mooz
Caddy
Posts: 19
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Post by mooz on Dec 29, 2021 19:40:26 GMT -5
I thought it'd be nice to try and keep an on-going journal of my first semi-serious crack at a full course, both to see my own progress and also to potentially get feedback from you kind folks WIP Name - "The Modern"This course is taking influence mostly from three courses (none of which I've played, but have just seen videos of): - Meadowbrook CC
- Winged Foot
- Inverness Club
I'm an artist, so I approached this like I would an art project and created a mood board to summarize the main concepts I enjoy in these three courses. Some key things I aim to try and replicate:- A balance of minimalist design ideas with "natural" aesthetics, especially in the bunker and green contouring.
- Dramatic, "swooping" bunker lip designs, especially around green
- Really interesting and dramatic green sites and internal contouring
- That golden "fescue grass" look around certain bunkers and rough areas (especially at Meadowbrook CC)
- A good mix of natural design inclusions mixed with overtly intentional constructions (such as the mounding at Inverness)
I have a few holes roughed out, which I'll post some screenshots for soon!
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mooz
Caddy
Posts: 19
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Post by mooz on Dec 30, 2021 18:15:21 GMT -5
Trying to get that grassy/shaggy bunker style. Not sure how I feel about this. It's probably the most "accurate" in terms of using grass, but a.) seems very uniform even when I try to vary size and placement and b.) the draw distance on grass is PAINFULLY short, so it very much "pops" into view. I'd welcome any feedback on getting this sort of look in-game effectively. Attempting to get those "swooping" bunkers, kinda happy with this and with the contouring of the green (heavily inspired by hole 1 at Winged Foot) A look at the first green from the other side. I wanted a fairly challenging first with interesting green contours - a tier in front, another in back, and a false front make gauging shot distance important!
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Post by sturat64 on Jan 3, 2022 0:07:02 GMT -5
Trying to get that grassy/shaggy bunker style. Not sure how I feel about this. It's probably the most "accurate" in terms of using grass, but a.) seems very uniform even when I try to vary size and placement and b.) the draw distance on grass is PAINFULLY short, so it very much "pops" into view. I'd welcome any feedback on getting this sort of look in-game effectively. Attempting to get those "swooping" bunkers, kinda happy with this and with the contouring of the green (heavily inspired by hole 1 at Winged Foot) A look at the first green from the other side. I wanted a fairly challenging first with interesting green contours - a tier in front, another in back, and a false front make gauging shot distance important! Looks very cool!
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cambuehl
Weekend Golfer
designing for fun, occasionally having it
Posts: 78
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Post by cambuehl on Jan 3, 2022 12:45:18 GMT -5
those green complexes are looking beautiful and fun to play, I love the sculpting with that lighting. very cool process to start with the mood boards and pick and choose pieces of inspiration
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mooz
Caddy
Posts: 19
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Post by mooz on Jan 12, 2022 21:21:00 GMT -5
Update! So, after watching Ben's tutorials on routing, I decided to take a more concrete pass of my planned routing. And I'm glad I did! I feel like I've added contrast and "flow" compared to what I had on the first pass. Also managed to make a rough pass at holes 2 and 3! Hole 2 is mid-length par 4 with bunkers guarding the idea side of the fairway off to the right (especially for pins on the left of the green). The green faces nearly horizontal to the playing direction, and is guarded with a bunker short, so rolling on isn't an option like it is on 1. For hole 3 I wanted to try something kinda fun based on one of my inspiration courses: a Tillinghast-esque cross bunker placed well short of a par 3 green. Not necessarily in play, I'm hoping the placement will both intimidate as well as slightly throw off judgement of distance, especially given the mounded green and the blind "back canyon" behind the green for any shots that err just a tad too far...
