Boreal Sand Dunes Course - Looking for playtest & feedback

[Jeb_LaZagna]

Hi everyone,

I published a work-in-progress titled "Sand Trees WIP". It's been quite a while since I last published a course for 2K. Over the past 6 months, I've been ever-so-slowly working on this inland dunes course similar in style to the courses at Sand Valley with a bit of inspiration from Chambers Bay. The course itself is in a finished playable state and I cannot determine whether it's brilliant or dogsh!t. I haven't done any planting yet except for some trees and I'm looking for feedback of all kinds.

Is the course too hard? Too easy? Which holes did you like and which holes could use some work? Should I lean into a minimalist look like Sand Valley or should I go with a more refined look? Should I change the theme to something else and go for a sand hills/prairie look? Etc. etc. 

I guess basically I've worked on this course on and off again for too long and I need a fresh set of eyes on it. Any help/feedback would be greatly appreciated.

[MrQueez]

I gave your course a go and enjoyed it.  I'm excellent at playing but not feedback so I'll leave that to others.

[bernieb]

I'll give it a play tonight.

[Jeb_LaZagna]

Feb 18, 2023 3:07:36 GMT -5 MrQueez said:

I gave your course a go and enjoyed it.  I'm excellent at playing but not feedback so I'll leave that to others.

Glad you liked it! Based on the score I would say it was too easy, but judging by your handicap that's par for the course (pun intended). 

[Jeb_LaZagna]

Also forgot to mention: if you have any ideas/suggestions for a name that’s also appreciated! I’m horrible when it comes that part of course design.

[metatropic]

Wow. This has the makings of a really great course. I can see this On Tour in CC, difficulty level is just right. The routing could be tighter (which will cost you in meter when it comes to planting..), but can't change it now! 

I like it in this theme, and I think a simple approach would work well. A prairie look with lots of long grass would also be smashing, if you can manage your meter. You have quite a few big gaps between holes, so think carefully about what you'll put in those for scenic effect.

One thing I think needs attention is your teesets. There are huge gaps between the teesets; I played white and blue and only blue made sense, white being 40 yards forward on most holes.. No-one is going to be playing gold and red, so these are purely decorative. I think you want to work on a tour playable second teeset, and maybe consider using tee manipulation to give schedulers more options...

In terms of naming, my approach is to decide where in the world the course is set and then go to that area on google earth or google maps to find some place names; pick some your like and mash them together or change them in other ways. I did this for Ballantrae Links, then after publishing realised that there is actually a place called Ballantrae, with a golf course! You could also find a local language and try to find a name in that.

You definitely need to see this through to completion, it is going to be great!

[Jeb_LaZagna]

Feb 19, 2023 4:07:05 GMT -5 metatropic said:

Wow. This has the makings of a really great course. I can see this On Tour in CC, difficulty level is just right. The routing could be tighter (which will cost you in meter when it comes to planting..), but can't change it now! 

I like it in this theme, and I think a simple approach would work well. A prairie look with lots of long grass would also be smashing, if you can manage your meter. You have quite a few big gaps between holes, so think carefully about what you'll put in those for scenic effect.

One thing I think needs attention is your teesets. There are huge gaps between the teesets; I played white and blue and only blue made sense, white being 40 yards forward on most holes.. No-one is going to be playing gold and red, so these are purely decorative. I think you want to work on a tour playable second teeset, and maybe consider using tee manipulation to give schedulers more options...

In terms of naming, my approach is to decide where in the world the course is set and then go to that area on google earth or google maps to find some place names; pick some your like and mash them together or change them in other ways. I did this for Ballantrae Links, then after publishing realised that there is actually a place called Ballantrae, with a golf course! You could also find a local language and try to find a name in that.

You definitely need to see this through to completion, it is going to be great!

Really appreciate the feedback! I won't lie, the routing on this course is pretty messy. When I started I was mostly concerned with finding the best holes, but I jumped around a lot and ended up routing myself into a corner. I want to make this somewhat of a resort course, so I'll be adding in a few buildings near the clubhouse along with practice facilities to hopefully fill it in nicely. 

In terms of tee sets, that's something I previously hadn't given much thought to, but I agree that having a 2nd set of tour tees would be beneficial. Tee manipulation is something I've heard of, but have never tried it myself so I'll have to look into that more. 


Thanks again!

[metatropic]

Just trying tee manipulation myself for the first time; it's really cool, let's you kind of have two or more courses in one.

[Jeb_LaZagna]

For anyone following this project, I have found my muse: 



This is Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota and the land is absolutely stunning. The whole region surrounding the southern edge of the Black Hills looks like this based on google streetview, but Wind Cave is the easiest to find pictures for. The land not only matches the aesthetic I was going for, but looks like prime golf country irl as well. Not sure yet if I'll name the course after Wind Cave or go with something else. There are lots of cool little towns and ranches in that area. 

[Jeb_LaZagna]

Hi everyone,

This course has now been published under the name "Washun Niya Prairie Club". You can find the link to the completed course posting here: Washun Niya Prairie Club

Thank you to everyone who provided course feedback, especially metatropic for the naming and tee box suggestions. I did not attempt any tee manipulation, but I did move them much closer together so that now the white tees are also viable for tournament play. Also, since this is the under-construction page, I'll ask your thoughts about 2 things I did with this course that I haven't done before:

1. Instead of cart paths, I opted to use fence posts as trail markers spaced every 50-ish feet to mark the path between holes. Then I just cleared a path from the tees to the fairways. I thought this preserved the natural landscape better, but I haven't seen this done very often. Thoughts on this? 

2. Instead of just using the rough as a secondary surface to the fairway, I traced a spline around it to make uneven lines and connect it to the openings of bunkers. This seemed to match how many courses mow in irl. Should this be standard practice for most courses in this game? 

Also - if you read this far - as a bonus question, let me know how you feel about hole 13. It's a goofy short Par 4 that I dreamed up and personally enjoy how it plays, but there's definitely some counterarguments to be made against it. 

Hope you enjoy!

[paddyjk19]

Feb 24, 2023 20:33:07 GMT -5 Jeb_LaZagna said:

For anyone following this project, I have found my muse: 



This is Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota and the land is absolutely stunning. The whole region surrounding the southern edge of the Black Hills looks like this based on google streetview, but Wind Cave is the easiest to find pictures for. The land not only matches the aesthetic I was going for, but looks like prime golf country irl as well. Not sure yet if I'll name the course after Wind Cave or go with something else. There are lots of cool little towns and ranches in that area. 

Might have to look for the LiDAR of wind cave! That needs a course on it!