Burnt-out Tasmanian course maybe? (CC design comp WIP)

[fargo]

Merry Christmas everyone. It's Christmas eve and the kids are in bed and the presents are under the tree. So I've fired up the PS4 and I think I've established the nucleus of a course which will be my CC design comp entry.

I enjoyed updating my previous course WIP thread, and I enjoy reading the threads of other designers.

I've never entered a comp before so there's a few things I'll need to do differently: speed things up now that there's a deadline, think more about designing to a specific difficulty and suitability to host a tournament, and incorporating the three mandatory design elements.

I've got one hole down in a very rough state, probably either the 1st or the 10th I suppose. With that hole I've been playing around with textures, colours, lighting, vegetation to come up with a look that hopefully I can base my course on. I've used delta theme, I've never used this theme before and I want to play around with the "clear generated heavy rough" tool. I want to try to do something cool with very low lighting - just for fun and for a challenge. I've always considered shadows and lighting when I've built my courses but I want to push that concept a bit further and see how I go. I know there'll be challenges with the lighting as I go around the routing, I want to try to let the lighting take the lead in determining hole design - for example if a bunker complex looks great on the left side of the fairway in the half-shadow, but looks flat and blown-out on the right side in the direct sun, then I'll build the bunkers on the side that like good and I'll design the hole around that.

Bunker style is going for blown out sandy dunes in the style of Tasmanian courses like Barnbougle, Cape Wickham, King Island. My initial idea is each 9 interacts with the ocean, general plan is: holes 1,2, 8 and 9 are linking holes down from the clubhouse area high up on dunes, and then there's a 5 hole complex (holes 3-7) which interact with the ocean somehow. Then repeat the general idea on the back nine, but change up the manner in which the holes meet the water (eg beach, cliffs, dunes etc). But honestly I don't know how this lighting / colour palette will look with ocean / beach / cliffs - I suppose I'll find out when I go to build those holes.

So anyway, some photos below. This hole is an uphill par 5 with a generous fairway and reachable in 2 in most conditions. Trouble with a blowout bunker on the right of the fairway and some more trouble long and left which will only be reachable by the very big hitters. Uphill second should give a great view over the back of the hole when the player engages scout cam - down across part of the course and with plenty of room to build something interesting in the off-course area. 9th or 18th hole in view on the left, that hole hasn't been built yet.

Of course this is all in theory and the final course might be drastically different to what I've written here.

[hhhaaarrryyy]

Good luck Fargo. Just need to get fully inspired with a theme/look to aim for. Made the most professional and legit looking clubhouse/pro shop area etc up to now. For me, i usually fob this part off a slap something pretty basic down so happy with that but.. need to find that inspiration.

Merry Christmas to you n the family bud

[fargo]

Progressing on this slowly. I'm not 100% sure if this is going to work properly, it's going to be fairly dark and fairly monotone, trying to breathe visual interest mainly through use of shadows, bunkers and the texture of the rough. Not sure if it's going to end up too dark.

I have a provisional routing which will definately change.

I'm not sure on the planting that I'll use. I've put down a bit on various places as test areas. I'm determined to keep the planting down to a minimum on this course, most of the rough and dunes won't need to be planted as the shadows and textures do the work there.

Still trying to get the look and the scale of sand dunes down. I've been working on a couple holes down by the ocean, the plan is to get the dunes on those holes looking good and then use that as a base for the scale throughout the rest of the course.

These pics are the approach to a par 4 on a headland with a short par 3 across a small cove behind (both far from being finished). I've put some rocks in on the first hole and some planting on the second, I think I'll definately go with a rocky platform look like in the first photo and then plant it out a little to soften the transitions. We'll see...

[fargo]

Happy with how some of the holes down by the water are turning out. I've added some beaches and plenty of planting and rocks. I'll end up with 4 or 5 holes by the water, the two below are going to be the 14th - medium par 4 with beaches on the left. And the greensite of the 15th which is a short par 3.

There's also an image of what the plot looks like now. There will be 5 holes against the ocean, 9 holes aross some links / dune land, and 4 holes along a ridgeline overlooking the rest of the course. There will be plenty of interlinking fairways and tightly knit holes in the middle of the course. The routing also currently includes one crossover hole, which I might keep.

[fargo]

I've done most of the shoreline and holes adjacent to the ocean, ended up with a nice looking peninsula which contains most of the holes. After setting the routing I've been working from the outside first and will be working my way in. But I've also been doing bits and pieces on the inland holes - none are close to being finished yet, but many have key elements like bunkers and dunes placed. There's a couple photos below of the 6th and the 16th holes which show some of the planting and bunkering that I've put in so far.

[fargo]

And this is hole 8, one of the holes away from the water in the duneland up and behind. A view from the tee and one looking at the approach. 

The clubhouse and many if the trees you can see behind the green are placeholders. I haven't started thinking about the clubhouse - it's very prominent and will be visible from almost everywhere on the course. The 9th tee is just behind and to the right, that's going to be a par 3 to the left of the clubhouse. Hole 1 teebox is way to the right of the screen - haven't started either hole. The driveway will come in somewhere behind this hole, and there is a bit of room off to the right which might end up as a carpark or maybe driving range.

I'm pretty happy with the rugged look of this hole.

[d2k8888]

This is evolving nicely! Can't wait it to play it.

[fargo]

Jan 9, 2023 0:28:02 GMT -5 d2k8888 said:

This is evolving nicely! Can't wait it to play it.

Thanks mate. Yeah that's why I quite like posting updates here - I honestly have no idea how a course is going to turn out so it's nice to look back at how the plot evolves.

[fargo]

Quite a few photos today. Been working on the 9th hole, a par 3. Thought I'd take a few screenshots as I go with this hole. 

