Spring Ridge GC - Scheduled Release 11.26.24

[bhazen]

Hello! 

Welcome to the design thread!  This is going to be my second design and my first complete design in 2k23 for RJH Design.  If you would like to check out my other design, feel free to do so here:

Seven Bridges Completed <-- designed in 2k21 just ported over to 2k23 this past week.
Seven Bridges Under Construction <-- if you want to take a look at the design process for my 1st course.

In this thread I'm going to take you through my design process and hopefully put together a course that is visually enjoyable and fun to play.  My goal is to show potential designers out there what I'm doing and show what works and doesn't work when it comes to designing in the game.  Since this is only the second complete course that I'm intending to publish, I'm expecting a ton of mistakes that I'll share - and hopefully I'll put together some 'wins' also.

For me, when I'm starting out on a new design, the first thing I do is start brainstorming what the overall 'look' or theme is going to be way before I fire up the game.  And back in July I was lucky enough to play Edgewood up in Lake Tahoe.  Stepping up to the first tee, I knew instantly that I wanted to bring that look into the game somehow.  Now I know I'm not a very experienced designer but I thought this would be a good challenge for my existing skills and started way back then trying to figure out how to accomplish this task.


Edgewood, Lake Tahoe


So now that I have my 'look' and feel for my next course, I have to find something similar to it in the game designer that I feel would work - I decided that the alpine theme, with pine, water and undergrowth (ferns and grasses) would be my best bet.  I created my 'short list of plants, rocks, trees, bunker shapes and terrain'  in my head and put that aside.   

The next thing I do before opening the game and start designing is to map out the hole lengths and pin locations for the whole course on paper.  This ensures that I have different lengths for par3, 4, 5's and I get a good distribution of short, medium and long holes.  I don't want the person playing my courses to pull out Driver, 5iron every hole.  I also map out pin locations in advance so I make sure locations of each pin set are going to be in different locations on the green(s).  And since I'm old school I do this mapping in excel.

Spring Ridge wireframe:
(please note I design everything to play off the blue tees, then modify for one longer and two shorter tee locations, this way fairway bunkers, contours and hazards are played in logical locations)
 
My final prep work on any of my designs is to give myself 3-5 goals that I want to accomplish during the build.  I'll revisit this list once I complete the design and grade my growth as a designer.  For this design I will try to complete the following:

1. Improve sightlines from tees and approach shots.  In my last design, I had too many holes where you can't see bunkers, greens from the middle of fairways and tee boxes.  Improvement here is vital.
2. Planting, make it realistic as possible.  Use planting (undergrowth) to soften the look of the course and add depth to sightlines without taking away from the course.
3. Logical course routing, I want this to feel like a local public course and the design should mirror that.  This isn't going to be a destination golf trip course or resort.
4. Improve on including features that don't overpower the design.  Additional features should blend in with the surrounding as background items to add to visuals not create visuals.  Be understated in design. 
5. Create a challenging course to play without gimmicks.  Its ok to throw in a 'gimmick' but keep it limited to 1-2 holes.  I really want the course to create different shot opportunities and enjoyment for players. 

Ok now I have my theme, planting, and routing completed I can fire up the game and start building.  But I'll keep that for another day. 

If you have gotten this far, thanks!  I'll try to update this thread a couple of times per week until I get the project completed. I don't have a completion date because I don't want to put pressure on myself but I do promise I will get this completed and not leave this as an open ended project.  

That's all for now,
bhazen / Smoke1Screen

[bhazen]

Welcome Back!

Just a quick update today, I'm about 20hrs into the design and wanted to share a few pictures of what I chose for planting on this plot.  I did something that most seasoned designers tell you NOT to do, since I wanted an wild alpine look, I started my plot with pre-generated trees, rocks and underbrush - and will be removing what isn't needed as I go.  Since I know in advance that I wanted a bunch of undergrowth and trees along with a more scraggly wild look, I'm ok with the pre-generated growth.  I'll let you guys decide if I made the wrong decision.


Here's a couple of quick samples of the planting palate I went with.  I'm using three different grasses, one major bush (fern) and then theme pre-generated objects. For the trees, I'm just using pre-generated and theme based trees with the majority of them already on the plot.  Basically, I'm just stripping back trees, plants and rocks as I go.


Hole1:


Hole2: 


I'm happy with the basic look - its close to my inspiration course (The growth on my plot is denser than my inspiration) but it allows me to plant rather rapidly without it looking too bad since I'm on a console.  

