APCD Courses

The Fictional Courses 13-18

   
Old Cypress
 
Jon Weinrieb
7102 yards. Par 72.
Difficulty Medium

Woodland

Fictitous - 88mb
Jul 2006

Course of the Month

Overall Rank 13th

Jon Weinrieb has been a great designer for some time, but to get a design into the top 10 now takes ingenuity, originality, inspiration and of course an amazing apcd talent. Whilst Quidnet and Links at Ballylecum Castle were both great designs, this release is quite exceptional and shows all the aforementioned attributes. The Old Cypress East Course (a great name) has uniqueness in its visual appearance, the collection of custom made trees is both refreshing and beautiful, and is to be highly commended. This inland course winds its way between great depth of planting and overhanging branches, which really play their part in the gameplay. Hidden within the trees are some lovely buildings which fit the location very well. This is Jon's best lay-out by far, being less prescriptive on shots and with fairways a little more generous, but the trees and deep ungrowth await anything that strays offline. His ground level planting is, as always, exceptional, and few if any designers are better in this regard. The views off the tees are always superb, and the lakes are wonderfully realistic and beautifully orchestrated for effect. My personal favourite touch was the bent over and dying tree at the 8th hole which underlines the imagination that has gone into this design. You cant really ask for any more from a course, the finishing touches are here in the hole previews, start up and cameo screens, and Old Cypress justifies every success as one of the best courses you can get.
Hole Previews : Excellent Tournament Option : Excellent
     
Wellington Point
 
Gus Green
6796 yards. Par 71.
Difficulty Medium

Tropical

Fictitous - 82mb
Aug 2003

Course of the Month

Overall Rank 14th

Gus Green is a designer who has remained quietly in the background since the first apcd was released and apparently has never finished many other course designs, but eventually he unleashed Wellington Point onto an unsuspecting links community. This design is astounding in many regards, a combination of a variety of styles it is described as a short, tight course located in a seaside location based on the sub-tropical East Coast of Australia. Wellington Point visually is one of the most exciting designs I have ever come across, it is stunningly beautiful to look at, captivating to play, and has an amazing attention to detail everywhere. The variety within the course will continually produce unexpected views ranging across a sandy bay with stunning sea and surf, a rock cliff face complete with a guarding white lighthouse, onto the more usual inland course vistas with long grass, ponds, and even swampy ground, all unbelievably well done. It is important to note here that everything looks realistic, and is full of ingenious planning to bring out the best visual effects it can. The texturing and terrain is beautiful, with a superb long grass look both in the textures itself and also on the grass planting, and a worn grass effect is seen in key areas of the fairways. The bare rock outcrops and sandy waste areas are excellent, a custom clubhouse complete with tennis courts is to be seen, and the panorama is superb. There are plenty of hazard bunkers around, of all shapes and sizes, and these together with the cart paths have similarities in their style to Tall Pines Estate. The strategy of the course can almost be overlooked as you take in the views, but this aspect also works well too, playing fairly and naturally. It is not overly hard as long as you avoid the difficult pins, but realistically brings the hazards into play, and when played with the wind blowing severely off the coast it becomes very testing. It is so hard to say which holes are a favourite, but the par 3 12th is a beauty. For the visual quality of this design there is a small price to pay on the rendering side so be warned, and also a tournament option in not available here. If you like a busy course with loads to look at, then this is a great choice, and also it has a somewhat rare tropical feel.
Hole Previews : Excellent Tournament Option : None
     
