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Post by Leecey on Sept 17, 2020 4:45:10 GMT -5
Hey - noticed a few guys starting WIP threads which has motivated to get going on thinking about my contest entry. So far, I've just been looking into ideas on hole design and strategy before committing anything to the designer. I've settled on a fairly open dunes-based course but can't decide whether it'll end up being a rolling dunes course or something with more significant elevation changes. Having spent a couple of ideas on pen and paper with hole ideas, I've got a rough routing and layout started which I'm fairly happy with. Coastline still needs some work and I've not settled on how 18 is going to play yet (or one of the boundary holes - the 15th). Main worry at the moment is that 11 is running quite close to the plot boundary so I may end up tweaking that side of the layout to give a little more space (although I do like the double fairway on 11 and 12 as it's currently set up. On paper it's got loads of width but I'm hoping that the angles will matter. On paper they should - it's just getting it to translate into the game that's the tricky bit! Likely to add a village along 17, 18 and around the 1st and 4th but I'll probably leave that until I've got the course pretty much done I think. I'm hoping to get things moving on some of the core holes this weekend so will post updates. Would love any thoughts people have as I'm going along! Good luck to everyone into the contest. Really enjoying seeing what people have been doing so far!   |
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Post by mctrees02 on Sept 17, 2020 8:16:38 GMT -5
I love the compact nature of your routing. Two questions...
1) How long is the transfer from 5 to 6? It looks quite long. Not knowing the distance, is it possible to play 6 as a cape hole teeing off from next to 5 green? It would likely be a cutoff cape hole whereby the fairway hugs the coast before having a second shot approach over water into the green.
2) Did you raise the plot up off the water table? You might run into sculpting issues down the road if the water is sitting a few feet below the surface.
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Post by Leecey on Sept 17, 2020 10:58:18 GMT -5
I love the compact nature of your routing. Two questions... 1) How long is the transfer from 5 to 6? It looks quite long. Not knowing the distance, is it possible to play 6 as a cape hole teeing off from next to 5 green? It would likely be a cutoff cape hole whereby the fairway hugs the coast before having a second shot approach over water into the green. 2) Did you raise the plot up off the water table? You might run into sculpting issues down the road if the water is sitting a few feet below the surface. Pleased you asked about the walk from 5 -6 as I bumped on that myself. I've landed on it being ok on the basis that the view on the walk would be fantastic so the golfer wouldn't mind so much :-) I'm definitely going to put some work into making the coast line look as good as possible so that argument holds though! I could play 6 as a cape but the 5th has a cape-type feel to it as well so I think people will bump on that more if they run consecutively - definitely one I'll have another think on though so thanks for mentioning! You're spot on about the water table. I've not done anything on elevation yet and I'm likely to lift the whole plot up at least 10 feet (and also need to get some kind of camber from clubhouse to see in order to make the burn logical). I'm also debating making the drive on 5 at beach level as opposed to cliff-top so it feels a little more like the 1st hole at Machrihanish. Might struggle to make that would with the surrounding holes though. Lots to think about! |
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Post by mvpmanatee on Sept 17, 2020 15:18:47 GMT -5
Looking great so far!
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Post by grovey31 on Sept 21, 2020 8:06:51 GMT -5
Great looking routing so far. Your utilization of the coastline seems to be pretty varied which is good. I love compact sites too as it provides the opportunity to give hints to holes that are coming up. I'm definitely in the realism camp so this gives me a sense that the course could exist IRL which is cool.
Fair point about your decision on the long walk from one hole to another. There are plenty of courses that do this and Cypress Point (14 to 15 and 15 to 16) might be the best example of it. My advice on the coast line is start your planting there and make sure that looks good before moving inland with your planting. It will likely be a focal point for the course and you don't want to use up your planting meter elsewhere.
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Post by Leecey on Oct 12, 2020 18:36:35 GMT -5
Toyed with the idea of moving to a more sandbelt feel but just couldn't get into it so reverted back to coastal links. Pleased with how it's looking so far with the majority of holes laid out. No planting down yet, surrounding sculpting still to do in most places and no tee-boxes laid other than placeholders. Coastline still to finalise and bunker style to decide on. All bankers laid down to date are essentially placeholders at the moment. Few photos below to show progress (which is really slow despite the amount of time I've spent on it!). Still so much to do!!! Hoping to have a beta ready in a couple of weeks... 1st hole - short par 4. Nasty green with large bank on the left making approach from left side of fairway awkward for a couple of the pins.  2nd hole - long par 4, width off the tee but tricky 2nd depending on which pin is in play and which side of the fairway you're coming from. Lion's mouth-type bunker may go.  4th - drivable 4 with small cove left  5th - par 4 along the cliff-top. 4th green to the left and split fairway of the 3rd (par 5) also left. This has the other potential bunker style on it which doesn't feel quite links-like enough for me.  6th Par 3. Stream off the back. Tiered green  7th - Reachable par 5 with drive down the right of the stream. Loads of room left but little chance of making green in 2. Layup to the left using shared fairway with 2 leaves awkward pitch over stream with green running away. Probably need to narrow the stream a little  9th - par 3. 110 yards. Steep bank behind with stream  10th. Short 4 reachable with good tailwind but awkward layup with 3 wood or iron. Downhill 12th (par 5) in view to the left and split fairway 13th doglegging to the right  Par 3, 14th. 185 yards, slightly uphill.   |
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Post by Leecey on Oct 20, 2020 19:46:28 GMT -5
Have just posted a very rough Beta of the full 18 - Leecey RDC Beta v.1. Would love any comments at all on what people think if you have time to have a look. At this stage I'm interested in comments on overall playability and hole design but would happily take any thoughts on how to take it forward. Most of the surrounding sculpting is still to sort out but want to get the main hole layout sorted before doing anything else.