As for how far along I am on this design - I'm currently working on sightlines and moving dirt on holes 7,8, and 9.  Seven is ready to lay the green and fairway, 8 needs a lot of sightline work and dirt to be moved, but 9 is further along than 8 is.  

In my next update I'll show how I get my sight lines laid out since that's where I see most designers having issues in creating holes.  I'm not great but slowly getting better and figured that some people may want to see my process.

[bhazen]

Today I'm going to go over my process in regards to sightlines and how I set them up and move dirt on a hole.  I was able to log about 2hrs last night on the designer and wanted to show my process on how I create a hole.  Todays example is taking me out of my comfort zone, and is pushing me a little as a designer without being too gimmicky on a hole layout.  I'll be highlighting my progression on a ~445yd uphill par 4 that I'm currently working on.  I've already spent a few hours just thinking about what I want to accomplish with this hole, and last night I attempted to get it out of my head and into the designer........

The first picture is what I had once I had created my routing map on the plot from the very beginning.  You can see a measurement(s) taken and laid down - giving me basic visuals for the hole.  Normally once I do that I walk away and let the design in me 'stew' a couple of days so I can really flesh out what I want to do before I start moving a ton of dirt on the plot.  

Here I have placed my tees and primary flag.  The distance is dictated by my hole wireframe that I've already shared, and I've picked the hole layout by looking at the terrain.  I always map out a 300yd drive distance from each tee so I have that distance marked out and then I start by looking at my sightlines off each tee box.  In this case, I raised the boxes, and created a depression in front of them that will eventually become a OB, planted area.  I have also marked the beginning of my fairway here, usually I start my fairways ~150yds from the front tees.


So far nothing too groundbreaking - I do this for every hole I create so I'm very methodical in my design.  

Next, I star to visualize my second shot landing zone and approach shot.  After sitting on this for a day or so, I had the idea to split the fairway with a dry creek bed.  It would mirror the planting I'll do off the tee and will also become a OB area, causing the player to make a decision off the tee. I quickly marked out the 'creek' using the natural depression in the plot.


Once I have my lading area concept, I'll take my measuring tool and map out my green complex - I draw the green, and map out my bunker locations.  Only once I have completed all of that will I start moving dirt.

When I start creating sightlines, I start drawing more measuring lines on the hole - these are helpful because the lines will sink into the ground if the ground rises too high causing that sightline to be blocked.  I know right away I have unintentional blindness from that point and need to 'fix' that sightline.  My goal is to have 300+ sightlines off the tee boxes and approach shots from the fairway to the green of 160yds be completely unblocked.  Sometimes that isn't doable, but it is my goal.  In this phase of the hole design, I'll start smoothing out the fairway location, green and creating depressions for the bunkers so I start to see the hole take shape.



In this picture I have laid my fairway, green and bunkers.  I have created the 'dry creek' along with another OB area beyond the lower fairway.  I have tilted the greenside bunkers and have checked the sightlines from the fairway landing zone.  In this case you can see all four bunkers from the fairway(s) except the back left bunker from the lower fairway at the runoff point.  I still may raise the bunker or leave it blind at this point depending on my playthrough(s).  I still haven't planted the OB area off the tees, that will come here in the next day or so.  I want to make sure I don't have to raise the tee boxes after play testing before I do that.

Here's a closer look at the landing zone:


That's about it for today.  The layout on this hole pushed me a little in the designer.  I've never attempted a split fairway design before and it came out just ok.  I would have liked the lower fairway to be wider and more enticing to take on because the upper fairway gives you a better angle to the green.  The way its designed right now there isn't much reward for the player to choose the lower fairway (other than the cool visuals on the approach from down there).

I still have plenty to complete on this hole, the OB and stake marking, finish planting, and maybe put in some stairs from the lower to upper fairway.  The bunkers needs to be finished shaping and the green needs to be tweaked just a little.  But overall this will be the finished product.

The main thing I want to point out in my process is take a look at the first image to the last one, I have changed the hole pretty drastically from my original concept.  As a designer, don't be afraid to do this. I had to move quite a bit of dirt to make sure the hole was visible from multiple locations/angles but still remained pleasing to the eye.  