Royal County Kilderry
 
Mike Jones
6734 yards. Par 70.
Difficulty Medium/Hard

Irish Links

Fictitous - 34mb
Apr 2002

2002 Course of the Year

Overall Rank 15th

Royal County Kilderry became the amazing 5th course creation by Mike Jones. The designer's love of Links courses is so readily apparent, with this course set in the beautiful Irish countryside, overlooking the surrounding fields and farmland in amazing fashion. This landscape is so realistic, rolling fairways are surrounded by deep grass and bracken, overgrown with wonderful mauve heather, white flowers and yellow gorse. Distant quaint farmhouses overlook the scenery, and an old railway line runs alongside the 8th hole, still one of the greatest course features ever seen. Deep pot bunkers cover the course to provide some superb strategy, with fairways which whilst being very fair and sometimes generous, are humped and rolling to make for some tricky lies on approach shots. The natural beauty of this course is complemented by the expertly added features, including extremely smooth cart paths, wooden steps leading up to the tee off areas, fencing around the fields, and wonderful stone walls which look fabulous. The course flows together really well, it is slightly shorter than many designs but being a par 70 you wont feel any benefits, and with par 3's especially that all have their own unique attributes and clever design for risk against reward. For instance, just try and hold the ball on the 14th green after clearing the front bunker. The clubhouse by Guenter Kujat fits the location perfectly, standing near the coast with the sea coming into view down the final few holes. Comparisons are perhaps likely to be made to his earlier release called Ayrshire Dunes, but the look and style is very different, seemingly more gentle and softer than the wilder Scottish location. Hole previews and crowds are of the highest quality to round off this gorgeous Links course, with sound effects adding to the experience and an amazing use being made of the panorama. A quite brilliant design, in fact it has the some of most realistic planting ever seen in the game, and some of the best natural strategy too of any apcd design. The 2003 revised version now features a new groundbreaking form of texture blending on the fairways to add an even more realistic patch effect on the rolls and dips and is quite stunning. A Course of the Year winner, this one stands the test of time well.
Hole Previews : Excellent Tournament Option : Excellent

Download this Course at > Mike Jones' Links Course Designs

     
Shadowlands
 
Mike Jones
7159 yards. Par 72.
Difficulty Medium

Parkland / Scrub

Fictitous - 68mb
Dec 2002

Course of the Month

Overall Rank 16th

Mike Jones is back with another fabulous fictional course design, his first full Links 2003 release. Shadowlands is described as having elements of Pine Valley, Royal Melbourne and Sunningdale as its inspiration. It is a majestic design, right up alongside his very best. The quality of Mike's hole lay outs to provide excellent strategy mixed with fair risk versus reward situations remains intact. There are many different choices to be make, safe play against aggressive, and increasing the difficulty levels of wind and pin positions will indeed change the game for you. Visually the course is one of the best ever seen. The planting is, as usual, so realistic in its design, and the grass is definately setting new standards for texture design. Red, orange and white flowers form the main sporadic splashes of flower colour. Trees are mixed in species which work well together as a tree lined course, and shadows are enhanced to provide an excellent feature well used for effect. At ground level the dry patchy dirt areas are pretty unique to apcd and are one of my favourite ideas for the design. Texture wise this course took a step forward in designing, the rough close up is excellent even on the deep grass areas, and around the course you'll find a blended worn grass look around the tees and other well trodden areas, it is exceptional. Playwise the course is varied and very interesting too, the par 3's are in true Mike Jones fashion some of the best you'll see, with the island 10th and the 16th hole set in a hollow looking amazing. Strategically around the course you'll have to overcome the long testing 7th par 4, the beautiful but tricky lakeside series around the turn at the 9th to 11th, then the fairway bunker at the 12th. All the little additions are there, rope fences, superb slate path effects, bird calls, and great crowds. In many ways, especially the ground terrain and texturing, this was one of the most groundbreaking designs in the history of the apcd. It is a very natural course and playwise remains one of my all time favourites.
Hole Previews : Excellent Tournament Option : Excellent

