Advice for publishing course

[shuggiebhoy1982]

Hey folks,

would appreciate some advice as just about to publish a new course I’ve been working on:

1. Weather - is this personal preference or is there a preferred lighting, clouds, mist / haze settings so that courses are clear on all platforms?

2. Green speed - I’m not actually sure how to change but is leaving as default generally recommended?

3. Logo - any recommendations for a free online logo generator so I can give my course some branding for the release? I noticed a lot of these on the new courses thread and they do look good.

4. Any other advice or things I could check before publishing would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks very much

Shuggie

[sandgroper]

Well, the answer, as always, is it depends.

1. Weather is always a personal preference. But the default no cloud mid day sun can be very stark depending on the colour pallet chosen.
I prefer a little overcast to knock the edges off the "starkness" and either mid-morning or early-afternoon to give some shadow without covering the greens in darkness.
Elevation and planting has a big effect on this.

2. Green speed. If the greens are quite subtle then you can go faster. The default speed is 134 and fast being 155. So typically somewhere in the mid 140's is a good compromise.
This gives the scheduler a chance to move the green speeds around without making it too unfair.
If the greens are heavily contoured, then a slower speed may be better, with 117 being slow so something in the late 120's may work.
Most players prefer faster than slower.

3. Logo. I use www.imagine.art and have a play around with some different settings. It's bad at words so I usually put those in later. I used this for Bruised Plums and Plns,Trns,Auto.

4. Generally I have a list of things to check before publishing.
- have I checked all the tee boxes are flat.
- have I checked all the greens are regulation (No dark yellow slopes)
- have I used different pin locations (not all front left etc)
- do I have 4 pins on every green
- do I have decent sightlines off every tee (no unintentional blindness)
- have I cleared all the random grasses from cut surfaces. They can randomly re-appear if you're not paying attention!
- have I checked all the edges of the fairways for bad sculpting
- have I put at least 1 kangaroo on the plot somewhere? (That's just a me thing)

There are also a bunch of videos from some wonderful designers.
This is a good place to start with the pinned topics tgctours.proboards.com/board/3/tips-tricks

Hope that helps...

[fargo]

one other thing on the weather is don't use rain. It doesn't add anything to your course, doesn't look great, and introduces lag for anyone playing with a slightly slow device / computer.

[shuggiebhoy1982]

Thanks for the advice. Appreciated.

I’m concerned about the amount of trees, low light and shadows on the greens etc. think it’s probably best to publish a beta and get some feedback on issues.

Will publish soon and post beta name would appreciate if anyone has time to give it a play and let me know thoughts.

Thanks again.

Shuggie.

[sandgroper]

That’s also a great idea! Beta for the win.