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APCD Courses
The Fictional Courses 19-24
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| Kansas
National |
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| Paul
Woodbury & Kevin Tobin |
| 7216
yards. Par 72. |
| Difficulty
Medium/Hard |
Woodland
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| Fictitous
- 136mb |
| Nov
2005 |
Course
of the Month
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Overall
Rank 19th
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Paul Woodbury is one of
the best designers, and one that also tends to
push the apcd boundaries. His eye is for great
visual courses is undoubted with San Simeon in
particular becoming a forerunner to his latest
release called Kansas National. His design of
‘The Pinnacle’ remains arguably the
best desert style course for the game. Kansas
National is a colourful woodland course which
probably has the most hand planted objects of any
design. It is a masterpiece, and very beautiful
from the rich, almost velvet rough texture to the
intricate deep grass and flowers through which
the course winds. The trees are generally light
in colour, with autumnal shades to compliment the
bright ground level colouration, and a rustic
panorama frames the background. There is a little
of everything in here, lakes will play their part
strategically, together with some expanses of
waste sand, and large guarding bunkers around the
greens. Predominantly though it is the wild grass
and close trees which impact the most on your
game. This is a relatively tough course, and you
need to be cautious at the right time for if you
stray offline you may well have to accept that a
bogie is likely, as the entry into many greens is
well guarded. Against the tough opening par 4
where many a round will start poorly, is a real
mix of difficulty, the short 350 yard par 4 10th
hole is a magnificent lay up, and the par
3’s range from a tough 200y shot over the
water to a neat 150y short iron over a guarding
bunker. The immense detail here does come at a
price in rendering times, and for some this will
be a real downside. A wonderful clubhouse has
been created by Eddie Schmidt and the design
project has been ably assisted by Kevin Tobin.
The hole previews and start up screens are
immaculate, and the accompanying course document
files are stunning and well worth keeping to add
to the whole experience.
| Hole
Previews : Excellent |
Tournament
Option : Excellent |
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| Buck
Creek Country Club |
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| Art
Patscheck |
| 6849
yards. Par 72. |
| Difficulty
Medium/Hard |
Woodland
River Valley
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| Fictitous
- 58mb |
| Jan
2003 |
Course
of the Month
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Overall
Rank 20th
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Art
Patscheck is a very well known and already a
highly respected designer, his previous courses
include such gems as Arrowhead, Dove Valley and
Avocet. This is Art's first 2003 design and it
really does make full use of the new tools at his
disposal. The course is designed and routed on
terrain taken from the Buck Creek river area near
Somerset, KY, and has a very real feel to it.
Surrounded by thick woodland, the course winds up
and around the river creek valley, and makes
excellent use of elevation in its design to shape
the holes. The many textures used are all
outstanding, and planting is beautifully
realistic, with a great wild grass look edging
the fairways. The greens are lovely and even hold
drier brown patches, with some worn looking
divoted areas on the fairways, all just adding
that extra feel to the course, with a lovely path
winding around the edges of the woodland. Texture
blending has been fully utilised, and the whole
experience has a very polished and detailed feel
to it. The creek itself uses a greyish colour
which works really well and also creates the
feeling of a deeper middle flow to the river. The
edging in stones is superb, as are the crossing
bridges, with the red stone brick one looking the
best of them all. The course plays fair but is
very challenging at times, water will often
feature, and there is a tough start, the 1st hole
has a fairly scary opening tee shot, and the 3rd
needing loads of thought on how best to play this
long par 4. All the par 3 holes are exceptionally
good, with the 13th becoming an instant favourite
both visually and in learning how best to play
it. Some extra special features to look for
include the long, overgrown sand bunker down the
side of the 8th hole, the 11th which is a par 5
that dares you to take it on in two shots, and
the 14th where if you go right you will roll way
down the hillside into the trees. Then at the
18th is a custom clubhouse built into the
hillside. The design is strategically clever,
realistic, hugely detailed and fun to play, and
is one of the highest technical designs released
with all the trimmings included.
| Hole
Previews : Excellent |
Tournament
Option : Very Good |
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| Atlantic
Point |
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| Mike
Jones |
| 7276
yards. Par 72. |
| Difficulty
Hard |
Coastal
Links
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| Fictitous
- 61mb |
| Jun
2003 |
Course
of the Month
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Overall
Rank 21st
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Mike Jones in an
extraordinary apcd designer for the Links game.
