APCD Courses

APCD Courses

The Real Courses 31-36

Crandon Park

John Andersen

7179 yards. Par 72.

Difficulty Hard

Real - 30mb

Tropical

Apr 2005

Overall Rank 31st

This course was originally released by John Andersen in Jan 2001 as The Links of Key Biscayne, a real course used on the Seniors PGA circuit and known on the tour as Crandon Park Golf Course, located in Florida. This is a natural island setting complete with the expected planting of palm trees and abundant mangroves which enclose the fairways. It is superbly set out reflecting its real life venue perfectly, with its strategy being extremely strong, created by the many lakes around the course, and with often narrow entrances into the greens. Palm trees dont really affect tee shots too much, but the planting is very consistant with the setting, and looks gorgeous. The lakes are excellent, some containing small overgrown islands, which greatly enhance the views of the course, and not all are in direct play as hazards. Bunkers are also well designed, have good variation in shapes, and guard the greens well. There is an amazing atmosphere to this course, from the sound effects to the local wildlife which enhance many of the views. Herons populate the lakes, small birds strutt around the fairways, and racoons creep out the mangroves, and lets not forget the favourite iguanas, especially the monster at the 12th. The variations in play are extremely good with par 3's offering different lengths, and a nice mix of long and also reachable par 5's, the 10th is now quite a superb hole to play sitting between the 2 lakes. The grass texture is so smooth and beautiful, it really does lift the course to the highest level. Rounding things off you get custom flags, excellent splash and start up screens, and great hole previews which also show the greens contours and slopes. The 2005 update version by Ross Mackenzie and Eric Dorse has added new textures and amended the rough to normal to play much better with the new Links 1.06 modification, more realistically and fairly. This is one of the best tropical course ever made available.

Spyglass Hill

Eddie Schmidt

6862 yards. Par 72.

Difficulty Medium

Pine Forest

Real - 42mb

Feb 2005

Overall Rank 32nd

Eddie Schmidt began his designing career with Southern Pines and Clubcito Diablo, developing into one of the best designers by the time he completed Brookline Country Club and Bull Run. In the middle of these courses he produced the famous Spyglass Hill, a Robert Trent Jones Snr design from 1966, considered the toughest course in Northern California, and ranked 53 on the Golf Digest list. Originally released in Feb 2002, it has now been updated with new textures, however no blending is included. This recreation is accurate and detailed with many amazing features included. You start the round heading towards the coastal beach area, where the sand texture and planting are beautiful and unique. The sea is also textured wonderfully well, and the seagulls and yacht add that extra touch of class, with the 3rd hole, a par 3 overlooking the bay being a particular favourite. From hole 6 you move into the Del Monte forest, a great change in contrast, and no let up in excellence. Fairways are smooth, with lovely slopes and contours, brown pine textures are then seen to the edges of the holes, nicely planted with undergrowth grasses and bushes. Trees fit the location perfectly, and there is loads of grass growing around the bases, admirable in its detail. Cart paths wind around the course, with nice hole signs evident, and wonderful looking buildings lurk within the trees adding realism. The course plays brilliantly, with a difficulty level set close to the microsoft real course levels, it is fair and has no elements of forced difficulty. The natural setting option is visually beautiful and recommended, and then if you try the tournament option it offers a whole different experience, immersed in large crowds and tournament objects, including leaderboards and towers, it is quite breathtaking. Hole previews are very good here too, great looking and containing hole names and short tactical advice. This is a fabulous design, easily one of the very best real courses available.

Olympia Fields

Ken Boltz

7198 yards. Par 70.

