APCD Courses

The Fictional Courses 31-36

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.

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.