Sabel Ark Lake Golf

[blueadler]

Hello,
my name is Luca and I write from Italy (Val Gardena) and sorry for my poor English. 
Just installed The Golf Club, I immediately passionate to Greg Norman Course designer and now for a couple of weeks, I'm trying to create my first 18 holes, and I did work my imagination.

I also created a banner of the Hotel 



A famous Hotel on the banks of the small Sabel Ark Lake has decided to create its own Golf Club. The Front 9 are immersed in the woods north of the hotel, while the Back 9 are built around the lake.

... Some WIP screenshot ... hoping to be able to finish and create a playable field 

The Sabel Ark Lake Resort



... some screenshot of the first 5 holes....

[blueadler]

... another small series of screenshots WIP ... for now I have come to create up to the 13th hole, with objects, water and trees ... then there will be to arrange details.

I hope that the work like it, and if anyone has any advice for me I would be really happy, since it is my first 18 holes






















... and this is the aerial view of the first 13 holes ... the other 5 are located on the small island which is located to the right of the screenshot, but I did not put, because I have only traced the hole

[pyates]

Looking really nice, looks to me like you've done an excellent job setting the scene and creating a location for your course. I see a lot of courses (even from top designers) who's holes are lovely in isolation but don't necessarily feel like they are someplace real.

It's hard to tell from screen shots but the holes look nice, will have to play it to see

In case you don't know you can publish your course so that people can try it out even if not yet done. When you do it will say that you can't edit it again which is true (that version will always exist on the servers) but then you can find it under published courses and download again to continue working on it (just don't use your final course name for your test version

Keep up the good work

[blueadler]

thank you pyates

I thought to publish a trial version and call it for example "BETA Sabel Ark" or something similar.
After doing some correction, if someone will give me some suggestions to improve the 18-hole, I will publish the final version with the right name ...

[blueadler]

I finished all 18 holes and some small correction, tomorrow I would publish a beta version ... if anyone has any suggestions only from the screenshots, I'd be happy

these are the last 5 holes on the small island in front of Hotel




... and here more screenshots of the last hole ....














... and with this, the 18th hole, you return to the Clubhouse

[blueadler]

published with the name "BETA Sabel Ark" .... if anyone wants to play I would be very very happy

[williamhotel]

Looks pretty sweet. I'll give it a go soon. Arrivederci.

[ct131313]

Looks great!

[williamhotel]

Luca,

Just played your course. Here are my thoughts.

Hole 1

Need more depth and shaping in bunkers
Liked the tree layout by green

Hole 2

Light rough needs flattening. It has the ribbon effect (wavy).
Be cautious of having too many tree shadows over the hole. Some are good. too many are annoying.

Hole 3

Green seemed too small in comparison to long iron shot needed.
Bunkers need to have more "breathing" room. Meaning they might be too close to fairway edge.

Hole 4

Be careful of blind shots. Golfer should be able to see somewhat without having to use Scout tool.
The green was a little tricky but in a good way.

Hole 5

Like the hole layout
May need to mixup the trees a little. Too much of one kind.
Bunker in front of green in fairway needs the back raised up some.
The fairway to green transition needs smoothing.

Hole 6

Like the look of the yard sticks in front of water.
Like the look of the fence in the back.
Be cautious of too many red lines in the greens. Some red is ok if it fits the design.

Hole 7

Rain shelter seems crooked? Maybe needs to be either on lt rough or heavy rough, not both?
Course needs more flattening and smoothing.
Dummy tee box unlevel? could not tell but should be level.
Most of the bunkers needs flattening (use a soft fuzzy circle brush and flatten the insides of the bunker. makes it look much better. Still keeps depth.

Hole 8

Bunker needs smoothing

Hole 9

Watch for blind tee shots
Light rough needs leveling

Hole 10

Bunkers too close to eachother. need spreadout more.
Careful of putting rocks too close to green. Sometimes golfballs get "stuck" in rocks. Weird bu true.
Might need to mixup the bunker shapes by the green. Too many similar sizes. Combine a couple different shapes for a different look.

