Hey
Blindbeard,
Just played the beta on PS4, Pin 2, green tees, default conditions.
I noticed right away on the Hole 1 green that default green speeds are just 123. This is on the slow end, and there are already some yellow, orange, and red slopes on the greens at these speeds. Hole 4 had a yellow slope within 6 feet of the pin here, and it would probably creep into the 9-box grid around the cup if speeds got bumped up.
Also on Hole 4, I had some very considerable lag when I reached the green. I assume it's due to the tree planting beyond the green, but the game became almost a slideshow when I was putting.
Both Holes 4 and 6 play over 75 feet uphill. I know Hole 5 was well downhill, too, but these big elevation changes kind of get a bit repetitive. Hole 6's green had a bit of strange sloping as well. There was a seemingly random bump of red slopes in one spot toward the front of the green that didn't feel natural to me.
Hole 7 now plays another 75 feet downhill. This stretch of holes just kind of feels like a roller coaster, going up and down really dramatically.
I had spots of lag again on Hole 8.
Hole 9 had lag also. The hole features more up-and-down elevation...the tee shot is 15 feet downhill, but the hole plays uphill 30 feet from tee to green. I hit my drive to the middle of the fairway, and now have a 244 yard second shot that plays 47 feet uphill. Plus, the second shot is totally blind.
After just 20 feet of uphill elevation on Hole 10, we now drop back down another 68 feet on Hole 11.
Hole 12 is another on that's 50 feet downhill from tee to green. The sculpting on this fairway is too bold, IMO. On the left side of the fairway, there are slopes and hills that seem unrealistic. Also, since this hole is 50 feet downhill and I had the wind at my back, I was able to reach the green in two, even from the light rough, with just an 8-iron.
Hole 13 goes downhill again another 58 feet.
My second shot from 205 yards away into the 512 yard, par-4 15th Hole is completely blind.
The biggest thing here for me was the lag. This is going to be a problem for those like me on older consoles. The lag on Hole 4's green made it almost unplayable.
I worry that the slow-ish default green speeds will limit the flexibility that schedulers/society admins could use here. Most holes were fine in terms of colored slopes near the pin, but there was the one that had yellow just outside the 9-box at 123 speeds. I don't know if Fast - 155 speeds would be an option, and I don't know if anyone would want or need to turn these greens down to Slow (117) or Very Slow (104) at all. So basically you're kind of stuck with defaults and maybe Moderate - 134.
Also, the elevation changes here were a bit too over the top and they happened on almost every hole. Some sculpting was too harsh, especially on fairways with little room to land drives already. The left side of Hole 12's fairway needs to be calmed down a bit.
As far as the look goes, it's not bad. Some lighting is pretty bold and in your face when you play into the sun. I also didn't care for the patches of missing grass that ran right into light rough (see your last photo above for an example). It seems odd to have bare spots that abruptly end right where the light rough begins.
Hope this feedback helps...the course is solid, but I could see a few factors keeping it from TW status at this point.