Looking forward, I don't think I'll be able to get any design time in over the next few days since real life stuff is in the way, but I do hope to have the front nine completely finished and planted by the end of the weekend.  At that point I think I'll share my process of a par5 design.  And a few days after that I'll post some 'finish product' pictures of the front nine.

Thanks for reading -  

[bauer1993]

Just a thought -- I usually don't like it when things that wouldn't be OB in real life are OB in game. So a dry creek being OB in the middle of play wouldn't be something I'd like in a course. Can you a) put a small amount of water in instead, or b) make it extremely difficult to hit out of ie. with rocks or bushes?

[bauer1993]

Metatropic does a great job of this -- look at how he did Sucker Creek Landing, for example.

[bhazen]

Oct 8, 2024 13:21:34 GMT -5 bauer1993 said:

Just a thought -- I usually don't like it when things that wouldn't be OB in real life are OB in game. So a dry creek being OB in the middle of play wouldn't be something I'd like in a course. Can you a) put a small amount of water in instead, or b) make it extremely difficult to hit out of ie. with rocks or bushes?

Great point - The area is already very difficult to get out of and my thought process was why penalize a player more?  (Take the OB and move on).  But you're 100% correct, I shouldn't be forcing the player into something there - let them make the decision.  

FYI - my original thought for this was more of a ravine that ran through the fairway being obvious OB/unplayable like something you would see in a canyon Az course, but in practice I didn't execute this very well on the designer. 

So after your input, I'm going to go no water, dense foliage and wicked sidehill lies with no OB.  If someone can get out of there and on the green in one they deserve the bird attempt.

Thanks for the feedback. 

[bhazen]

Welcome back!

Its been about a week and I've been able to log about another 10hrs in design this week.  I lost about 1.5hrs of that when my game decided it had enough one night and just kicked me out of the designer and back to the main page without saving the file.  Other than that, I've been plugging along and wanted to share 3 updates today.

First I wanted to close the loop on Hole8 with the OB and final layout.  I don't think I've mentioned before, but this hole borders the outside of the plot, so everything on the right side is going to be OB.  I've laid a fence line and have cleaned up the hole and I'm good with the way it plays right now.  Here are a few close to finished pictures:

Hole8:



Second thing I wanted to share is that I'm completed with the front 9.  I do have to resurface the green on 1, its a little to extreme falling to the right and balls roll off the green when targeting the right side pin locations.  And then just some basic cleaning up on some planting throughout.  Other than that, I'm halfway through in about 30hrs design time.  That's pretty good for me.

Front 9 Routing:

Hole7 Approach:

Transition between Hole6 and Hole7:


Final thing today is that I've completed the Back9 routing and I've started to move dirt for the sightlines on holes 10, 11, 18.  That along with carving out a pad for the clubhouse.

Here's the wireframe for Hole10,11 and 18.  The pad for the clubhouse is the rectangle to the left and the circle object will be a pond.  You can see the green for Hole9 on the bottom.



Here's the complete Back9 Routing:


I've starting working on sightlines for 10, 11 and 18.  (I usually work in groups of three holes).  And started moving quite a bit of dirt for the 10th but I'll share that on another day.  I'm guessing I have another 30-35hrs left on this plot before I publish.  Hopefully I can get that done in about a month, but I'm not putting a date to it just yet.  

Overall, I'm decently happy with the outcome of the first nine holes.  They aren't anything special tactically but I'm pleased with how I've been able to translate what's in my head to the designer in most cases.  I'm sure there is stuff here that I'll look at down the road and just cringe at, but for now with my limited technical abilities I'm happy with the results.  Where I really need to get better is bring a different tactical options to the holes - something more than hit the fairway and then green.  On my next design, I want to stretch myself and really make players think before they take any shot on one of my courses.

That's it for today - my next update will be a design walk through of the par3 10th.  I'm getting excited with the way its starting to look - I have this picture in my head and hopefully I can get it down on 'paper'.

[bhazen]

Welcome back! 

I'm heading out of town for the next 5 days so I wanted to drop in a quick update on how the design is going.  I did log ~3hrs of design time since my last update so I'm sitting at ~33hrs on the plot so far. Today I have a few images to share of the par3 Hole10 and also a couple of pictures on stuff I tried to create in the designer that just doesn't work too well (some failures).

First I'll start with the failures - I tried to design my 1st bulkhead fairway and after hours of messing around with different techniques, I just couldn't get it to look the way I wanted.  The transition between the bulkhead and fairway is just too rough whereas I was looking to have a smooth transition from the fairway then a straight drop to the water.  


