Aristea Skies (Official)

[Deleted]

Aristea Skies (Official) is a fictional/fantasy, non-traditional par 72 course; 6-Par 4's, 6-Par 5's, and 6-Par 3's. From the back tees it is only 6,705 yards long, but challenges your approach, short game, and bunker play. It is set in the countryside theme, but is routed through rocky terrain. I designed this course to be fun to play, and it is my first design released for the TGC series of games. I am always open to hearing any comments, concerns, and suggestions for future designs. Constructive criticism will go a long way toward enhancing the quality of my courses in the future. I can be reached through this forum's messaging system, or you can find me in TGC 2019 under the name "michaelconner22". Thank you all for taking the time to support this game and community, and I look forward to hearing from you!

[chasw]

Hey Michael it is good to hear from another old member of the Jack Nicklaus Golf series.Hope you have been well and I look forward to playing the course.

Charles Whiddon(ChaseW)

[Deleted]

Charles! Great to see you are still designing! I will have to play your courses as well! I didn't know if there would be any other JN series guys designing for this game. Most are fiercely loyal to that series. 

[chasw]

Mar 25, 2020 15:14:39 GMT -5 @babybull said:

Charles! Great to see you are still designing! I will have to play your courses as well! I didn't know if there would be any other JN series guys designing for this game. Most are fiercely loyal to that series. 

When Golden Bear Golf died I kind of lost interest until the TGC series arrived.I ordered a PS4 and got busy .I designed courses for TGC 1,TGC 2 and really went all in on TGC 2019.

[chiefranja]

Just gave it a play. Really feels like a central Texas course to me.
Pros:
Great design on 6 all around, especially the tee ball
Loved the view on the 7th tee
9 was a nice hole
11 and 12 combo are great
15,16 I liked a lot as well

Cons: Very few, only thing I will say is to watch the yellow slopes near your pins. I played Blue tees and pin 4 and had a couple good approaches trickle away.

Overall, I really enjoyed this course and all the rocks you used!

[rhino4life]

First off....great work on the course thread showcasing your holes. A+

Pros - lighting was good, routing, greens were good (played pin 4), variation of hole designs, elevation all solid. Solid waterfall on 11 and great look on 12. Planting was decent as well.


Cons (not really bad persay)- some of the rocks just stand out too much as unnatural (forced) or overkilled in spots. For example...hole 3 the rocks in the bunker just do not look right to me. Giant rocks in the middle of hole 6 as well. Personal opinion but perhaps burying them or use them less would look more natural. Even dimming the lighting would improve the looks of them in some areas.

Some of the fairway sculpting could of been a little better in the landing areas. There were 2 or 3 holes where the good tee shot kicks fairly hard into the rough. Hole 13 is one I recall and there was another earlier in the round.

Green size consistency. Some greens are fairly large and some are noticeably smaller.

I think #16 was a "driveable" par 4 given the conditions which adds a risk/reward value to the hole. It played about 315 from the tips. However when I seen the flyby the fairway is cutoff and made this more of a risk where you really don't tempt the player to go for it. I am a huge fan of risk/reward type holes.

All in all this was a pretty good course. Not sure if this was a first design or not but regardless this was a solid publish and enjoyed playing it.

[linkslover]

It looks hugely impressive.

[chasw]

Michael I really enjoyed my round on your new course.I shot 5 under from the tips using master clubs.Only one bogey...almost  .My favorite holes were 4,7,11 and 14 and I really liked the rock formation you put on #15's green.I have placed bunkers on some of my greens but never tried a rock formation.A good solid 4 star course in my opinion.I wish my early designs had looked half as good.If I had to choose a nit pick it would be that maybe  the bunkers could use a little more sculpting.I liked the ridges you built around the bunkers but many of the bunkers themselves were essentially flat.Keep up the great work and I can't wait for your next one.You did the JN designers proud .

