Post by reebdoog on Feb 14, 2020 15:10:19 GMT -5
The Malibu Club 2-0-1 7 points ADVANCES
Arlington Oaks GC 2-1-0 6 points ADVANCES
Avery 1-1-1 4 points
MX Valley Resort 0-3-0
Avery vs. The Malibu Club
Judge 1:
Avery - Lots of good hole ideas and planting was well done, there were some issues with green slopes that were a bit severe and unneccessarily punished you if you missed by more than a souple of feet. Technically there was not much to fault except the aforementioned slopes and a couple of green transitions that could have been cleaner.
The Malibu Club - Not what I was expecting having seen the WIP for this course. I was totally into this course and enjoyed playing it. Hazard placement was well though out and made you really think about your shots. Couple of obvious mistakes like pin 3 on 1st hole but a good solid course that I highly recommend
WINNER: The Malibu Club
Judge 2:
Avery - Avery is a super fun course with a wide variety of hole designs. The open environment offers some amazing views and the planting is excellent. The difficulty of the course is consistent and keeps every hole interesting.
The Malibu Club - The Malibu Club is an ambitious design with some fantastic and memorable features. The bunker design is one of the best I've ever seen and creates a unique look to the course. The downside to this course design design is that some of the holes feel very similar and in the case of hole 4 you can easily cut down a different fairway to skip most of the hole. Overall this course is really fun it just has some inconsistencies with playability.
WINNER: Avery
MX Valley Resort Course vs. Arlington Oaks GC
Judge 1:
MX Valley Resort Course - The detail and overall quality of the course was lacking compared to Arlington Oaks. It is a good course but a fairly straight forward one to play.
Arlington Oaks GC - Arlington Oaks was very clean and technically sound. There was a good amount of subtle strategy used here that you need to pick up on if you want to score well.
WINNER: Arlington Oaks GC
Judge 2:
MX Valley Resort Course - This could be a nice desert course, just need a bit more of a wow factor.The barren look is nice but it is just a little to barren for a "Resort" Course.
Arlington Oaks GC - This is a fun course and the tee shots are the best part. Need to think and shape those to make for the best approach. Fun!
WINNER: Arlington Oaks GC
Avery vs. MX Valley Resort Course
Judge 1:
Avery - A well crafted course with thoughtful challenges for players of all levels. I was thoroughly engaged from the opening drive to the last putt.
MX Valley Resort Course - It was competently created but was a little way short of the other course and indeed many of the other courses. The default conditions had higher winds and overly l;ong holes. It became a bit of a drudge to play. More thought put into the challenges set for the player beyond hit it long and straight would be an area for improvement as well as the overall sculpting and planting of the plot to make it visually more engaging.
WINNER: Avery
Judge 2:
Avery - About what you would expect from an Andre course... clean, planted well, devilish greens, looks galore.
MX Valley Resort Course - this is not a bad effort... just fails in comparison in this match.
WINNER: Avery
The Malibu Club vs. Arlington Oaks GC
Judge 1:
The Malibu Club - The Malibu Club is one of the most spectacular and playable courses in this game. Some designers will use quirky bounces, sculpting on this type of course to make things difficult, but not here. Clever uses of up and down elevations make this course difficult enough with almost every shot thought provoking. With 6 bogeys, 4 birdies and an eagle in my first round my scorecard was as the options on this course...AND YET I couldnt wait to come back for more. Playing and enjoying every hole but also waiting in anticipation what amazing look you will see on the necxt hole is par for this course. Some might see the constant bunkering behind greens as a negative but it works on this course. 3 uneven T-boxes could be a major facor in the finals but not yet. BUT that is the only fault here. This course screams quality and replayability specially with 5 T box options. This dsigner had a clear plan and executed it perfectly for one of the best courses in this game.
Arlington Oaks GC - Under the new courses thread this could have done very well and desitined for one of the more difficult tours on TGC, but this is a contest aganst the best designers in the community, and that makes it fall flat. The all to similar hole lengths and shots required leaves it with a very same same feel while playing. The last 3 holes suddenly give you a blind/semi blind T shots that could have been executed better. And lastly the freens, specially on pin set 2 seemed so close to being legal that thse lsat 3 to 7 ft putts were very (too) difficult to make.
WINNER: The Malibu Club
Judge 2:
The Malibu Club - The Malibu Club is my winner because it definitely had the WOW factor. The sculpting and environment together was very creative and the course played well. Just a really cool place to play golf all though there were areas that seemed very video-gamish.