In my head I wanted the fairway to butt up against the bulkhead and be flush/level with the fairway.  I just couldn't make that happen without the ground starting to rise out of the water below, or that the 1st cut fringe would become uneven due to the drastic elevation changes.  Maybe its a limitation of the designer or is it just my own limitation?  Anyone with tips on creating a smoother look here would be greatly appreciated.  Anyway I got it close to my vision and it will stay this way on the build - maybe next time/next course I have a chance I'll be able to improve on this aspect.  I'll have to look at some examples of someone doing this well.

Here's my other failure, it its on me because I didn't plan this out in advance.  

The bridge is an eye sore -  I want to get rid of it, but I need the water (for visuals and sightlines) and therefore a way over the water.  The walkway style is really out of place for the design but any other bridge option I've tried just doesn't look good.  Maybe if I incorporate this style of bridge on the back9 it will fit better, but I still feel that its out of place on this track.  I tried to tie it in to the fencing I have throughout the course and that helps, but I still think the span looks like an afterthought basically because it was on my part.  Any suggestions here would be helpful and I'd be grateful.

The other thing I wanted to share today is the start/design of Hole10.  Its a longer par3 that I'm spending a lot of time in order to get the visuals correct.  So far what I've ben able to accomplish I really like:


Getting the elevation correct along with the pond transition and multi-level waterfall and then the what I call the canyon/creek area took me quite a bit of time.  But I really wanted a nice visual to start the back9 and even if this isn't a 'signature' hole, it will be one that the player hopefully remembers.  I'm 95% sure the green will be bunkerless at this point and I'm almost ready to lay the green and tee boxes.  After that will have to run a a ton of playthroughs and double check all the sightlines before I flesh this out and plant it.  But other than that I believe its basically finished.  I took about 3hrs on this hole, which it quite long for me, but I had a ton of dirt to move and also have to create the creek basically from scratch.  The elevation change from tee to green is quite large and just gets higher beyond the green so I had to take some time making sure it looked natural and not too stretched out.  Plus I didn't want to just throw in a bunch of waterfalls as 'steps' (I feel that too many designers do that as a 'out' sometimes).  I believe I did a pretty good job at it and hopefully anyone playing this will think that too.

That's it for today, thanks for reading - my next update won't come until late next week and I'm guessing I'll only have an additional 3-5hrs of design time at that point.  So I'm not sure what I'll share next but I'll try to have something for you.

[bhazen]

Today I just wanted to give an update/example on the before and after for hole10.  I'm basically done with it other then tweaking the green slopes, planting and a few other minor visuals.  This par3 hole has the most dirt movement so far on this course and I just wanted to share what I had to do to get the to look I wanted.  I did make a rookie blunder on this but I'm not going to change it - but I'll point it out in one of the pictures.


Hole10  - before.  Here I've started with a few sightlines, and a couple of 'markers'  The circle on the left will become a pond and a waterfall.  To the right will be the 'canyon'.  I've already started to create the waterfall runoff area and have flattened out a green site.  I've raised the tee boxes (roughly) in over to get the proper height(s) and sightline visuals for the hole. 
 
In the next picture, I've created the multi-level waterfall (rough) and the start of the canyon.  I've used the fuzzy brush in places to smooth out contours and started to really finalize the sightlines.

Here's the canyon and green complex 'fleshing out' along with the first visual of the pond.

From the tee box at this point after laying the green and completing minimal planting:

Here's the after, I still have to finish contouring the green, laying the walking path and planting.  Can you spot the fail on this hole?


I'm sure there are a bunch of 'failures' but the one that really bugs me is that I put the waterfall right in the the sightline of a right handed player.  On a playthrough after I had laid the green, I couldn't even see the waterfall from the tee box because it was behind my player.  After all that work for a stunning visual the player doesn't even get to see it....  I'm going to leave it as is, lefties will be able to see it and its only really blocked from a specific tee box.  I could move that box, but I don't think I will.

That's it for today.  I'm about ~36hrs into the build and I'm about ready to lay the greens and fairways for holes 11 and 18 after working on the sightlines on these.  I did spend some time adjusting a couple of small things on the front nine that popped up on playthroughs and added a little but more planting on the front9 also just to fill out a couple of holes.  I'm sitting at 42% on my meter so I should be really good there.   I'm guessing I'll be able to submit another update on my status sometime next week at this point.

