in spots, probably from sheer amount of objects / plants in view.
WINNER: TPC Badlands
Frankston Heath vs. Brookfield Landing
Judge 1:
Frankston Heath - I enjoyed this course. I had some technical issues with pins with yellow that can be fixed, but an over all nice course to play.
Brookfield Landing - I would wish a course like this was in my home town. I enjoyed this and it was just fun to look at and play. A fair challenge that could be made more difficult with tougher conditions. Over all, excellent!
WINNER: Brookfield Landing
Judge 2:
Frankston Heath - Really nice looking course. Thought it was tough. Not unfair but close. Angles and strategy are tested but felt misses were overly punished. I like that you can't just attack pins all the time, but there also isn't really more than one option into the green. It's either you find the angle from the start and execute from tee to green, or you'll be struggling for par. Thought most pins needed more of an area to miss towards, where if you had a bad drive, you could play to an area away from the pin that was setup for an easy 2 putt. I would play this course again and recommend it to others but it would come with a disclaimer.
Brookfield Landing - Really nice course where the look and play fit the landscape well. The bigger fairways and greens made for a good variety from round to round. A technically solid course. Wasn't overly difficult but that fit the style well and didn't take away from the round. Definitely on my play again list. Feel like this course is a good one to play before it's opponent as a warm up, and after to unwind.
WINNER: Brookfield Landing
TPC Badlands vs. Brookfield Landing
Judge 1:
TPC Badlands - Not a bad course by any measure. Overall it felt a little less polished and a couple of technical issues. It was an interesting concept that was fun to play.
Brookfield Landing - An excellent example of a well planned and executed course which rewards good play whilst punishing over-confidence or sloppiness. The craft and execution was a little better in most areas and was enjoyable for all my rounds.
WINNER: Brookfield Landing
Judge 2:
TPC Badlands - A fun course, which was enjoyable to play but didn't have as much strategy or aesthetic appeal as Brookfield had.
Brookfield Landing - A great thought out and executed course, gave you plenty to think about and kept you engaged more than TPC Badlands.
WINNER: Brookfield Landing
Frankston Heath GC vs. The Glades
Judge 1:
Frankston Heath GC - A polarizing course for me. Feels like with a bit of work it could be something special, but the greens were enough to make the difference here. Has everything else, just needs some small work to make it really good.
The Glades - I was put off originally by the fairway color... then it grew on me, but everytime I saw it with the green, I went back to my original thoughts. This is a well designed track that doesn't have the look of the other course (for the most part), but plays better, and I think would hold up better if a tournament.. so gets the nod for me in this matchup.
WINNER: The Glades
Judge 2:
Frankston Heath GC - An absolutely magnificent course which is an enjoyment to play, but only wins as I would choose to play it again just before the other course.
The Glades - Another absolutely magnificent course and only loses because I would return to other course before this one.
WINNER: Frankston Heath GC
