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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2016 0:48:11 GMT -5
I've had a course that for the last 7-8 months has been my "test course". A crash test dummy made up of 18 holes. I'd test new ways to do bunkers, fairways, etc. When I'd learn something from one of the good designers I'd take it and give it a whirl in this course. Each hole was wiped out and rebuilt at least twice. And day after day it sat there in my "unpublished courses" area while it watched other courses be birthed, grow, groomed and set free to be rated 6.5 by Dr. Lowdon because the guy hates my guts. Over the last week or so, this course has been gnawing at me. "Release me." "Release me." And I honestly haven't because I'm sure that once again Canuck will leave it off his top courses and the guys at TGCT Live will continue to pretend I don't design anything. But I'm releasing this crash test dummy onto the world. SRV Ranch. Yes, named after a dead rock star. It's live now, and here's a few screenshots of it:
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2016 17:58:50 GMT -5
Thanks to all 3 of you who took it for a spin.
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Post by Terry Grayson on Mar 3, 2016 21:19:35 GMT -5
Played it just now Jason....got to say, I loved it! WHAT??? yes that is right I did.. even back in the PGA2000 days I always loved an open layout, where you seemingly could see for miles... I loved the open feel of this course.... had a pretty good round too... Hit the pin in the air on 18 with a 12 mph left to right cross wind...Stopped a mere foot from the hole...
I absolutely enjoyed this course..Thought it was well laid out, without all the glitz and glamour but just a pure fun round of golf... The colors or something and the way it felt reminded me kind of a real course close to home in Shelby NC called Deerbrook...
Really enjoyed it Jason... Very nice work I thought
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Post by Andrea on Mar 4, 2016 7:35:46 GMT -5
I enjoyed it quite a lot too! If you have had a rough day this is a nice course to have 18 relaxing holes; and with a beautiful view too
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Post by jarasim1 on Mar 4, 2016 10:00:40 GMT -5
Hi Jason, I played your course last night and thought it was great. Reminded me of a couple courses here in Pennsylvania. Played really smooth and was a pleasure too play.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2016 15:16:35 GMT -5
Thought you were a TGCT fanboy.
I'll give it a play and let you know what I think of it, if you like.
You know I'm a tough critic, and opinionated, but fair. ..
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2016 15:27:14 GMT -5
Go for it. Just keep in mind this course is basically the remnants of practice designing put into a full 18.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2016 16:32:17 GMT -5
Well first impressions makes me think of the movie Waterworld.
A couple of holes have seemed a little bit tricked out, hole 2- forced club distance, smallish green hole 4 & hole 6 - narrowed fairways, in the case of 4, bunkers are pinching off the narrow landing area.
Hole 6 green area was bordering unfair if playing in higher winds.
So, here's my view overall after playing 9 holes.
Remember, that what I going to say is pretty subjective and just my own personal opinions.
Firstly, let me give you some positive feedback. The last course I reviewed all yours compared to this one, I have seen some vast improvement. The bunkering, I see you taken notice of some of my earlier comments on how using the same kind of rough around them, very good looking bunkers, as far as visuals go.
In addition, the first cut of rough around the fairways, also very well done.
Now for some areas that I think should be addressed, and prevents this from being an outstanding course.
The fairways, there is nothing wrong with forcing a club selection do have to lay up. However, you should always consider the effects of the wind and leave an ample amount of bailout space, or at least a wide enough landing area.
This is to allow for high winds, or the infamous TGC ball squirt, or poorly miss hitting ball.
I usually handle this by leaving a bailout spot either right, or left, off the given line for a not so wide fairway.
Fairways around 25-30 yards wide and then tapering it off, further out the further you dare allow the golfer to hit the ball.
Thus keeping it fair for the intended landing area, but drastically increase the risk/reward for those who go for it.
This is one reason I always push the use of the distance tools, especially from the original T box area to an area of about 250 yards. The reason being for this logic is that is about the maximum drive you will get into a strong headwind for a driver off the tee box, and then taper it drastically down to about 10 to 15 yards wide around the distance of 300 yards off the tee box.
The Bunkering could use a little more Depth, and maybe a few of the bunker lips could be raised a little, just to give a little more depth perception to the bunkers.
I would also encourage using the distance markers creating the greens, from the green center point, running it out anywhere from 10 to 15 yards, from the center of the cup to the outermost part of the green fringe.
This allows a green to be 20 to 30 yards wide at least.
Of course this is all subjective, and varies due to the length of the shot that will be approaching the green in a normal situation.
My particular logic is, the further the approach shot is to the green, the more green area you should have, the closer the shot, the smaller the green you can get away with.
I am by no means an expert in course design, I am just offering suggestions that I am seeing some of the more predominant designers use and their techniques.
As for this being the worst Course in TGCT, not even close. If I were to rate it I would have gave it about a 7 to 7.5
However, this course could easily be made into a much higher rated Course, in my opinion with a bit of work.
Keep up the good work, you will find you can never please everyone, key is to find your own nirvana ...
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