Thanks for reading!

[bhazen]

Quick update today, I was able to log about ~5hrs in the designer since my last update putting me at about ~41hrs total right now.  This week I 'fleshed out' the course entrance, placed the clubhouse, putting/chipping greens and created the Practice Range.  Beyond that, I cleaned up some visuals and slopes on the front nine, and also started moving dirt on holes 11, 12, and 13.

Today just wanted to share some before and after pictures of the 414yds Par4 12th.   

I start off putting down some measurements - so I can get a visual.  Here I have already cleared out trees and underbrush, moved a little dirt to create the water's edge, and marked out the OB and fence line to the right.  In this stage I'm double checking the sightlines and making sure the visual to the green is what I want for the hole.  Again, on this course I'm really trying to make sure the player can see the hole.  300 yards off the tees and that all approach shots inside of 200 yards are not blind.


Here I've moved my point of view back to the tee box after marking up for the fairway, green and bunker locations.  I'm double checking that everything still aligns to the vision in my head.  I've also added a few sightlines down the fairway here to make sure that certain features are visible from the tee.  In the design, I really wanted a cambered fairway right to left in the landing zone here.  (I did have to soften out the camber on this, at one point it was over 15ft from right to left, I mellowed that out to about 8ft.  In play testing, balls that hit the right side of the fairway come to rest in the center of the fairway.  Balls that are moving left and land center of fairway hold the fairway about 50% of the time.  Cut shots also hold the fairway but anything left and moving left will most likely find the water here.  You're second option here is to layup off the tee).


Next I'll lay the green, bunkers and fairway.  Even though I create depressions for the bunkers before laying them, I still need to go back in and flesh them out at this point.  In this picture, I'm checking on how they are presenting themselves to the golfer.  I'm also starting to use the fuzzy brush to blend in the green, fairways edges, and the bunkers.  If you noticed, I've removed trees on the right so the sunlight opens the fairway bunkers on the right - this creates a highlight for the bunkers and improves the visuals off the tee box. 


Finally on this course I'm utilizing a grass bunker feature, here's an small example from greenside on this hole.  Not only are the green bunkers a 'hazard' for the player I like how they create a depth to the hole, so I now have a front to back depth and vertical depth that I feel creates a more realistic feel to the environment.  I still need to blue fuzzy this a little and then fine tune the green slopes and pin locations and after planting this hole will be complete.


Overall I'm pleased with the hole layout and play.  Nothing spectacular, but this hole can chew you up if you get out of position.  I've carded birdies to triples on this hole in playthroughs already.

Moving forward, I'm going to try to log about 5-10hrs on the track this week.  I'm still aiming for about ~60hrs total so I'm about 2/3rds of the way through.  My meter is sitting at 48% so I should be good there, planting is becoming tedious and I'm starting to get what I call 'course fatigue' .  (This is why I've only completed one other course - I get distracted way too quickly). Overall, I'm pleased with the way this course is filling out and how I'm growing as a designer just within this course itself.  I still have a long way to go to match some of the course I've played though.

I should have another update either later this week or early next week, 
Until next time, Thanks for reading.

[bhazen]

Just a quick update on the design status and how everything is moving along. 

I was able to work ~10hrs on the project last week, bringing my total to about 51total hrs.  I had was targeting a 60hr build but I'm going to blow through that estimate at this point since I'm just starting to move dirt on Hole15.  I'm guessing I have about another 25hrs to go before I'm finished.  

As I mentioned I'm just about to start moving dirt on Hole15, holes 10-14 are basically complete except for some planting and fine tuning.  The clubhouse, entrance, range and chipping area are basically completed also.  I'm currently at 58% on my meter so I should have plenty of space to start adding a little extras, but my main focus on this build is and always has been the sightlines of the course.  I really want to get that down more than anything else.

Today I wanted to go over a minor change I did to Hole4.  In a previous post I had mentioned it was a failure because of a bridge I slapped down at the last minute that I really didn't like.  After looking at a ton of different options, I have changed it to be less pronounced and I believe it works much better fitting into the course vibe.

Hole4 before the change:

Hole4 after the change - I just went with a basic boardwalk:


Here's a quick look of Hole13:


And Hole14:


That's about it for this week.  Hole15 is a par3 and after that I only have two par4's and a par5 to complete before going over the complete course with a fine tooth comb.  As I wind down this track, I'm starting to toss ideas around in my heard for my next design, I have a couple going but I'm not sure If I'm good enough in the designer to pull them off just yet.