Previous post showed where hole 9 sits on the plot, behind hole 8 and with the clubhouse behind. First photo is the provisional routing before I've touched anything. The other par 3s on the course are a little shorter, so this one is going to be longer at around 200 yards.



Before starting on this hole there's already a lot going for this hole location - it's adjacent to the clubhouse so I can use that in some way. It's got a really nice view over the back and I've set the heights of the teebox and green waypoints in such a way that the view is nicely framed when scout cam is engaged. One of the mandatory design elements that I am going for is to have 4 greens within 200 yards of each other, and all of them are visible when you hit scout-cam, so it makes sense to try to emphasise that. An uphill hole to a skyline green makes sense for the plot and routing. So after setting the waypoints and putting in a provisional green, here's the view from the tee and from scout cam:




Put in a bunker, see how that looks: 



Not great, but a pair of nested bunkers looks better:



Starting to see the hole a little now, being uphill and without any really dramatic elements like water or a cliff etc around the hole I figure bunkers on both side climbing up the hill would probably be best, so a few have gone in on the left:



I like to plant my holes as I build them, I find it hard to visualise the hole so once I get the basic strategy or idea down I'll start building it from the tee shot forward. The clubhouse on the right is very important for this hole so I might as well start there, getting some basic proportions, scale and angles, and planting out some areas. Using the Palo Verde on the right as it captures the sunlight hitting the top of the plants very well. The clubhouse buildings will change but I like the planting and the stone wall on the right giving a patio effect. Some scrubby sandy dunes on the left, and I've built out the teebox area.



And then here's a pic from behind the green after a little surfacing and sculpting work. I haven't done any fine work around this green or in the bunkers and will tidy everything up down the track.



I won't plant out behind the green until I've built the other holes that you can see behind the green, then when painting between the holes I'll be able to take those other greens into consideration. I also won't do any more work on the clubhouse until I've built the 18th hole, which will finish to the left side of the clubhouse as you look at it in that last picture.

So for now I've done what I can with hole 9 and I'll move on to another hole. I probably should get hole 18 built, might get cracking on that next, and along with that will be working on clubhouse and surrounds.

[fargo]

Ok, my last update for a while as I'm off to go drink cocktails on a beach for a couple weeks.

As I use a PS4 I'm not able to use the free-roam cam and I can't zoom out very far, which means I've never been able to get any routing pics before. But because this is a very tight course on a small plot, I can actually fit it all in one frame for once.

The very first photo in this thread was an uphill par 5 - that entire hole has gone due routing issues - I noticed that all 3 of my par 5s ran in very similar directions. So I took that hole out, re-routed a few holes, and now my second hole is a par 5 running across the top of the plot. Needed to create a brand new 1st hole too. But it all seems to work quite well now.

Some holes are virtually finished, some I haven't started on (eg 13 at the bottom of the image). Most are somewhere in-between.

I've put in a clubhouse which looks ok so far, have tried to build something fairly traditional looking with the stone houses and some other shelters etc.

Planting is at 20% and I'm guessing I'll finish the course at less than double that. But that also depends on whether and how much grass I add  - there is none on the course now and I'm not sure if I'll need some, or if I'll need a lot. We shall see.

There are two crossovers on the course now. 

[boynsy]

One thing that I've always struggle with in building courses in this sort of style is the transition between "grass" and "not grass" textural elements. You've managed to make it transition gently so that it looks like there are patches of scraggly grass that's not really being tended to by the greenstaff and I'm insanely jealous!

[fargo]

Jan 17, 2023 11:02:51 GMT -5 boynsy said:

One thing that I've always struggle with in building courses in this sort of style is the transition between "grass" and "not grass" textural elements. You've managed to make it transition gently so that it looks like there are patches of scraggly grass that's not really being tended to by the greenstaff and I'm insanely jealous!

Yeah I hate the sharp transitions too. Big focus of this course is to hide / disguise those transitions with textures, shadows, and lots of use of the heavy rough opacity tool to try to give a natural and rugged look.

[fargo]

I've been away for a couple weeks but I'm back now so got this fired up again. 

I'm trying to bring out the ground game as much as possible, this is an Australian links course over some lovely bumpy ground, so it's naturally hard and fast through fairways and greens. Coupled with the low lighting that brings out the contours and it makes sense to emphasise that as much as possible. There's plenty of width on the fairways, but there are some tight landing zones if you want to leave yourself in best position. 

The images below are the landing zone and approach to the short par 4 6th, and the medium par 3 12th. These holes are close to each other on the plot and run in similar directions, so it made sense to me to work on them at the same time.

I'm also toying with adding a manipulated tee set. I was planning to only use two tees, with the normal back tees and one traditional forward set. But there's actually quite a few good natural sites for one additional and very different set which offers different angles and distances into most holes. Still playing with it and not sure if it will stick yet. I'd have to learn the manipulated tee trick I suppose.

[fargo]

This might be the last update for a while - it's about 8 weeks until contest deadline and I'm feeling comfortable with where I am at with this course. Most holes are in a pretty good state, some just need a final polish, but some need a bit more work. There are three holes that need the entire green site and related hazards to be built, but I've got a pretty good idea if how they will play. But there shouldn't be too many drastic changes - just gradual refinement mostly.

Lots of planting to do. I'm enjoying using this low lighting and I'm trying to use light and shadows constructively. 90% of my planting so far is just one dark bush - in this lighting from most angles it is really dark and throws a good shadow. I've also been mixing in two or three other bushes in places.

Anyway, below is hole 17, a short and sometimes driveable par 4. This hole is just about done.

[hhhaaarrryyy]

Looking good Fargo! Excited for the completion