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APCD Courses
The Fictional Courses 25-30
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| DriftWood |
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| Mike
Jones |
| 7058
yards. Par 71. |
| Difficulty
Medium |
Woodland
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| Fictitous
- 62mb |
| Apr
2003 |
Course
of the Month
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Overall
Rank 25th
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Mike
Jones is a real life professional golfer and used
his knowledge to create an absolutely amazing
course experience on his debut in February 2001
called DriftWood, eventually updating the design
in 2003. Driftwood is a fictional course, but it
could easily be mistaken for a real life one,
both visually and via its hole structures. The
strategy around the course is still amongst the
best ever seen, fair and realistic with
variations in the elements of difficulty, and
with a wonderful mix of challenges. The fairways
vary in width from a nice generous 1st tee shot
to calm the nerves along to the long tight scary
one at the 6th, a difficult par 4. All the new
textures are excellent, a deeper brown grassy
look has been achieved, and the tree and bush
planting at ground level is first class.
Predominantly this is a green and brown woodland
course, but there are natural splashes of colour
to add interest with occasional bright colouful
bushes and flowers. Overlooked by the distant
mountain panorama it gives the impression that
the course is nestled down in a valley. The par
3's excell here in particular, and still rank
with the best ever created, the 9th being a super
tribute to the Augusta 12th, and the 17th a very
well executed hole with a raised green surrounded
by sand. Par 4's vary in length from shorter
holes at the 1st and the 10th to the longer and
more difficult ones like the 6th and the
extremely clever 15th. The three Par 5's offer a
nice mix, with a couple of reachable ones in two
shots, but with some tricky risk attached. The
bunker hazards and lakes all look extremely good
and are really well placed, and the greens prove
to be some of the best ever seen, with tricky
placements found between bunkers available, and
tiers and gentle slopes to add difficulty and
interest but without being at all unfair. If your
approach is close on the correct tier then a
straightforward birdie opportunity should present
itself to you. Attention to detail is obvious all
around the course, and even the tee areas are
well designed with split tee off spots. The new
look with brown grass and scrub bushes edging the
fairways is excellent, full texture blending has
been added, bunkers are much smoother, and the
out of bounds penalties removed. It always was a
real early favourite of mine, and remains one of
the most played courses in my collection. Here is
my hole by hole guide. |
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| Tish
Island |
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| Steve
Mihelarakis |
| 7381
yards. Par 72. |
| Difficulty
Hard |
Tropical
Dunes
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| Fictitous
- 90mb |
| Jun
2004 |
Overall
Rank 26th
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Steve
Mihelarakis is the designer of the lovely Desert
Lakes, but this new 2003 release establishes his
skills at the highest level. Tish Island is a
Kiawah Island style dunes course with plenty of
sand, water and tropical foliage. You can
instantly see this is a quality design, the
textures and blending, the planting and edging
are all superb, as are the hazards. There are
few, if any, courses that look visually similar
to this, hence its high chart appeal, but if you
are eagerly visualising an open sandy wastland
with low planting and no trees then this isnt
quite it. This is a heavily planted landscape,
with an abundance of bushes and grasses, tall
trees including many palms, and with loads of
sand and large lakes. Visually this course is
excellent. Playing the course is tough, and a
deliberate move by the designer. The fairways are
pretty tight, and hazards border the holes on
both sides, a mixture of sand and water, so
errant shots are quickly punished. The course is
long, so expect some long irons or woods into the
greens, and your sand play will be a real key to
a good round. Greens overall are fairly heavily
sloped and fairly small. Normally i admit these
more difficult courses dont easily make the
chart, but after playing well and making my first
par score i believe it to be playable on easier
settings as the fairways are not too over sloped
making it a little easier to judge approach
shots. My favourite holes were the 2nd, a right
to left dogleg, and the 15th, both are a little
more generous off the tee than most other holes.
Some tough holes include the long 3rd, the 11th
where water really cuts into the approach shot,
and the small green of the 13th, but all are well
designed. The 18th would really have better as a
par 5 really and this together with the 17th can
ruin any good round if you are not very careful.