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mooz
Caddy
Posts: 19
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Post by mooz on Jan 12, 2022 21:22:17 GMT -5
those green complexes are looking beautiful and fun to play, I love the sculpting with that lighting. very cool process to start with the mood boards and pick and choose pieces of inspiration Thanks very much! I figure, if you're gonna start somewhere, might as well take inspiration from those that know what they're doing!
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ixggolf
Caddy
'Ambitious beyond ability'
Posts: 19
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Post by ixggolf on Jan 16, 2022 9:37:14 GMT -5
Fantastic start - really looking forward to see how this develops!
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Post by jwtexan on Jan 19, 2022 10:26:20 GMT -5
I have another Ben video recommendation for you, which from the excellent looks of the flat bottom bunkers you have going, you might have found already. It is about pot bunkers, but the concept of getting the sand flat that he uses helps. You just have to do it on a much bigger scale with the bunkers you have going, instead of just in little pots.
Personally, if you haven't found it already, I can't recommend the last brush (bottom right) on the last page (5/5) enough for flat bottom bunker sculpting. The one that is slightly curved. It really helps get the rough around the bunker down to the flat spot in stand out ways because even though the brush is pretty skinny, it is actually sloped toward one side really well. I recommend getting right on the edge of any curve in the bunker between the sand and the rough and going down (or up) 6 to 8 inches at a time and just hitting "a" a few times. It works wonders. Many of the green sites at bungalow were carved into the bunkers using that last brush on the last page. It led to some fun greens and fairways with the slight curve adding a lot to the look in different spots. It even works at the top edges as well up on the green moving 1-2 inches at a time.
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Post by theclv24 on Jan 19, 2022 11:54:45 GMT -5
OOoh, I like the mood board. I've collected photos for inspiration before but never organized them in a way that was useful. Perhaps I'll try the board at some point.
And as someone who has played and built Meadowbrook, built Winged Foot, and walked Inverness, I'm not sure you could pick 3 better courses for inspiration.
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mooz
Caddy
Posts: 19
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Post by mooz on Mar 19, 2022 14:19:05 GMT -5
Been a while! Work has kept me a bit busy, but I've found some time this weekend and I'm working on things. However, the break in time has led to some changes in my tastes. I've decided that attempting that rugged fescue look in this game is either beyond me right now, or just not to my liking! The solution? A more clean and "curated" design aesthetic! And after watching The Fried Egg's videos on TPC Sawgrass, I think I found a good starting point. Already a pretty big fan of Dye's bunker design, I also love the pine straw look and how it accents the curves and designs on the course. So we're going to lean into that a bit! Modern 2.0 it is then. This time I decided rather than jumping right in, I want to get a "look" down first. So I made one hole, won't be using it in the final course but this was just to get an idea down. I want that TPC Sawgrass look, but more pine and less palm. I imagine this would be something you could find in an almost Appalachian setting? Maybe? Let me know what you think!
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Post by fargo on Mar 19, 2022 18:15:45 GMT -5
Bunkers look fantastic
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mooz
Caddy
Posts: 19
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Post by mooz on May 31, 2022 12:45:24 GMT -5
Work has kept me busy, but I found some time to come back to this AGAIN and we're moving back closer to my original idea. I think the issue was that I needed a "focus" to tie the course together. After seeing videos about Southern Hills, I decided to go back to my original parkland style idea with one addition - a winding creek! So I'm going to take some inspiration on using the creek in a variety of ways. One thing I'm having trouble deciding is how to frame my greens. My original influence from places like Winged Foot would mean having almost no rollout areas, but one thing I like about Southern Hills is the fact that many of the areas near the creeks are fairway - leading to the risk of rollouts into water hazards on missed greens. So I'm trying to decide which to lean more towards: completely open rollout areas around the greens, or a bit tighter in (but still moreso than WF). Here's an example on my new first hole to give you all an idea of what I'm talking about: Original (more like Southern Hills): One possible idea to tighten up the landing areas. I do like how these shapes tend to help frame/accentuate the squarish greens of places like WF:
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