He continually finds new planting, texture and
blending techniques to improve the realism of
course designing and Atlantic Point is no
exception becoming his 7th release after
DriftWood, Ayrshire Dunes, El-Escorpion, Pacific
Breaks, Royal County Kilderry and Shadowlands.
Atlantic Point is an amazing coastal links style
course, drawing if you like on his previous
experiences designing Royal County Kilderry and
Pacific Breaks, he has produced a course full of
new ideas, techniques and most impressively an
immersive coastal links atmosphere. It is well
known that Mike Jones loves links courses, he
landscapes and plants them to perfection, and
Atlantic Point has visual similarities to Royal
County Kilderry and although this new design has
a little less planting colour than its
predecessor, it does have more visual impacts and
variety from the coastline and the inland
woodland areas. Predominantly you will view
across a rolling landscape covered in a whispy
grass with darker bushes, splashes of yellow
flowers, and patches of woodland trees framing
the holes. In the background is a superb panorama
hillside view and part of the course sees you
playing along the beautiful coastline which for
its effect is so amazing that its wave edging,
textured sand, rock and planting is better seen
than described. In terms of new innovations this
course has plenty more of Mike’s texture
blending to create dry patchy fairways, and a
fabulous new bunker effect to give a worn grass
and blown sand look, a real progressive move in
designing. The coastline, complete with a red and
white lighthouse standing guard, will enhance the
atmosphere for you. Each hole on the course has
memorable qualities, varying from its strategy,
view or set piece planting or object. Some of the
inland holes also are set in a kind of bowl
overlooked by the deep rough and trees which
looks fantastic. My favourite hole is a shortish
par 3 at the 14th, its green backed by the sea
and if the pin placement is to the right then
it’s a real challenge to go for it. The view
here when on the green is of the coastline and a
close up of the lighthouse, and is simply
stunning. The soft sound of the sea will
accompany you while playing, and the large hotel
complex will await your return at the 18th.
Overall this is a tougher than average course
that offers a great mix of visuals, playability,
strategy, and immersive qualities. |
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| Sarazen
Links |
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| Gordon
Martin & Steve Avery |
| 7196
yards. Par 72. |
| Difficulty
Easy |
Scottish
Links
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| Fictitous
- 50mb |
| Nov
2004 |
Course
of the Month
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Overall
Rank 22nd
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Sarazen
Links was a real life course design plan by Gene
Sarazen located in St Andrews Bay (just south of
the St Andrews Old Course) which unfortunately
was never actually built. After Gene passed away
Sam Torrance built a replacement course on the
planned site but from his own plans. Gordon
Martin is a surveyor and miraculously had access
to the plans and a love for the links game, and
set about faithfully replicating the original
course design within the apcd. This for me makes
this a rather special and exciting creation in
itself. The
St Andrews Bay Hotel dominates the centre of the
course, and the actual panorama is from North
East Fife – you can just about make out the
hangars at RAF Leuchars in the distance. There
are undulating fairways, subtle and not-so-subtle
borrows on the greens, gorse bushes, dune grass
and one of the most testing long par 3’s at
the 13th. Finally you get a wonderful cliff top
finish down the 17th and 18th. Overall this is a
generous course with fairways that are quite
accommodating in width, but do have rolling
slopes from tee to green, and the grass gets deep
quite close to the fairway. Once you start to
stray it becomes very tricky to hold the greens
or avoid the protecting bunker hazards. Visually
this course is completely natural, neat long
grass borders the fairways and the gorse planting
and flowers are first class. Everything has a
simple feel to it, and nothing is overstated
here, and I particularly like the way the
buildings overlook the course at key points.