Arlington Oaks GC - Arlington Oaks is a great playable course and would be an excellent tour course. The technical work was there and the course and environment together were nice and serene but nothing in my mind really set it over the top.
WINNER: The Malibu Club
Avery vs. Arlington Oaks GC
Judge 1:
Avery - This course really is a tale of two golf courses. The environment, while not stunning, is nice and generally well put together. There are a few holes that suffer from lack of framing down one side, but hole 7 was close to nailed visually. The course itself tends to be very samey. Holes 1, 3, and 4, are all very similar holes for which the best way to play them is to make sure the tee shot stays far enough back to have a full wedge into the green. Green contours generally tend towards false fronts and then slope away from the player after that, in some instances completely rejecting all but a lofted approach. This is fine if it weren’t also a central design element for 5, 9, 12, and 15. Hole 9 could be shorter off the tee to open up different options into the wide, shallow, green that also stood out for ‘rejected-tier’ sculpting quality, especially in the back right. Hole 15 felt like biggest missed opportunity on the course as there could’ve been fairway left of the green if not for the course’s routing to open up more options, and the two center bunkers (which were the first circle bunkers on the course, only seen on 15 and 18) could’ve been closer to the tee to encourage that ‘silent jail’ approach for those who just rip 2 wood or driver. Hole 17 had almost nowhere to lay up, and 18 brought the first overt angle play into the course. 18 looks awesome from the tee, partially due to lighting angle I would assume, but that awesome green complex is completely hidden from the fairway; without a strong tailwind you can’t see the pin for the second shot, regardless of drive placement. Blind greens are fine but it just quite mesh on this hole. This course is also poor in spots from a technical standpoint. Heavy rough texture work throughout is sloppy including jagged path edges (and obvious missed patches on holes 13 and 18), and bunker shapes lend themselves to awkward lies and seldom sit naturally in the terrain. There are many instances where either a flatten brush wasn’t used with care or where autogen edge sculpting was not removed, and there were semi-floating stairs in between the two narrow fairway sections on hole 1.
Arlington Oaks GC - This is a solid yet unspectacular golf course. It has a few interesting holes, in particular 8, 9, 12, and 18 but most of the course is relatively bland. In particular, the 14-16 stretch promised strategic play with some of the fairway shapes but such interest was generally avoided. On hole 16 in particular the fairway layout and green sculpting suggest they belong on completely different golf holes from one another, more so considering how similar it was to a few prior holes. It’s a very fair ‘execution challenge’ more so than it is a particularly interesting design. Technically the course had some missteps, particularly with the heavy rough surfacing. Some bunker sculpting was inconsistent across the course, and it was more random than it was based on obtaining a certain look with a particular lighting angle. The environment, while nice, is not particularly memorable and this course had some underwhelming with good lighting angles for them. There was a partially floating bush blocking the view of 17 green, and there's also a rather large bush blocking the view from 18 tee. Down lighting holes in general looked better than their into the lighting counterparts as on holes 1, 2, 3, and 12 the tree/lighting interplay got in the way of things a bit too much.
WINNER: Arlington Oaks GC
Judge 2:
Avery - This course is a great example of how playability, aesthetics, level of difficulty, and consistency can all come together to create not just a round of golf on video game, but a believable an fun experience. This course played how it looked, looked like it belonged, and kept me entertained. There were some minor mistakes that were noticeable throughout but nothing to really take away from the round. This course falls right into that "above average, deserves a tour spot, will play again" range. This matchup was so close for me it came down to a 4 hour mini tournament playing both courses back to back until I could decide.
Arlington Oaks GC - Not a typo: This course is a great example of how playability, aesthetics, level of difficulty, and consistency can all come together to create not just a round of golf on video game, but a believable an fun experience. This course played how it looked, looked like it belonged, and kept me entertained. There were some minor mistakes that were noticeable throughout but nothing to really take away from the round. This course falls right into that "above average, deserves a tour spot, will play again" range. This matchup was so close for me it came down to a 4 hour mini tournament playing both courses back to back until I could decide.
WINNER: Arlington Oaks GC
The Malibu Club vs. MX Valley Resort Course
Judge 1:
The Malibu Club - A great challenging course that offered more variety than MX did and was more visually appealing.
MX Valley Resort Course - A straightforward course that could've been executed better with better knowledge of the tools and a bit more thought and care.
WINNER: The Malibu Club
Judge 2:
The Malibu Club - A very well built course with plenty of shot choices that develop into a very intreging round of golf.
MX Valley Resort Course - A very playable course, however there are clear signs that the designer is still learning his way round the tools. Good effort.
WINNER: The Malibu Club
