APCD Courses

APCD Courses

The Real Courses 19-24

Inverness Club

Bruce Ditmyer

7024 yards. Par 72.

Difficulty Medium

Parkland

Real - 72mb

Oct 2006

2006 Course of the Year Runner Up

Overall Rank 19th

The Inverness Club is one of the prestigious Championship golf courses in the USA. Founded in 1903, it was originally a 9-hole layout designed by Bernard Nichols which over the years underwent renovations by great architects such as Donald Ross, and George and Tom Fazio, until the course measured 7024 yards from the championship tees and was chosen by the USGA to host the 1979 U. S. Open won by Hale Irwin. Eight major golf championships have been hosted by Inverness over the years, and it lies at 41st on the Golf Digest list of greatest USA courses. As a debut design, and over two years in the making this design by Bruce Ditmyer is quite astonishing and easily stands alongside the best courses ever made available for the game. This is a lush green and picturesque looking parkland course with a neat planting set that never looks out of place. It has 3 cuts of rough from the narrow first cut through to normal rough and then if you stray too far the deep grass will be found. Now the way these textures have been coloured is second to none, so that although there is no actual grass planting, it actually looks like the grass is deeper at the boundaries of the textures. Everything you could ask for is here, the full club has been re-produced including a beautiful 3d clubhouse and swimming pool complex, small bridges over the creeks, and a comprehensive tournament option. The course itself it reasonable long, features a shared opening fairway, a small lake at the excellent 3rd hole and creeks that cut around some of the greens and is most noticable at the 5th. Elevation changes and doglegs also feature, and to be honest it incorporates most design attributes you could want from an inland course. Whilst the original course doesnt have the drama of Augusta, Pebble Beach and The Belfry, I would say this is one of the most natural and realistic designs we have ever seen, and it plays like a dream.

Edgbaston

Curt Simms

6290 yards. Par 69.

Difficulty Easy

English Woodland

Real - 114mb

Aug 2006

Overall Rank 20th

Edgbaston Golf Course is beautiful course set in a parkland/woodland mix close to the centre of Birmingham. It is laid out within Edgbaston park and dates from 1936, designed by the famous Harry S. Colt. The clubhouse, Edgbaston Hall, is a magnificent 18th century Georgian mansion and is spectacular centrepiece for the venue. Overlooking the course are Birmingham's landmarks such as the Chamberlain Clock Tower and the University, both visible from the course itself. A relatively short course, its challenge comes from a fine and well thought lay-out. Curt Simms has chosen this as his debut apcd design, and a magnificent piece of work has resulted, made even more interesting by its development history via forum updates. This is an excellent all round design, with nicely chosen textures complete with dry speckles and with divots at the tees and some even on fairways. The tree planting is a real strength, a consistant woodland feel with trees that gell together superbly well, many of them custom made. Bunkers are also well made, with a dark dirt lip, and loads of new bird calls add extra atmosphere. Robert Miller has made the georgian clubhouse, visually one of the most beautiful in the game. There is a lot of variety in play here, the longer par 4's at the dogleg 2nd, the 6th and the 500 yard 10th will test you, and the par 3's whilst relatively short are so well designed that you rarely gain too many shots. The 5th has a memorable line of 3 bunkers as protection, and the 7th is overlooked by the clocktower. The par 5 17th is reachable, and preceeded by shorter drivable par 4's at 15 and 16 offer hope for great finish, although bunkers at 16 will often collect your tee shot. The river bank at the 15th is exceptional and just about the most realistic i can recall, and the dark fir trees at the turn add an extra touch of identity. This course is a treat to play, is visually is very realistic indeed, and the overall finish is as good as any other design. As a debut design i cant think of many better.

Royal Lytham & St Annes

Bill Bunning

6903 yards. Par 71.

Difficulty Medium/Hard

English Links

Real - 56mb

Jun 2004

Overall Rank 21st

Royal Lytham & St Annes hosted the 2001 Open and confirmed itself as one of the great majors venues. A typical Links course, its trademark is undulating fairways with a split mown grass cut which shows up as two shades, and this together with the many pot bunkers is admirably captured in this recreation. Aside the fairways are two cuts of rough including the deep wild grass rough which is beautifully planted up, and again captured well with some nice textures and superb blending used. For the designer Bill Bunning this is his only release, and it is a skillful creation originally made in April 2002 and now updated with all the best features available. This design accurately maps the real venue in both looks and playability, and fully uses local knowledge from the goundskeepers. Pot bunkers are deep and really must be avoided, green slopes are often quite tricky, and overall it plays tough but fair. The railway line that runs alongside the course is captured as a great sound effect. The tournament option is well worth a special mention, thick crowds and grandstands are provided in true Open Championship fashion, an excellent option making you feel completely involved in the tournament. The 3d clubhouses by Anders Bessermann now look amazing, and the 18th becomes an outstandingly tough finishing hole. A wonderful course design, it has some great attention to detail and also now has a much better panorama of the setting. Tee areas contain trademark brightly coloured boxes. There are already some great Links courses, and this is one of the best Open venues currently available.

Druids Glen

Lars Rudbeck & Anders Bessermann

7026 yards. Par 71.