Hole 11

Tree too close to green fringe
The curved bridge looks nice but doesn't fit with Hole 12 being close.
Fence may be unneccessary and could impede golfer's swing if too close.

Hole 12

Blind tee shot.
Light rough may be overdone (designer choice though).
Fence too close to fairway. May impede golfer's swing.

Hole 13

Nice challenging first shot.
Bunkers need shaping

Hole 14

Light rough not even enough with other side. May need to space each side somewhat equal (looks more professional when both sides are shorter and more equal).
Tree bush seems too close to green surface. May impede putt?

Hole 15

Avoid placing rocks too close to green

Hole 16

This is a nice looking bridge
Be cautious of red lines heading toward bunkers
Tree overhanging on green
Nice scenic view

Hole 17

Bunker in middle/side of green seems oddly placed. Not sure how you would putt if caught on the one side.
Tree blocking golfers view on second shot could be replaced by another tree with jus the leaves on top (Pine?)

Hole 18

Bushes in front of golfer on tee box distracting (designers choice?). Did not impede shot though.
Be very cautious when placing hole too close too a red lined slope. Nothing makes a golfer more mad than hitting the ball within 3 feet of cup and having it roll back down hill.
Again that is a designers choice but people may not replay course if it has too many red lined greens.
Nice clubhouse view on flyover.

So, hopefully you took this with a grain of salt. My intention was to just point out some things that I saw.
Overall, your hole designs were good. I like the look of the elevations. just be careful of having too many blind shots.
I am not a top designer but I have seen and played some of the top courses and this is what they do.
If you have not watched any of CrazyCanuck1985's 10 part course design videos, i would highly advise that you do. You will learn so much on how everything fits together.
It is in the Course Design / tips and tricks section here on the site.
Good luck to you in your designs.

Chiao

tgctours.proboards.com/thread/2292/course-design-101-10-series

[blueadler]

Thank you very long and precise answer  ... some of my choices are rightly wrong and I fear that too many greens were blind.

In the first few holes I tried to create the greens surrounded by forest, but perhaps there are too many trees and are just annoying. 
In some greens I had difficulty level them and there are too many slopes ... you're right

I will look again the CrazyCanuck1985's tutorial to discover other "secrets" 


Thanks again of your observations, many changes I'll definitely 

ciao ciao

[blueadler]

I made some changes, including many suggested by William, because he was right about so many things

... in particular I remade and corrected some areas ....

Green HOLE 2


Green HOLE 3


Bunker before the green HOLE 5


Tee and Dummy Tee HOLE 7


remove the trees before Green HOLE 8


bunker on Green HOLE 10


Fairway HOLE 11 and Tee HOLE 12


Fairway HOLE 14


Green HOLE 16


Fairway HOLE 17


Teen and tree on Green HOLE 18




... now what is more fair to? ... Publish another beta or publish the final version?
I would not publish too many versions ... how do I do in this case?

[williamhotel]

Looking good. Keep at it.
You can publish as many betas as you want. I would only do a couple though, two or three.
They have tons of room on their servers. Just keep calling it Beta1, Beta2, etc... Until your are ready for the real name.
Let me know if you put another version up and I will give it another go.

[blueadler]

... just published version "BETA 2 Sabel Ark"

[blueadler]

... Still a few tweaks on the green of the 18th hole ....

I know, maybe I do too many screenshots and you'll probably get bored too but I love working with the GNCC .... and I would be able to create a very realistic field and beautiful to play






... aerial view of the whole field....

[williamhotel]

Played Beta 2 last night. Much improved from first version. Keep working at it. If you raised the tee box up on hole 9 just a bit, it might reduce the blind tee shot.
Overhead picture above looks sweet. Not sure if I can get that with PS4 though.