The Dragons Golf Club, I could use some feedback on what is wrong with course want to only make TW courses as I'm 51 years old and it takes a while for me to get things done lol
Just played the course, Pin 4, black tees, default conditions. I am not a reviewer, but do ranger tour courses and schedule 3-Click, so I see a lot of TW tracks.
Right off the bat, the trees used here don't really fit the setting, in my opinion. They are the tropical trees (and maybe only like 3 or 4 different ones?), but this looks and feels like a parkland course where you'd see more oaks, elms, or pines. That's minor, but it did kind of affect the environment for me. It didn't all mesh together.
In terms of how the course plays, the first two holes are nearly identical par-4s. Each has a pinched landing zone with two bunkers. The bunkers themselves are sculpted, but they could use a little more finesse to remove lumps and bathtub-y spots.
Hole 3 is the first green that has any real noticeable undulations. It could be done a bit better, as there are red slopes running right to left, but then just next to that there are slopes that run in the opposite direction. Essentially, the pin is on a crowned area and the land movement doesn't really seem natural.
Hole 4 is a par-5, but still has the landing zone pinched by sand on both sides.
Hole 6 is kind of strange, in that it has a rectangular-shaped green? All others have been rounded, so this one feels out of place. The green also feels small for a 220-yard par-3.
The design of Hole 7 is a little quirky. The green is on an island, and it's just a 312-yard par-4, but the way the hole is set up is to have you are asking the player to play well away from the green? There are even trees to the right that get in the way of possibly going for it from the tee in most cases. No matter, as all you have to do is hit a 9-iron off the tee as close to the water as you can, then follow that up with a sand wedge into a green that's very large and flat for this short of a hole.
Hole 8 is the second "island" green in a row, this one a par-3 with a bunch of rocks around it, and there's a house 20 yards to the left of the green surface. Seems kind of tight. Green is also flat as a pancake.
Hole 9 is back to the par-4 with a fairway flanked by two bunkers again. The double green here is enormous.
Hole 10 is solid, best one on the course in my opinion. I will say the lighting isn't doing much favors when you play into the sun, however. Everything is washed out and you can barely make out the layout of the hole from standing at the tee box.
Seems like most par-4s, aside from the island green one, have been about the same distance. Hole 11 is 460, and it seems like the others have been somewhere between 420-470 and they are all straightforward. Not much variation or interest.
Hole 12 repeats the 2-bunker, par-4 landing zone again.
And Hole 14 kind of sealed the deal for me...the rectangle island of fairway in the middle of the lake is weird, and does not feel natural at all. The hole idea is OK, giving players a risk-reward decision on how much they want to take on the pond. Instead, having that fairway bit makes this just kind of feel like a fantasy hole design, especially since the land is sculpted as a perfect rectangular shape. If the island fairway was removed, this would be a much, much better hole.
Hole 18 is what Hole 14 should be. A "cape" hole where the player might decide to bite off more on the drive to get a better approach, while brining more water into play. That said, this is the second hole that uses the aforementioned double green and the green is super huge.
To get to TW status, I'd say some attention would need to be done in bunker sculpting, planting, green contouring, and overall hole design. Namely, the repeated use of the "Torrey Pines" template - 2 bunkers at the driver landing zone, pinching the fairway.
I would also say that A LOT of time was spent here on off-course work - tons of buildings, a horse farm, houses with fences, a massive clubhouse, etc. That's really nice, and looks cool. However, more time could have been spent on how the course plays...greens were mostly flat, until you'd get one with huge red slopes at the default 145 speeds. Bunkers were bathtub-y in spots. The rectangular fairway on Hole 14 was unnecessary.
It's a fun course, and is fine as an Approved one. Hope this feedback gives you some starting points for working on your next one and getting that TW status. Good luck!