Until next week -

[bhazen]

Welcome back - just wanted to drop a quick update for this past week, I was able to log ~5hrs this past week putting me at ~56hrs total into the build.  I currently need to lay the greens and fairways on holes 17 and 18.  After that I just need to finish planting the back nine and then create and complete my final punch list for my final touches and this project is completed.  I'm going to try to finish and publish this before the 26th of this month because I will be taking the family on a week holiday and would like to come home to a new project.  I am excited about the 2k25 news release and will most likely jump to that platform after 6 months of it being released.

I'm not going to submit this course for review just because I want to participate in a New Designer Contest if they have one in 2025. Nor do I believe its good enough to be a Tour Worthy course so why bother?

At the start of this project, I outlined 5 goals I wanted to accomplish with this build, and since I'm nearing the end of the build, today I'm going to review and rate myself a score between 1-10 (with 10 being the highest) on each of the items.  

1. Improve sightlines from tees and approach shots. In my last design, I had too many holes where you can't see bunkers, greens from the middle of fairways and tee boxes. Improvement here is vital.
        I believe that I have stayed pretty true to this goal, there are a couple of holes that I really struggled with this concept and had to redesign the hole completely just so you could see the hole.  Even doing that I did fail on this with several holes.  Hole4 (the hole with that had the ugly bridge) is a dogleg left hole where the green is blind from the tee box, and the landing area is partial blind - this really stands out to me but other than that, I feel I accomplished my goal here.  In future designs I will need to work on this visuals more with the straight away hole designs where all your sightlines converge into a single point.  To me that is a harder design than seeing the hole travel to the left or right of center from the tee box.  I'm able to get more depth on holes moving away from the center point than anything straight ahead.  I'd give myself a 7 here. 

Hole4 Approach:


Hole7 Approach:


2. Planting, make it realistic as possible. Use planting (undergrowth) to soften the look of the course and add depth to sightlines without taking away from the course.
        I really like my picks for the planting here. Going with the ferns, 3 grasses and then using the auto planting and just removing plants/trees as I go seemed to help not only with my meter, but it gave me the depth I was looking for in cut shots.  I'm pleased with the overall look and how closely it represented the course that inspired me to build this.  Since I really didn't concentrate on the planting for infrastructure, that is really lacking on this build, and is a major 'room for improvement' point for my next design.  I'll give myself a 6 here just due to the buildings, if I was rating just the planting I'd give myself a 7.  

3. Logical course routing, I want this to feel like a local public course and the design should mirror that. This isn't going to be a destination golf trip course or resort.
        The overall routing is realistic, and I designed this course to be walked only (no carts).  I think I took the easy way out here since I didn't have to take the time to create cart paths over the whole course (paths are SO hard to get flat and looking good in my opinion).  I do like how I gave the player options to get from point A to point B in some places, but forced them into choke points in other places to minimize course damage.  I also liked utilizing the mulch option for the walking paths, and I believe that look really fit into the overall design and feel of the course.  I'll give myself a 5 here just because I didn't really stretch myself as a designer in this aspect too much.  

Routing Map:


4. Improve on including features that don't overpower the design. Additional features should blend in with the surrounding as background items to add to visuals not create visuals. Be understated in design.
        Again, in my designs I always tend to lean towards practical.  I want the design to fit into the landscape, and maybe that's why I loved carving the course out of the trees and undergrowth so much.  That being said, I don't shy away from moving dirt for a hole, but I'd rather place a green, fairway and tee box without moving any.  I always want the hole to feel like it was meant to be in that spot rather than manufacture the spot to the track.  In places on this course I accomplished this very well, where as other places I had to manufacture the hole and then make it look like it was part of the landscape.  When I had to manufacture the hole, I came up with mixed results.  Hole9 comes to mind, I had to bring that hole back towards the clubhouse and the layout of the terrain just didn't sit well - I basically had to carve out the hole completely to make it work.  Did I do a good job? Not really.  On an opposite end of the spectrum, Hole1 was a design that I really didn't have to move any dirt to get the final look.  That hole is basically untouched and I feel it fit into the landscape almost perfectly.  Hole7 was another manufactured hole that I believe I succeeded on.  As for blending in design aspects, I think I've improved from my last design 100%.  The waterfalls, water features, bridges, and 'other features' are all understated in design and in some cases you have to really look for them in order to spot them.  I'll rate myself a 7 here.

