Kelantan Canopy, Malaysia....

[numbers]

So, Welcome to Kelantan Canopy, Malaysia.



This is a luxury golf club currently under construction in the depths of the Kelantan rainforests.



Work began in November and 9 holes are pretty much playable now. A lot of work went in to the landscaping before a hole was laid to ensure the best views possible are on display.

In terms of playability, the fairways are medium-soft, greens are medium-firm and fast so a good balance between being receptive and needing to read the bounce and roll. Most holes offer choices between safe, moderate and high-risk options off the tee and luxurious curves and undulations feature prominently throughout - from fairways, to bunkers, to greens.

Some images to give a flavour of what's going on:






































If there's any interest I'll be very glad to post up some more images as I go.... lots of work still to do but I'm excited to see it finding its shape now and I'm having all sorts of fun playtesting it in different winds, which I guess is the main thing.

I may well make something available as beta before I publish this as a hundreds of hours have already gone in and I'm hoping a little feedback further down the line will help to catch the errors and flaws that will inevitably surface.

Kelantan! 

[staypuft39]

Looks unreal!! Can't wait to try it.

[numbers]

Good progress here on Kelantan. Work on the back 9 is well underway with holes 10 - 13 ready to play and the basic shape of hole 14 plotted, some images below which give some nice views of the overall plot of land seeing - the elevation leaps up for the 13th green and 14th tee and will rise once more, though less dramatically, before returning to the clubhouse on the 18th (although nothing is plotted yet for 15-18, I know roughly how going to play it - I still have 1 par4, 1 par3 and 2 par5s to work with if I want my 72 overall).

Doing my best to keep it playing and looking like it could be a real course, though as is clear below I'm having difficulties holding back with the contouring which I'm starting to get to grips with now, this really is the best virtual world designer I've used.

Anyway point being I'll have to keep putting up the fencing and consulting the lawyers vis some of these hazardous precipices as it's too late to tone it down now and I'm delighted with the way it's playing. The only thing annoying me atm is some of the risk shots require certain wind to make and once everything's in place I'm loath to move anything and you can be sure the wind will be either non-existent or perfectly the opposite to what's needed in playtesting.

On the home stretch now....

[pablo]

Those elevations are severe. Looks really nice

[tastegw]

Very creative, and artistic

[numbers]

Feb 10, 2016 16:30:21 GMT -5 pablo said:

Those elevations are severe. Looks really nice

Cheers Pablo thanks for taking a look.

The elevation on the 13th is certainly at the upper limit of what you'd expect to encounter on a credible course but it doesn't exceed that limit in my view. Actually the hole is a bit different as, depending on circumstances, the player will be fighting either for eagle or for par. With the right wind and a perfect strike you can actually get up to the fairly forgiving green and have an unusual chance at a par 4 eagle. Fall short and it's down into the stream. Alternatively, less good but still favourable winds give you the chance to reach one of the closer of the tiered fairways for a shorter approach. However, should the wind be against you there is a question mark over reaching even the lowest tier and the safe option then becomes to play for the edge of the 12th fairway. The green is still absolutely makeable but only just with with a strong headwind.

I've tried to make having all three of safe,moderate and high-risk options a feature off the tee on a number of holes for this course - this one is probably a little on the wild side but I would say there are only 2-3 holes where I've aimed to do this with strong elevation. Overall elevation shot-to-shot is actually fairly moderate.

[numbers]

And thanks Taste - the main reason this has taken so long is I'm trying to make the most beautiful course I can and kind of seeing where that takes me. The original idea was for a dramatic, tropical, jungle theme with an emphasis on the curves that sweep into each other from a players' perspective for each and every shot. Then I started layering my ideas one at a time on the overall landscape with a view to the sort of holes I wanted to play and an overall look that felt right and it's kind of become it's own thing tbh.

My challenge remains finding the balance between fantasy and realism - I've always felt that my favourite courses manage to incorporate both as it is a computer game in the end.

[tastegw]

waterfalls, we need them, they would fit this course well.

[numbers]

Do not go chasing them though. Pretty sure this is the exact thing TLC were worried about in fact.

[numbers]

If anyone wants a crack at this it's published as "Kelantan Canopy" - I will do a write up and release it properly over the weekend but would appreciate any feedback. It's been playtested to death but if there's anything major I've missed I'd love to know. Enjoy!