Difficulty Medium

Parkland

Real - 81mb

Mar 2004

Overall Rank 22nd

It is always a real pleasure to see a new European course released for the game, especially when it has been designed with care and detail such as Druids Glenn. Of course, with designers such as Lars Rudbeck (Midnight GC) & Anders Bessermann (TPC @ Sawgrass) both from the Dark Horse Team, high quality is expected and then delivered. Druids Glen is an Irish course, host to the Irish Open on 4 occasions and the Seve Cup event in 2002. Whilst I have seen some tv coverage of the course, I admit I cannot recall enough to properly comment on accuracy, but bearing in mind its has been topographically mapped, I am confident it is as accurate as it probably can be. The 13th and 17th holes were certainly as good as i do recall though. The course itself is beautifully created, the grass texturing and blending looks great, a slightly deeper green choice for the rough and fairways than most courses, and the planting is high quality, with great tree choices and colourings to blend together really well. The lay out is extremely good, with plenty of water hazards, especially down the back nine to make it thoughtful to play. The views of the course are really good, natural looking, with touches of long grass here and there for effect at ground level. Bridges are excellent, the walls with arches are clever, and you can find the superb clubhouse at the back of the 18th. The panorama is lovely and the resulting 7th tee view a treat, and the tree planting is superb. Overall this is a great course to play, it’s a true European venue, and a high profile one at that which I can fully recommend downloading. The hole preview screens are very detailed and useful for play, especially on the occasional tee shot where the fairway isn’t immediately visible. In the end this deserves to be appreciated by more than just the European contingent of players in the game.

Cog Hill (Dubsdread)

Tim Hagen

7339 yards. Par 71.

Difficulty Medium

Woodland

Real - 83mb

Oct 2008

2008 Course of the Year Runner Up

Overall Rank 23rd

Cogill is located in Lemont Illinois within a complex of 4 course, with No.4 nicknamed Dubsdread. The course borders between a woodland and a parkland course that looks visually really good with a wide variety of natural tree species in view. It has been home to the BMW PGA Championship since 200. Orginially this was played in Links as a Microsoft VGA course but has now been recreated by Tim Hagen famed for the excellent Quail Hollow. Cog Hill is a fabulous course to play that mixes up the game nicely with different holes testing you in different ways. Driving on the whole needs to be accurate, as the trees will usually collect any stray shots, and from time to time water makes an appearance to test your approach shots. Dog legs are a real feature here too, and bunkers protect many of the greens. The most noticable holes come at the 5th and 9th which are long par 5's and hard to reach in two, and the latter being extremely narrow with it. The 8th, a par 4 needs a good positional shot off the tee for access to the green, and the 15th requires a fade off the tee to hit the fairway. The 14th is lovely looking par 3 that requires an accurate tee shot. Water appears late on in the round on the left of the 16th and the tricky finishing 18th hole. Tim Hagen has done a superb job bringing this course to life. It looks better than ever with new 1024x1024 textures, and has a really lush green feel to the grass, but its tree planting is what works really well and is perhaps one of the hardest to achieve on a woodland style course. I have always enjoyed playing this course, as strategically it offers so much to think about and has some scary tee shots too. it is wonderful that this has returned the game with such visual improvements. A final side note is that this release at the moment only contains the back tee positions.

Burnt Pine at Sandestin

Lacy Gearheart

7099 yards. Par 72.

Difficulty Medium

Lakeside

Real - 30mb

Apr 2002

Overall Rank 24th

Lacy Gearheart has quickly become a most respected designer and here he has released a rendition of a real course at Destin, Florida, now updated as a 'Special Edition' in April 2002. It is another beautifully crafted design with a rich dark texture to the rough, contrasting with lighter green fairways and tee areas. The fairways are well rounded and offer on the whole fairly generous landing areas. The difficulty on the course is maintained by the rough which is deep set and will be hard to judge approaches from, looking an excellent deep lush green, but offering a fairly wide catchment area before the trees. The greens are beautifully sloped and will sometimes provide a tricky challenge to your putter. The hazards on course are most excellent, bunkers are fairly deep and perfectly edged, containing lovely white powder sand. Lakes are visually oustanding, and the banks are planted up with rocks and grasses, and have ducks, herons and geese populating the waters, which is an excellent touch, and brings everything to life. The ground level planting is very pleasing with varied trees and superb ground level grasses and bushes, together with some beautiful wild overgrown hazard areas containing brighter yellow flowers. A sea panorama has been added to the 'Special Edition', and the tree line has always been excellent. Object wise there is the customary leaderboard at the 18th, hole signs at the tees, distance markers, and the occasional shack to see. This course really comes into its element at the tougher play levels when the rough plays a greater part in proceedings. Par 5's are quite long, and most need some wind assistance to reach in two shots. Generally this is a bold, rich green looking course, but there are areas of brown pine needles alongside the holes in which trees are planted, and this offers a good visual variation. The new beach area down the last few holes now gives this a little extra feature, and makes this into one of the best ever designs, everything has an extremely high quality, and it is one of the most beautiful visually due to the lakes and contrasts in colours used. The addition of amazing hole previews and crowds just make this course a complete experience. A new 2005 version by Chris Gormnley is also available and has added new 2003 textures and made the greens more mod friendly, however in all honesty i still prefer the 2002 edition better.