cg444 - Rookie Design WIP

[zacheroni]

cg stands for Creek Guy right? All of the creeks you've made have really impressed me! I gave the beta a whirl and it was really good!

[cg444]

Dec 2, 2021 19:29:04 GMT -5 zacheroni said:

cg stands for Creek Guy right? All of the creeks you've made have really impressed me! I gave the beta a whirl and it was really good!

I've decided my next course after this will not have a creek as this is 2/2 contest courses with one - I love the options it gives for creekside holes and hills either side!

[cg444]

I have published a second Beta of 11 holes under cg444-RookieBeta2 - includes the front 9 and then the 13th and 14th - would love to get some feedback and thoughts as have made a first pass at green sculpting and would like to get thoughts on playability and hole designs!

Feel free to look around the rest of the plot if you are on PC at some unfinished holes

[Firethorn15]

Fellow rookie here, putting my best b101 hat on - feel free to take or leave any of the following as always.

Overall I thought this was really good. Hole designs made sense and greens were fair and rewarding. After the 4th I was a bit concerned we were having lots of "hold the high side of the fairway for the better angle in" tee shots, but I don't think there were any after that. #7's green site and shape is really good. The drivable par 4 (#13) perhaps needs a bit more danger, as even into the wind I was able to clear the cross bunkers and get close - would love them to be a little closer to the green or perhaps on a L-R diagonal, so that you'd have to challenge the carry to the right to avoid ending up way left of the green. Then you'd risk ending up in a bunker with a tough pitch down onto the green running away from you.

I think the environment is possibly where I'd have a few comments. Perhaps the stream isn't planted yet, but the combination of rugged heathery planting (which by the way is excellent) and clean banks felt a bit off to me. I'd probably extend the planting down to the water's edge. Some of the treelines were a bit repetitive - see behind the green in the picture in your post above, as well as #9 and #13 on the right. Maybe these are just temporary filler for the edge of the course? Have you tried burying trees to alter the base texture? Not sure what your theme is, but it worked quite nicely in Boreal when I had a go at a heathland course, and I know Ben mentioned switching to Autumn being even better in his Crepe Myrtle playthrough. Personally I'm not a fan of the small circular tee boxes, but perhaps that's a matter of taste. Finally, I think the lighting's a little gloomy when the sun goes in - perhaps dial back a bit on the clouds?

Sorry for the long text splurge. Keep going at it - you're a long way ahead of me and it looks very good so far!

[cg444]

Dec 11, 2021 10:58:04 GMT -5 Firethorn15 said:

Fellow rookie here, putting my best b101 hat on - feel free to take or leave any of the following as always.

Overall I thought this was really good. Hole designs made sense and greens were fair and rewarding. After the 4th I was a bit concerned we were having lots of "hold the high side of the fairway for the better angle in" tee shots, but I don't think there were any after that. #7's green site and shape is really good. The drivable par 4 (#13) perhaps needs a bit more danger, as even into the wind I was able to clear the cross bunkers and get close - would love them to be a little closer to the green or perhaps on a L-R diagonal, so that you'd have to challenge the carry to the right to avoid ending up way left of the green. Then you'd risk ending up in a bunker with a tough pitch down onto the green running away from you.

I think the environment is possibly where I'd have a few comments. Perhaps the stream isn't planted yet, but the combination of rugged heathery planting (which by the way is excellent) and clean banks felt a bit off to me. I'd probably extend the planting down to the water's edge. Some of the treelines were a bit repetitive - see behind the green in the picture in your post above, as well as #9 and #13 on the right. Maybe these are just temporary filler for the edge of the course? Have you tried burying trees to alter the base texture? Not sure what your theme is, but it worked quite nicely in Boreal when I had a go at a heathland course, and I know Ben mentioned switching to Autumn being even better in his Crepe Myrtle playthrough. Personally I'm not a fan of the small circular tee boxes, but perhaps that's a matter of taste. Finally, I think the lighting's a little gloomy when the sun goes in - perhaps dial back a bit on the clouds?

Sorry for the long text splurge. Keep going at it - you're a long way ahead of me and it looks very good so far!

Thanks Firethorn15 - appreciate you taking the time to have a play and give your thoughts!

There are on reflection maybe one too many hold the high side tee shots in the first few holes, it's part of the strategy overall but might dial one down a bit!