Download this Course at > Mike Jones' Links Course Designs

     
Babylon Ridge
 
Mike Jones
6502 yards. Par 70.
Difficulty Medium

Lakeside

Fictitous - 50mb
Jul 2003

Course of the Month

Overall Rank 17th

Nestled beneath the Rocky Mountains lies an expansive river valley, littered with large lakes and gentle slopes and surrounded by a beautiful backdrop of green woodland trees. It was here that Mike Jones chose to carve out his latest fictional course design called Babylon Ridge. The scene is set, as two thirds of the fairways meander around the lakes, with water often strategically in play, and occasionally even wrapping itself lovingly around the greens. As a result this course is strategically one of Mike's strongest designs, and most holes have a unique attribute or test that you will quickly come to remember, a mark of a truely excellent design. Visually it contains the hallmark planting of a Mike Jones course, this time the rough is planted with a green grass colour which blends closely with the rough texture, with the occasional dry grassy patch to contrast, and also featuring patches of scrub bushes. Ground textures are again superb, the bunkers especially so, and they become another formidable hazard during play. A white manor house stands proudly over the course, and the occasional distant farmhouse will also come into view, particularly across the fields of the 6th hole. The most distinguishing feature of the course is probably the panelled bulkhead edging to the lakes, it looks wonderful, and helps to bind the course together as one location. Playing the course will involve a number of important decisions, the 4th and 15th holes are drivable par 4's on the right day, and the water edged 15th especially becomes one of the greatest ever fictional par 4's seen. Other very memorable holes include the 6th, bordered by farmland on one side and a lake on the other, and the 16th where the faded tee shot around the trees is crucial to making a par. One of my favourite holes is in fact a quite standard looking dogleg, the 11th just plays beautifully, with the inside of the left angle protected by a series of bunkers, it requires a well chosen and executed drive. Finally the 1st and 14th are risky par 5's that are very reachable in two shots. The greens here are not quite as tough as many of Mike's previous courses, and this i feel is a nice change, but the back 9 certainly has enough to test your putter out. Overall people i know will make comparisons to other designs, it does have some visual similarities to Shadowlands, but not really very much when you come down to analyse it. The course offers a wonderful strategic test, the lakes will make it more penal than you expect, but its not a lengthy lay out, so club choices are always available. Overall, i felt it offered one of the most enjoyable playing experience, simply packed full of excellent risk versus reward choices and one that grows on you the more you learn its strategy.

Hole Previews : Excellent Tournament Option : Excellent

Download this Course at > Mike Jones' Links Course Designs

     
Candlestick
 
Paul Seaman
7379 yards. Par 72.
Difficulty Medium

Desert

Fictitous - 53mb
Jun 2007

Overall Rank 18th

Paul Seaman has pretty much become the designer to watch in 2006 / 2007, and hot on the heels of the fabulous Adam’s Tree comes another fictional course called Candlestick. This is a desert landscape design, and there are really only a handful of this style available outside of Microsoft designs. As expected, this is high quality and easily establishes itself alongside the likes of The Pinnacle and Sorento. It is well textured, has a great lay out for risk and reward and is visually excellent with a great quality panorama that has a sharp and well focused rocky mountains backdrop. Lakes are enough of a feature to play their part during the round, all nicely planted up to add that touch of class, and I cannot fault the planting of ground level grasses and cacti around the desert areas. If I had to find one small area for improvement it would be that on occasion the fairway does look a little carved out from the surrounding desert rock rather having a more naturally elevated flow. This is an interesting course to play, full of clever choices which picks up in style at the 5th hole where you have an opportunity to drive the par 4 lakeside green. This is perhaps one of my favourite short par 4's of all time. The 8th has a clever split fairway with water again in place and the 13th is a Sawgrass style island par 3 green. The 14th is another drivable par 4 and the lay up shot is to a fairway littered with bunkers. The 18th is a great finishing hole with water down the right, a lovely clubhouse at the back on the mountainside and a neat green iron bridge across to the green. Simply stated this is one of the best desert style designs available and therefore should be included in any course collection.
Hole Previews : Excellent Tournament Option : Excellent
     

APCD Courses

 

Courses 19-24