Hole1


Transition between Hole4 and Hole5:


5. Create a challenging course to play without gimmicks. Its ok to throw in a 'gimmick' but keep it limited to 1-2 holes. I really want the course to create different shot opportunities and enjoyment for players.
    Finally, I don't believe I threw in any 'gimmicks' into the course unless you consider the second shot on Hole9 a gimmick (split fairway with a middle lone pine).  The fairway pine on that hole was auto planted and I built the hole around it.  I wanted something similar to the 8th hole at Edgewood and I think I created that tactical aspect but not necessarily the look here.  Hole10 with the cambered fairway on Hole12 may be considered a gimmick but it really isn't meant to be.  My execution of the hole may make it gimmicky but that wasn't the intent here.  I thinking the most gimmicky hole maybe Hole14 with the split fairway and pond in the middle of the fairway forcing a decision from the player. That design maybe a little extreme.  I'll give myself a 6 here.

Hole14:


Overall I'd give myself a 6.5 total rating.  I missed on some things, but really improved on others.  I'm still learning design 'tricks' like making transitions from one surface to another smoother, or shaping my bunkers better (I'm still dropping in shapes rather than splining the bunkers).

That's about it for this week, I think I have about 15-20 more hours on this course.  Most of that will be play through testing and small changes in greens, visuals and planting depending on how big of a punch list I create once I finish holes17 and 18.  20hrs would put me at 76 total hours on the build and will really stretch me to complete before the 26th so we'll see.  

Thanks again for taking the time reading, I'm hoping you all will enjoy playing once I release.

[bhazen]

This will be my second to last update for this project, my next update will just be some final pictures and the notice of release of the course.  I was tossing around the idea to submit a beta for this, but since I'm already at 95% on my meter, I'm limited on what I can change/improve.  Yeah I could spend hours tweaking bunkers, greens and pin locations but at this point I'm ready to wrap this up, take what I have learned and move on to my next design.

Last week I logged about 7 hours on the designer, putting me at ~63 total hours for this course.  I've created my punch list on the course and I'm currently working through that. Hopefully I can log 7hrs this week and I can finish this build.

Current Punchlist:

Hole 1,2,6,14, and 16 are 100% completed

The remaining holes need to the following:
Hole3 - Review pin locations, shape greenside bunkers better.
Hole5 - Review pin locations, OB stakes on right side? (check meter), shape greenside bunkers better.
Hole7- Review pin locations, remove stray grass along river and landing zone, shape/tweak greenside bunker.
Hole8 - Review pin locations, install fairway steps in 2 locations (check meter).
Hole9 - Review pin locations, planting in landing zone (fill out more), additional planting around green.
Hole10 - Review pin locations, smooth out walking path, install steps of green to next tee box.
Hole11 - Review pin locations, planting off tee and landing zone, lower land before creek so you can see it off the tee box, create green bunker on left in landing zone, clean up planting around the green.
Hole12 - Review pin locations, clean up planting in landing and layup zones, plant around the lake, plant around the green.
Hole13 - Review pin locations, planting at tee box, landing zone, remove false front on green, clean up planting around green.
Hole15 - Review pin locations, clean up planting around tee box, and landing zone, mellow out green and remove false front.  Finish planting around the green.
Hole17 - Review pin locations, clean up planting around tee box, and landing zone.  Shape fairway bunkers better, planting around rock structure, mellow out green.
Hole18 - Review pin locations, clean up planting around tee box, and river edges.  Clean up fairway edges, mellow out crowned green, finish planting around green.

Play test - all four tees, all four pin locations, and all four main cardinal wind directions. (12 final play through)
Check to make sure 143 greens are good


Well that pretty much wraps up this thread - my next and final update will be Monday next week announcing the course release with some pretty pictures.  Thanks for being part of this process.  I hope you will enjoy the final product - and hopefully the course will entice you to play all four tees, pin locations and wind directions. 

Looking forward to my next project.  Its something that I have had brewing since 2k21 and I believe I have learned enough technically to pull it off now.  I'll unveil that project under a new thread sometime next month so if you enjoyed reading this, keep an eye out for that upcoming project.

Thanks again for reading,
bhazen / Smoke1Screen