Glad you like 7, that has been completely redesigned as a hole

13 is one of those I've had about 78 versions of so wanted to get thoughts on a beta, I like the concept but agree with you some more danger could come in. Idea is longer carry towards the right has more chance of holding the green, but its one I'm looking at potentially moving the green further right or left

The trees around the course are filler for now and the stream is not started yet on planting so glad it felt weird - because the heathy look is dense I am making sure I don't create lag city before focusing on the stream and surrounds. Theme is Boreal, may use base trees to surround the course and add in pines to make more cohesive

Again, thanks for the feedback and time - much appreciated and if you have a beta you'd like me to red fast it round let me know!

[jcollick]

Hey Chris, just got around to playing your beta.

First off gotta say I thought a lot of the hole designs were strong and played well. Overall I think the planting looked pretty good, especially from far away (one negative is when you get closer to it sometimes it can look a touch big). I’d take a look at your bunker lip planting around the greens as well as it blocks the view a tad much if you’re in it. Would maybe try shrinking it a bit.



Also like in the above post, I agree the tree lines are kind of repetitive and uniform. Try mixing up the pines a bit more. The type of treeline you have right now is hard to pull off but if you just swap out a couple pines and heights I think it could look really good. Could prolly switch up the tree line completely bordering the edges of the course to be pretty thick once you take out the filler trees, and would also help break up the uniformity of it. Also gotta say the stream sculpting was very well done and will look very good once you plant it.

Another area that I think you could take a look at on a couple holes is the green sculpting. A lot of the holes were very good but some movement on the greens just felt forced a touch in some spots. More of the first picture and less of the second. Right now in the second you can see exactly what brush you took to raise it up. The first picture you nailed the sculpting and the greens makes sense.





Overall really good job and just remember I’m just trying to be super critical just to offer a different perspective. By no means am I just trying to rip apart your course. Keep it up and can’t wait to play the final product!

[cg444]

Dec 15, 2021 19:41:18 GMT -5 jcollick said:

Hey Chris, just got around to playing your beta.

First off gotta say I thought a lot of the hole designs were strong and played well. Overall I think the planting looked pretty good, especially from far away (one negative is when you get closer to it sometimes it can look a touch big). I’d take a look at your bunker lip planting around the greens as well as it blocks the view a tad much if you’re in it. Would maybe try shrinking it a bit.



Also like in the above post, I agree the tree lines are kind of repetitive and uniform. Try mixing up the pines a bit more. The type of treeline you have right now is hard to pull off but if you just swap out a couple pines and heights I think it could look really good. Could prolly switch up the tree line completely bordering the edges of the course to be pretty thick once you take out the filler trees, and would also help break up the uniformity of it. Also gotta say the stream sculpting was very well done and will look very good once you plant it.

Another area that I think you could take a look at on a couple holes is the green sculpting. A lot of the holes were very good but some movement on the greens just felt forced a touch in some spots. More of the first picture and less of the second. Right now in the second you can see exactly what brush you took to raise it up. The first picture you nailed the sculpting and the greens makes sense.





Overall really good job and just remember I’m just trying to be super critical just to offer a different perspective. By no means am I just trying to rip apart your course. Keep it up and can’t wait to play the final product!

Thanks jcollick - really appreciate you taking the time to have a play and for the comments!

On the treeline - totally agree and am working through a more varied edge of course planting with varied heights and species to make it feel more natural - I am also planning to open up the internal tree lines a bit more and use more bushes so it looks dense even from far away (and give more big views across the course)

On the green sculpting - something I am trying to get much better at and am going to be having a second pass at the sculpting - I want it to try and be natural whilst making sure it makes sense (flows with the land etc) - planning to have a new beta out in the new year as I am going over fairway/green sculpting as well as opening the course up a bit - really appreciate your comments and will definitely give your Beta a go at some point!

[jcollick]

Sounds like you have ideas on what to improve going forward. Like I said I think the holes are really strong. Just tweaking things a touch will make it loads better. Keep it up.

[cg444]

Some teaser pics as we go into the final straight - thanks to all of you who have given me feedback!

All hole designs pretty much finalised with some tidying up to do of pins (balanced across all 4 sets - usually I go easier to harder but want to move away from that!) - a couple of holes are subject to some changes and green sculpting is nearly there but again want to really nail them - have taken inspo from some of the DT courses


This project started as a dense pine forest with heathery underbrush - however played around with bushes rather than pines to give it a more heathland/common feel and it looks better imo - more big views across the course. The treeline around the course edge is being worked on - initial feedback was it was too linear so have varied it up and will be surrounding the whole course with similar style.

[pizzastrangler]

Love the underbrush planting.