Overall this is a great design, one that will
challenge even the best players, but also one you
will find frustrating if you dont bring your best
game. A quality release offering something
visually awesome and also a little different. Do
try playing from the middle tees at 6971 yards
for arguably a more playable and slightly more
relaxing round.
| Hole
Previews : Good |
Tournament
Option : None |
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| Three
Horseshoes |
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| Robert
Hurst |
| 7440
yards. Par 72. |
| Difficulty
Medium/Hard |
Pine
Forest
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| Fictitous
- 44mb |
| Dec
2005 |
Overall
Rank 27th
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Robert
Hurst quietly released his second course after a
debut called Tilly Lakes (one i cannot confess to
remembering), and it sparked a lot of debate and
interest over the forums which i will refer to
later. This is a pine forest course, backed by a
mountain range panorama, this one is not
snow-covered though. The course has some superb
elements, the ground level planting under the
pine forest is amazing, with variations of dry
brown and greener grasses, some nice mauve &
orange/brown colour here and there from the
bushes, and long rough grass edgings towards the
fairways periodically covered with neat yellow
flowers. Visually it is a really lovely course at
ground level. The trees are a mixture of pine
firs you may see at Augusta National, and more
traditional mountain forest firs, which blend
together pretty well although a limited palette
of objects has been used. Overall i felt the
duplicates were not overly intrusive, except
perhaps at the approach to the 5th hole, and real
fir trees are often quite similar looking anyway,
however not everyone entirely agrees with me
here. The textures are a real strong point,
beautifully blended for a really smooth
transitional look including the bunkers and
paths, and one of the reasons i like the course
so much. There are quite a lot of bunkers around,
maybe a few too many near the greens overall, and
a deep rough grass is found around them to make
recovery more tricky should you just avoid the
sand. The strategic lay out is an excellent mix
of long drives, lay-ups, doglegs, water (again
beautifully planted), with nice elevation work on
the fairways. It is firm but fair in its approach
and provides a great challenge. The greens were
the second hot debate subject alongside the
trees, and are quite tough and to be honest
mainly designed for the 1.05 game. The hole
previews round off a lovely course design, and
the 18th tee shots provides the link to the
course title. It is a good course that just seems
to have that something extra about it, the repeat
value of pulling me back for another round.
| Hole
Previews : Excellent |
Tournament
Option : None |
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| Xilver
Plaine |
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| Rick
Weathers |
| 7016
yards. Par 72. |
| Difficulty
Medium |
Hills
& Plains
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Overall
Rank 28th
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Rick
Weathers originally created Xilver Plaine back in
November 2001, a pastel look to the design made
it quite unique. This 2005 remake has kept much
of the original lay out but vastly improves the
overall visuals using all the latest blending and
texture techniques. Xilver Plaine 2005 is a
fictional design set at or near the base of a
mountain range and fashioned from an area in the
United States along the California/Nevada border.
It captures the colourful beauty of this area and
combines it with rugged terrain, and is best
described as a hills and valley setting, with
farmland plains fringing the course boundaries.
The design has made the most awesome use of
elevation and panorama to create views of
breathtaking quality. The panorama so good that
you cannot tell where it joins the foreground.
Buildings here are extremely well chosen for the
setting, and have been used to wonderful effect
as focus points for your attention in the far
distance, the clubhouse itself is superb. The use
of elevation is outstanding and a key trademark
of the course along with the bunker style, and
the terrain is so smooth that it rolls and dips
perfectly. The extruded edging to the deep set
bunkers and the new lakes are planted up and
quite lovely to look at. The course plays
extremely well, with fair widths for all ability
levels to enjoy but with plenty of hazards and
strategy points to make you think, and if you
start to stray from the best lines you will find
yourself with some difficult shots and lies due
to the elevations. The planting and overall look
of the course remains unique, its pastel
appearance has largely disappeared in favour of a
more realistic look, but somehow it does retain a
flavour of its origins. It looks visually
amazing, the intricate planting with many deep
grasses, occasional soft mauve flowers, and with
bushes trees well chosen to match everything else
perfectly. Object wise there are occasional
buildings, hole descriptions and some great new
custom benches. Fences and walls are used to good
effect to border the winding paths and edge the
hillsides. This remains a course that shows
Rick's unique design look and remains different
in style to other designs, fitting well as a set
alongside Xilver Prairie. Hole previews and
crowds are also included, and it is certainly
well worth adding to your play list.
| Hole
Previews : Excellent |
Tournament
Option : Excellent |
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| Owelstery
White Horse |
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| Mitch
Sirk |
| 7509
yards. Par 74. |
| Difficulty
Hard |
English
Hillside
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| Fictitous
- 56mb |
| Mar
2004 |
Overall
Rank 29th
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Mitch
Sirk is another of our great designer talents
with a great eye for making a fictional course
look real. Among his greatest works are Van Zandt
Kanaal, Brydestone and Aitch Heath Municipal.
