|
|
Post by jwfickett on Feb 20, 2021 21:29:39 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by Crazycanuck1985 on Feb 20, 2021 22:20:09 GMT -5
My god this looks good.
|
|
|
|
Post by cd06 on Feb 21, 2021 4:08:31 GMT -5
Holy crap Fickett. This looks amazing.
|
|
|
|
Post by hallzballz6908 on Feb 21, 2021 13:19:09 GMT -5
Love what you’ve got going on with the bunkers👍🏻.
|
|
jswift
Weekend Golfer
Posts: 113
|
Post by jswift on Feb 21, 2021 15:13:20 GMT -5
This looks great! Love how you have the heavy rough bleeding out into the dirt in areas, looks really cool. I'm going to second hallzballz on your bunkers.
|
|
|
|
Post by jwfickett on Feb 22, 2021 8:05:53 GMT -5
This looks great! Love how you have the heavy rough bleeding out into the dirt in areas, looks really cool. I'm going to second hallzballz on your bunkers. Thank you. There's one heavy rough brush that has a really thin fuzzy arch, when you make it big enough and hide the main area of the brush under the fairway, letting that fuzzy area be all that is shown in the dirt, it creates a nice patchy sprawl that looks like the grass is kind of lightly maintained. I think it helps transition the otherwise jarring color change between light sandy bare ground and turf. As for the bunkers, I've tried to find a sand color that almost matches the bare ground, so that I can do a modified waste area/bunker combination throughout. Most of the areas will be bare ground but occasionally they will turn into actual bunkers closer to the turf, something like what Gil Hanse did at Pinehurst #4.  |
|
|
|
Post by jwtexan on Feb 22, 2021 20:37:28 GMT -5
I don’t want to alarm you but there appears to be a tree in your fairway
|
|
|
|
Post by jwfickett on Feb 22, 2021 21:00:50 GMT -5
I don’t want to alarm you but there appears to be a tree in your fairway Buddy, there are so many trees in my fairways. |
|
jswift
Weekend Golfer
Posts: 113
|
Post by jswift on Feb 22, 2021 21:07:45 GMT -5
I don’t want to alarm you but there appears to be a tree in your fairway Buddy, there are so many trees in my fairways. Should fire the groundskeepers. |
|
|
|
Post by jwfickett on Feb 22, 2021 21:26:15 GMT -5
Buddy, there are so many trees in my fairways. Should fire the groundskeepers. If you ever find yourself where a fairway tree is in your way, you dun goofed. Think of them as goal posts, and just stay well inside them. They never impede the line of charm. |
|
|
|
Post by jwfickett on Feb 23, 2021 9:18:16 GMT -5
Planning out the remainder of the build -
2/28 - last day to make major sculpting changes (i.e. no more rebuilding holes, adding bunkers, major reshaping of greens, etc. The holes are locked in).
3/7 - holes 1-6 fully planted
3/14 - holes 7-13 fully planted
3/21 - holes 14-18 fully planted
3/28 - detail work done (clubhouse, minor exterior shaping, lighting, weather, tee boxes leveled, 4 pin sets defined, practice areas)
3/29-30 - extensive final playtesting on all pin sets and tees, including "play from here" testing in some of the more extreme/penal areas of the course where I don't think anyone should ever end up which means people definitely will.
3/31 - Publish, immediately realize there are 28 obvious things I missed, cry, have ragrets, etc.
This course is going to be easy for most of you. Hopefully it fits nicely into the CC level. It's wide, the greens are big, the hazards are few, and I could tip it out at 7100 but will probably publish at 6800/6400. I think high winds are going to make it really fun and might provide some challenge, but I'm not setting out to beat anyone up. Fun, playable, and pretty.
|
|
|
|
Post by jwfickett on Mar 9, 2021 8:41:02 GMT -5
We're in the home stretch. No more photos until publication because the look is really starting to come alive and I want it to have a grand entrance.
Only one hole is still really giving me trouble: the par-3 8th. This hole is crucial to the routing (I've painted myself into a corner and have nowhere to go but into it and then out), with the green sitting right up high on a shelf overhanging the Deschutes River. It has all the potential to be one of the most striking visual holes on the course, but it plays directly away from the sun which makes it very washed out looking. Planting it has been tough because the draw distance on the grass isn't enough to fill in the buried bushes, making it just look sparse and unfinished while the bushes sheen brightly off the sunlight.
I could make the hole shorter so the draw is better, but then it would lose some of its effect of requiring a heroic shot over the corner of the riverbow. We're getting to the point where nitpicking is happening, so I guess that's a good thing. I just want every hole to stand out, and this one does but not in the best way.
Holes 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, and 16 are fully planted and looking mint. I've made some aesthetic choices here that are not going to be for everyone, but I think many will find it interesting.
Remaining planting: 2, 5, 8, 10, 14, 15, 17, 18 (touch ups).
Clubhouse detail work, exterior plot, extensive playtesting on pins 2 and 3. Still messing with the lighting but I've got four or five settings that I'm going to decide on in the final days.
Next to zero chance this gets published prior to the end of the month, but I am carving out an hour to two per night to work on it and will up that as needed to get it done if it looks like it will be tight.
Bottom line: We have 18 playable holes on all four pinsets. The holes are mostly good, some are mothereffing *GREAT* and a couple are sorta letdowns but that is mostly due to the direction they play and how washed they look in the light. Sense of scale and sense of place are both foundationally what I was looking for. The course has an identity, some quirk, some strategy, and can be played in any wind. It's going to be next to impossible to get out of my group stage with the quality of designers I'm up against, but this is easily my best work and I'm very proud of myself for committing to a course and seeing it through.
|
|
|
|
Post by ryanmcconnell on Mar 9, 2021 8:42:37 GMT -5
All I'm hearing are excuses.
|
|
reebdoog
TGCT Design Competition Directors
Posts: 2,742 
TGCT Name: Brian Jeffords
Tour: CC-Pro
|
Post by reebdoog on Mar 9, 2021 17:24:56 GMT -5
Get it Job!
|
|
|
|
Post by jwfickett on Mar 17, 2021 11:16:02 GMT -5
|
|