[Deleted]

Thank you all for taking the time to play my course. I truly appreciate the effort to post your thoughts, as well. I will respond to everybody in one post as to not spam the thread.

chiefranja - Thanks you for the kind words! I grew up in East Texas, and I can see the resemblance to Central Texas now that you mention it. Thanks for the hole highlights. It's always good to know what people like to see, so I can repeat those concepts in the future. I will work a little harder at keeping to the 9 tile rule for pins, where the tile the pin is in and the surrounding 8 tiles have no yellow or red. I thought I had covered that on all of the pins, but I will be extra vigilant with that going forward. Thanks you again for taking the time play my course and post your thoughts.

rhino4life - Thank you for the mention of the showcase. I feel that it gives the effort I put into each hole it's fair due. Thanks for point out the specifics as fair as features you enjoyed, that helps me know what I am doing right for future designs. As for the cons, I agree with every statement. I had a few courses in my JN5/GBC days that were overkill on the rock formations. Once I toned it down a little bit (even though they find their way into all of my designs), it enhanced the quality of the designs and I hope to do the same in TGC 2019. I have also been looking at how some of the more experienced designers (CrazyCanuck, VcrtyLnSprts, etc.) do their rock placements, and I feel I should be able to step my rock game up on future designs. I will keep an eye out for fairways that punish good shots a little better as I get used to playing and designing for this game. Same goes for the consistency on green sizes. I have actually started using the measuring tape in the designer more for greens on my current project. Hole 16 was a tough hole to settle on. It went through several reroutes before landing on the final version. I will be sure to include a "driveable" par four on my current project, as I agree that it increases the fun of the round. This is my first design for the TGC series, however, I have done several designs for Jack Nicklaus 5, Golden Bear Challenge, and PGA Championship series. I will probably stick around TGC 2019 for a while, especially with such a supportive community. Thanks again for taking time to play my course.

@ linkslover - Thank you sir!

chasw - Thanks for the kind words man. I will slowly get all of your courses played. Today I got Achilles Hills and Pumpkin Hollow 2020, and enjoyed them both. Classic Whiddon! I hope I make the JN designers proud. They were the ones to teach me the ropes of course design around 20 years ago, and you were a big part of that group. I agree with the bunkers note as well. I was going for a certain look, but it didn't turn out as I had hoped. I will pay more attention to that on future releases though.

Thanks again to everybody that has played my course, even if you didn't comment in this thread. I truly appreciate the support. 

[gregfordyce]

Really enjoyed my round on this course. Some very good design concepts, I can tell you are stretching your muscles on the designer. I saw some retaining walls that could have used the shorter sections, some greens with fairly flat sculpting around the holes, and some fairways that could use a bit of polish in the contouring department, but overall  you have a solid understanding of good course design and an eye for aesthetics. Very good rock work! I can tell that with a bit more practice with the designer you are going to be a force to be reckoned with. Overall a solid design and a fun round of golf, please keep up the good work and the designing!

[Deleted]

gregfordyce - Thank you for the kind words and the areas of improvement. The best way to increase the quality of my work is to view it through others' point of view. Seeing "force to be reckoned with" is great motivation. Thank you for your time.

[Avakrac]

Hi dude, Thanks for the awesome course to have a swing on. I loved it, looks great and plays nice to. Nice planting, nice sculpting and layout, nice tees and sight lines and some nice options of the tees, well for me that is. I only have one or maybe two little tips that may aid you in finding your own style of designing on TGC.
Welcome to the family and keep up the great work.
Enjoy.

[Deleted]

It was so fun to watch somebody play my course, and truly appreciate the effort I put into it. Also, I'm stoked to have a video of it on a YouTube channel I watch frequently. As for the comments on the bunkers, I totally agree. They didn't come out exactly the way I was hoping. I will be switching things up a bit for my current project, and will definitely give the bunkers a better look of depth. Thank you again for the support.

[mayday_golf83]

Excited to give this one a go tonight ...

[Deleted]

Thank you Jeremy! I will have to watch Twitch rounds more often. I hope you guys enjoyed the round!