A few health warnings if you do play:
- Literally zero planting has been done except for a few experiments on hole 1
- Bunker sculpting is still to tidy up on all holes except 1-3. Some bunkers are placeholders at the moment
- Coastline and cove still to sort out
- I intend to have a village running along the 15th and 18th that's not been started yet
- Tee-box layout not yet decided on so just laid out in rectangles at the moment.
Designed to play with fast fairways and firm greens. A strong wind form the east is a killer on my testing so far but it's pretty scoreable with little wind.
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Post by coruler2 on Oct 23, 2020 17:57:38 GMT -5
Saw b101 playing this on stream. Looks like a solid effort. There's some touchups to be done, but great work |
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Post by Leecey on Oct 24, 2020 4:10:12 GMT -5
Thanks coruler- was a very early draft and the comments were really useful. Funny that watching someone else play the course makes you look at it in much more detail. Felt like the back 9 was a bit samey and ran out of steam a bit so am focusing on re-doing some of the holes from 12-17. May mean a major re-route but hopefully it’ll be worth it.
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Post by b101 on Oct 24, 2020 10:16:28 GMT -5
Funny that watching someone else play the course makes you look at it in much more detail. Echo this entirely - pretty much any time I've seen someone else play my courses, there's been a shot that reacted differently to what I've seen beforehand. You get better with experience, but there'll always be things people see that surprise/annoy you. Take it in stride  |
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Post by Leecey on Oct 25, 2020 3:12:35 GMT -5
Funny that watching someone else play the course makes you look at it in much more detail. Take it in stride Definitely am doing. I'm very new to the game and the designer having only got into it in May so treating the whole contest as a good way to learn more about design, strategy and architecture in general. Definitely making me look at courses I've played IRL in a different light just with the few bits and pieces I've picked up to date. Thanks again for the playthrough and the thoughts on the layout to date - started a major re-route last night so V.2 is likely to look a lot different on the back 9. |
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Post by Leecey on Nov 2, 2020 17:54:03 GMT -5
I've done a fair bit of work on the back 9 in the last couple of weeks and it's pretty much completely different. Changed one of the par 4s for a par 3 and changed the drivable par 4 17th, to a short 4 to make use of some dead space in the middle of the routing. I've now got a really nice central core around the halfway house / lighthouse (still to be properly developed) with 5 greens within a 200 yard triangle that I don't think feels particularly tight. Does mean I've got 18 playing directly away from the good lighting but I think that it's worthwhile. A few pics below. Hoping to make a start on planting in the next few days and then external stuff, including village and dormy/boat house, clubhouse, halfway house(that's a lot of houses!) following after that. Still so much to do but I'm relatively happy with the core of the course now. Few updated photos below. Central core of 6th, 8th, 9th, 12th and 17th greens. Remodelled cliff-side drivable 10th towards the small marina and boathouse.  Re-designed 13th, 14th and 16th green sites which will sit as the far corner of the course and corner of village  |
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Post by aeastwood54 on Nov 7, 2020 10:37:33 GMT -5
Looks great. It's always great watching others play the course. Changed a green on mine from b101 playthrough that he didnt even mention. It just didnt look quite right when he played it. I'm sure the holes you've redone will be all the better for it. Great work so far. |
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Post by Leecey on Nov 7, 2020 14:26:21 GMT -5
Looks great. It's always great watching others play the course. Changed a green on mine from b101 playthrough that he didnt even mention. It just didnt look quite right when he played it. I'm sure the holes you've redone will be all the better for it. Great work so far. Thanks Allan - think the layout is looking ok but concerned it’s just going to look a little flat given I’ve gone pure links which means major trees and features are out the window and planting is mainly going to be gorse / bush based. Hoping I get time to put some of the meter to good use on the external features subject to time allowing. |
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Post by aeastwood54 on Nov 7, 2020 14:55:25 GMT -5
I'm doing a links also but have tried to have a unique style to it. So I have a few trees and pretty heavily planted. A traditional type links can look an play amazing though when done well.ive no doubts that yours will from what you've shown so far.
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