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Post by lessthanbread on Feb 20, 2020 11:21:05 GMT -5
Hey! Let's do something fun. I'd like to get folks to do self reviews of their own first publishes (or as early of a publish as they can) and post them in here. It'd be nice if you are able to do a video playthrough but just a written review is fine too with pictures and whatnot. This is meant to be a fun walk down memory lane for us designers and give guys a chance to laugh and scratch their heads at some of the decisions they made when they were greenhorn designers. I'd encourage a full course review but if you want to just point out a funny aspect of your course, that's cool too.
I'll do a write up review of Kathmandu Valley to start soon (I am even thinking about remastering this course fixing many rookie mistakes I made)...
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Post by Oscar C on Feb 20, 2020 12:09:26 GMT -5
That’s a great idea.
I know that if I did a walkthrough of my RDC I’d pull it apart. It wasn’t awful but routing and the impact that had on the whole design would be a key learning topic.
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Post by lessthanbread on Feb 20, 2020 16:34:16 GMT -5
Here is my self critique of my first publish, Kathmandu Valley Golf Club (I just selected a handful of holes to shorten the post): tgctours.proboards.com/thread/19168/kathmandu-valley-golf-clubHole 1: A huge downhill par 5 I think is an interesting way to start a course. I probably won't do that again although it is a nice change up from what is typically done. This hole doesn't offer much option off the tee, just grip and rip. For the first hole I ever designed, I am quite pleased with the sight line off the tee as that was an aspect of course design I hadn't really considered to that point. The obvious rookie mistakes here that are also consistently made throughout this course are bunkers overlapping surfaces and the squiggly rough-heavy rough transition. Hole 4: The flagship hole of the front 9, this thing is one spectacle to look at. I think I really hit a home run on this hole as far as the visuals go, although I would take out that tree that kind of blocks the view of the fairway. I also really like how the tee shot plays because you have to be mindful of the elevation and landing area. The fairway is huge but there are areas you really want to aim for and areas you really want to avoid for your approach. The approach here makes me smile and shake my head because it's so ridiculous yet so fun to have to loft your ball over a waterfall onto a massive green. Hole 5: This hole is quite the adventure. It plays very weird as you have a massive downhill tee shot that you can easily overshoot the end of the fairway followed by a very short very downhill approach that is hard to judge. I do not like this hole much because both shots are blind and the play is strange. Hole 11: Don't like this hole at all. Totally needs to be redone. The planting is ridiculous up next to the fairway. The strategy is weird because you're almost forced by the short dogleg to layup and then you have a mid-long iron into a tough green. I would either move the dogleg back another 50-60 yards so you could play a legitimate tee shot or I would remove the trees to the right to give the option to cut the corner. Hole 12: Actually really like this weird hole. The risk areas off the tee are interesting but I think they work. The bottleneck in the middle of the fairway calls for you to go long but you can't go too long otherwise you run off the end of the fairway. It's different but it works. I really like the approach shot here; the shot itself and the view. I really like what I did with the sculpting around the green. Hole 13: The flagship hole of the entire course in my opinion. The river and island green look sort of manmade in their layout but I can get past that because the view is so spectacular here. Interesting this hole plays the hardest on the course as a medium length par 3 with a big green. Hole 16: Worst green complex on the course by far. That drop off from left to right is much too severe and the shape of the green in general is bad. Just trying to do too much here. There is also only one option off the tee as driver has the same risk as any other club. Plus the length of the hole pretty much forces the big stick. Hole 18: This is probably my favorite hole on the course and hardly anyone plays it correctly from what I have seen haha. You're supposed to either try to drive the green or layup short of the bunker, not try to squeeze your tee shot onto the tiny little strip of fairway to the right of the green that is only supposed to be for walking to the green… Another treat to look at, the lighting is perfect, the view is stunning, and the rock work isn't too bad either. A very memorable hole to end on both in its appearance and heroic play options Overall I am thoroughly impressed with my first course because I took major risks and actually pulled it off for the most part. Some of it I think was luck that I just happened to stumble upon good looking results in some areas but I did work very hard on this course and I believe anyone can make a great looking/playing course if they just put their mind to it, learn all they can, and don't settle for good enough. Biggest mistakes I see in this course are too few options off the tee due to the fairway layouts being very simplistic to go along with the classic rookie mistakes like bunker placement/sculpting, blind shots, fairway-green transitions, and squiggly rough-heavy rough lines.
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Post by 15eicheltower9 on Feb 22, 2020 9:34:05 GMT -5
My review of my only course. Chautauqua from the RDC.
This course is shite. Don't play it.
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Post by linkslover on Feb 24, 2020 7:59:12 GMT -5
My first course Clayton Wood on TGC2...
Very good design ideas. Very rough implementation.
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Post by bruce on Mar 16, 2020 11:42:28 GMT -5
Very first course Fairview GC, which was just another name for the real course which is Lakeview GC. I probably should have been a fantasy course instead of tackling a real course, that was probably the biggest mistake. That and choosing a local important to me , but pretty much no one else. Overall I liked the way it came out, at least as far as layout. Probably not very accurate, and I couldn't put the road in at the time that was there. Bunkers too were just there by google maps, and not as nice as I've learned to make now. Most people could probably care less about this course, but it was important to me so that was the major reason I made it.
Its now no longer there, sold it for a housing development and everytime I go by I miss it. But I still have it in TGC2019, ans can go back and reminisce about the good old hard hat days, and playing with my dad. If you have 15 minutes, play it sometime and see what I mean about a Hard Hat course, plus its only nine holes.
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