Certainly this is a high quality design, and
Steve Avery the creator of Oakland Hills South
and North has assisted Gordon Martin in its
development making for a really good team. The
best way to play this course is to use the high
wind setting, and it is perfect for use with the
new 1.06 mod. Once the wind is howling it becomes
a longer course to play, and harder to hit the
wide fairways, asking more questions from your
game. Knowing that you are playing a Gene Sarazen
course that never quite saw the light of day is
very special indeed.
| Hole
Previews : Very Good |
Tournament
Option : Excellent |
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Dark
Woods
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| Mat
Leclair |
| 6918
yards. Par 72. |
| Difficulty
Hard |
Woodland
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| Fictitous
- 157mb |
| Feb
2008 |
Overall
Rank 24th
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Mat Leclair is one of our
younger designers and has regularly worked on the
deep woodland style of course design, with the
much underrated Carolinas Pines, and then the
excellent Black Valley which was itself a very
high quality course. Dark Woods has been in
production for around 4 years and i would say
this time has been very well spent. The course is
densely enclosed by trees, and really holds the
feeling of competing deep within the forest in a
similar feel to the great old Hunter's Wood. The
ground level planting under the trees is very
comprehensive with deep grass and bushes and and
you will really not want to stray to far into
these areas for sure. The lay out of the holes is
one of the high points, it is full of inventive
and thought provoking shots, with creeks
splitting the fairways, lakes bordering the
greens and deep forestation it will keep you on
edge the whole way around. It is not overly long
by todays standards, but it doesnt need to be as
it is a clever course. Visually it is up
alongside the best woodland courses around, full
of deep planting, objects and paths around the
tees, and some nice outbuildings. Probably the
only improvement i would comment on is the cart
path texturing is a little light to the eye. You
have to carefully decide how to play every hole
and it is a tough one to score well on, at
championship and elite levels as there is so much
that can go wrong. This course for its visual
depth of planting and its clever strategy would
deservedly see this alongside most top 20
courses. I do find it an exhausting one to play
well, but it isnt unfair, just a reflection of my
preferred play level. I do especially like the
way the course opens up around the 15th and 16th
holes to offer something different visually.
Superb work and i highly praise this design.
| Hole
Previews : Excellent |
Tournament
Option : None |
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Xilver
Prairie (2007)
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| Rick
Weathers |
| 7060
yards. Par 72. |
| Difficulty
Medium |
Prairie
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| Fictitous
- 68mb |
| Aug
2007 |
Course
of the Month
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Overall
Rank 24th
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Rick
Weathers is now well known for his trademark
Xilver series of courses and two of these have
received more recent updates to bring them up to
the highest quality using newer apcd techniques
and advancements. Xilver Plaine was updated in
2005 (a much greener and more rolling hills
design) and now Xilver Prairie some 5 years after
its first release is also given its make-over. The Prairie course is
again a fictional design set in an area of the
United States where the panhandles of Oklahoma
and Texas meet the New Mexico border. An area
where the "Rockies" mountain range
rolls down into the golden prairies of
mid-western USA. However, many of the holes here
are based upon real counterparts. The
golden prairie look is quite wonderful with dry
looking grassland extending into the distance and
perfectly matched by the panorama which is
seamless in its transitions from the foreground.
Farm style buildings fit the scenery superbly,
and a few custom trees frame the views, but these
are sporadic leaving an open rolling view far
into the distance. Tee areas contain benches and
trash cans, and the stone edging steps are among
the best of textures ever seen. Cart paths that
wind around the course look great and are
beautifully blended into the landscape. This
designer has a style that is immediately
recognisable and high quality continues to shine
through in the soft edging to every switch in
texture. The course plays fairly at all skill
levels, with many wider lay up areas set up
against the more risky driver shots to reduce
approaches. There seems to be a lot of different
ways to play this course, and with a number of
doglegs here, and lakes playing a key part on
around a third of the holes you will always be
thinking your way around. The second hole seems
to have become its signature, an island style par
3 green at 190 yards which looks fabulous but
provides a nervy early test. There are stacks of
3d objects, buildings and terrain pieces in this
design, and the fountains for instance are the
best i have ever seen with concentric rings
around them simulating the water movement. This
always was a great course, and all in is another
of the all time great course packages, with a
great logo, quality in the cameo, start up
screens, and some of the best previews ever with
the green slopes also shown here. You can count
the number of prairie style courses on one hand,
so one this good is a real bonus.
| Hole
Previews : Excellent |
Tournament
Option : None |
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