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Post by senior8421 on Dec 20, 2021 10:46:06 GMT -5
I have heard the above term several times and I am wondering if someone could please explain to me the difference between an approval and a soft approval?
I also have seen many times in courses where there are houses placed through out the course with no obvious way to get to them from anywhere (meaning roads or cart paths). I actually love the look that this creates through out a course but I am wondering if this alone would keep a course from getting approved.
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Post by sroel908 on Dec 20, 2021 10:55:38 GMT -5
I have heard the above term several times and I am wondering if someone could please explain to me the difference between an approval and a soft approval?
I also have seen many times in courses where there are houses placed through out the course with no obvious way to get to them from anywhere (meaning roads or cart paths). I actually love the look that this creates through out a course but I am wondering if this alone would keep a course from getting approved.
As I understand it, a "soft approval" is a course that essentially does just enough to get an approval designation. This means that it plays and functions as a golf course, but that's it. The range of approved courses in the database is vast. Some do just enough to get approval, while others are close to being Tour Worthy but just miss the mark. As far as your question about roads and paths, I'm not a reviewer, but I think the off-course or non-golf things are not as important as how the course actually plays. If you have roads that lead nowhere, but the course plays well and looks pretty good, you should get approval. Here is the list of guidelines for getting a course approved...follow these rules and you should be fine: tgctours.proboards.com/thread/27553/tgctours-course-database-guidelines-updated
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Post by senior8421 on Dec 20, 2021 11:23:42 GMT -5
So is there a way to tell which approval a submitted course has received?
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Post by sroel908 on Dec 20, 2021 11:30:59 GMT -5
So is there a way to tell which approval a submitted course has received? There are only three official designations: Approved, Not Approved, and Tour Worthy. "Soft Approval" is not an official designation...it's more of an unofficial way of reviewers saying where a course falls within the "Approved" spectrum. So you won't really know if your course is a "soft approve" or an approval close to Tour Worthy unless you'd specifically ask a reviewer to know where on that "Approval" spectrum your course landed.
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Post by senior8421 on Dec 20, 2021 11:32:43 GMT -5
Thanks you for the info.
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Post by mattf27 on Dec 20, 2021 13:08:41 GMT -5
So is there a way to tell which approval a submitted course has received? The system sends out an automated email with the status when the course is reviewed. If you aren't able to see that, the courses status should show in the database as well.
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Post by mattf27 on Dec 20, 2021 13:32:36 GMT -5
Sroel pretty much nailed it. "Soft approve" isn't an official designation, it's just reviewer shorthand for something that just falls on the approved side of the "approved/not approved" fence. Usually a "soft approve" course has numerous issues with playability or standard technical stuff, but isn't egregious enough for it to warrant a "not approved." Not approved is reserved for courses that don't fit the criteria (Non-18 hole courses, autogen courses, and less than 4 pinsets are the most common) or have significant issues. Tour worthy is for the top courses that also fit the difficulty/playability window we're looking for, leaving approved with the widest window for quality. Some pretty rough courses can get approved, as well as some great courses (Say, a well made municipal style course that tips out at 6,200 yards, or a 8,400 yard fantasy course).
As far as the house thing goes, that wouldn't really affect the rating. Generally the off-course stuff has to be really bad for it to bump a course down a rating, so houses just being used for background decoration wouldn't be an issue.
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Post by senior8421 on Dec 20, 2021 13:40:12 GMT -5
Thanks for the clarification Matt.
I really like the way the houses are used for background effect on the courses I have played. I am trying to get good enough to get to Tour Worthy at some point and was curious if that had any baring on it. The issue I run into while trying to design a course that might be worthy is that I have never played a round of golf in my life so anything I build is based solely on what I see in reference materials such as pics on the internet or other designers courses.
Again,
Thank you for your input and for the Twitch design sessions. I really enjoy watching them
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Post by Celtic Wolf on Dec 21, 2021 6:53:24 GMT -5
Thanks for the clarification Matt.
I really like the way the houses are used for background effect on the courses I have played. I am trying to get good enough to get to Tour Worthy at some point and was curious if that had any baring on it. The issue I run into while trying to design a course that might be worthy is that I have never played a round of golf in my life so anything I build is based solely on what I see in reference materials such as pics on the internet or other designers courses.
Again,
Thank you for your input and for the Twitch design sessions. I really enjoy watching them
Having never played a round of golf in my life I think gathering info about real courses can help. I've used Top 100 golf courses site and picked a lesser known course between 6800-7200 yards then see if I can get a course layout map as well as yardages for each hole. There's a YouTube channel called Flyovergreen that gives you flyovers for each hole which can help with elevations and layout. Google Earth can be a good help as well as it has a measuring tool to help with fairway shapes, bunker placement and green sizes. Probably best to stick to municipal type courses as there's less elevations and humps on the playing surfaces. You don't have to be precise and may want to alter parts to make it more suitable for the game. Above all else try make an enjoyable course and don't worry about how low players will score.
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