Owelstery White Horse Golf & Country Club is
in the release notes specified as being 'Built
upon what was previously farmland in the rolling
chalk hills of southern England, Owelstery is a
typical albeit fictional example of courses built
during the 1980s UK golf boom. New planting mixes
with established mature trees and what were once
hedgerows between fields, and natural farmland
windbreaks. Evidence of its farming heritage can
be seen throughout the course'. I honestly cant
think of a better way to describe this design. It
certainly has an English heritage feel to it, and
the white horse etched into the hillside is a
superb focul point to the course. The planting is
excellent all over, the textures seem to fit the
location well complete with some great blending,
but the greatest strength is the way the panorama
of rolling fields and farmhouses blends with the
foreground for a perfect view off the tee. There
are some great elevations to the design, and the
use of overgrown lakes is another one of Mitch's
strong talents. The course is pretty long at over
7500 and is unusual as a par 74. To pick out some
of my favourite details of the course, other than
the white horse, object wise the tee signs are
lovely, and the use of buildings in the
backgound, and in particular the farmouse at the
13th tee was beautiful, then there are swans at
the 7th hole. I liked the hole previews which
contain a clever view of the normal landing area.
The tee views to be honest are better seen than
described really as they are fabulous. Finally
the 18th hole is a masterpiece, will you go for
that green at the par 4, its an all or nothing
glory finish to your round. The only real
downside to the course design is the overuse of
bunkers at key landing zones which can make it
frustrating to play at times. However, its a
lovely English design which is visually superb.
| Hole
Previews : Excellent |
Tournament
Option : Excellent |
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| Sorento |
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| Steve
Pope |
| 7127
yards. Par 72. |
| Difficulty
Medium |
Desert
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| Fictitous
- 39mb |
| Sep
2003 |
Overall
Rank 30th
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Designer Steve Pope, last
released a course in November 2001. He has
already however a number of good releases to his
name, including Fire Fighter Memorial, Seminole
Winds, Canyon Hills, and Prestige. His new course
Sorento is desert located near Las Vagas, and set
in mountainous foothills surrounded by pine and
fir trees. The combination works superbly well,
offering something a little different than
usually seen, with the closest similarity I can
recall being Thanksgiving Point. I would open the
review by saying that I really do like this
design, desert courses historically have been
best done by Microsoft, but I feel this is of
such high quality, and is as good as if not
better than any of theirs. To its credit it also
manages to provide something new in its look, and
is a clever course to play too. Visually you will
find a lovely almost rich grass texture
surrounded by an off white desert sand, and a
more orange sandy colour dirt texture. Framing
the fairways are rocky outcrops and pine
textures, and a nice panorama provides a fitting
backdrop. Planting is excellent, typical of
desert terrain, comprehensive, varied too but not
totally overplanted, leaving large open areas of
sand or dirt waste ground. You will see lovely
splashes of colour, an appropriate choice of
trees and bushes, cacti, and a lovely use of
rocks to define the paths. Many of the tee views,
like the 1st, 6th and 9th holes are stunning.
Seam blending has achieved a soft edge to the
joins and leaves the course looking exceptionally
tasty. Steve Pope always was inventive in his lay
outs, but this one is a little less extreme than
some of his other designs, and as a result is
much more realistic in the way it plays, bringing
different challenges into play during the round
and using sand, dirt and lakes as hazard areas.
There is a good balance of harder holes and
easier ones, and the 7th and 18th par 5’s
offer excellent choices to take a risk. As to my
favourite holes, it must be the clever 14th
dogleg, and the 15th island green par 3 which
with a soft blend looks awesome, but they are
among many great holes. This is a wonderful
course, and even without a tournament option here
you certainly wont be disappointed with this one.
| Hole
Previews : Excellent |
Tournament
Option : None |
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