Difficulty Medium

Woodland

Real - 78mb

Sep 2004

Overall Rank 33rd

Olympia Fields Country Club, North Course is created by one of our best designers, Ken Boltz who gave us the fictional course Hunters Wood. This real majors venue is located near Chicago, Illinois and was originally designed by Open champion Willie Park Jr. The club is famous for its English Tudor clubhouse and 80 foot high clock tower. Host to many major events over the years, it recently hosted the 2003 US Open Championship won by Jim Furyk, and is ranked at 36 on the Golf Digest list. This is a woodland venue, with trees that are fairly tight to the fairways and causing all sorts of shot selection choices. As a par 70 at 7198 yards, this is not an easy course to score well on. Visually this course is just about as natural as you can make it, and it is impressive. The tree selections are above excellent, i barely saw any foliage or trunk which looked out of place, it all blended perfectly and was on a par with Brookline which is one of my favourites. This kind of attention to detail makes it extra special. At ground level there is some grass planting here and there, but it is kept low key and together with the occasional bushes seemed just right and in the right places to make it feel like a well kept real course. The texture choices are great from the lighter fairways and greens to a deeper darker rough and orange shade of speckled sand. As previously mentioned, this is a tough course and fairways are quite tight with river creeks winding around some of the fairways. As far as i can recall, this design is very accurate and matches the routing of the US Open. The hole previews and deep crowds and tourney objects are superb. This is a top quality real venue, beautifully created and on a level with the very best.

Dullatur Antonine

Paul Seaman

5916 yards. Par 69.

Difficulty Easy

Woodland

Real - 89mb

Mar 2006

Overall Rank 34th

Watching the apcd talents of a designer progress in leaps and bounds is one of the more enjoyable features of reviewing courses. Paul Seaman started from humble beginnings and spurred on by his son Leigh produced a lovely joint fictional venture called Mordhel Golf & Country Club in April 2005. Since then Paul has spent time unpicking tutorials from the acclaimed masters of the apcd before completing this new release, a real course known as Dullatur Antonine. This design really lifts him into one of the list of all time great accomplishers with the apcd. Dullatur Antonine is a Scottish woodland course and set as a par 69 at 5916 yards it certainly wont be among the most diffuculy courses to play, but this brings its own rewards, feeling much more like a local club course, albeit a rather high quality one. This course has everything, a superb panorama (by Daniel Watson), neat and comprehensive ground level grass planting, a lovely mix of trees in realistic blends, telephone poles and electric pylons, a railway line and a beautiful 3d clubhouse which is a close match to its real counterpart. The views are very natural andbeautiful. Bunkers are shallow but nicely blended, and all the textures look excellent even with some worn grass patches in key areas. This is such an enjoyable experience to play, you can really play quite bold if you wish, but the course is quite undulating so there will not be too many flat lies around. You have plenty of opportunity to score well, so it really is best to crank up the difficulty level a touch more than usual and have some great fun with this excellent course. Check out the accompanying files too, including an extra animation with wooden clubs.

Gut Kaden

C&B/A&C/B&A

Guenter Kujat

7117/6474/6579 yards.

Par 72/71/71.

Difficulty Medium

European Parkland

Real - 60mb

Jan 2002

Overall Rank 35th

Guenter Kujat's courses are arguably the most realistic venues you can find from any apcd designer, easily matching up to and sometimes surpassing microsoft in terms of the added details and the natural planting look found. If you really want to experience the realism of playing at a European venue then you need look no further. Guenter has now released three separate German courses, and Gut Kaden has the special attribute of being formed of three nine hole courses put together in different combinations. The C&B course set up is the home of the Deutsche Bank/SAP Open, originally designed by Frank Penninck and updated by Karl F Grohs. Of the three courses, this is the most comprehensive in terms of the tournament options, containing the most added objects and crowds to reflect the real tournament conditions. The other two do also have a smaller crowd presence on offer. The whole look and experience is crafted perfectly, with grasses, bushes and tree planting used in the best way possible to create that real effect. The designer remains true in his use of grass texturing, and a first cut is again apparent separating fairways from the rough. Overall the courses are parkland in style, and relatively flat, although fairways are nicely contoured to affect most shots played. A fitting woodland panorama backs the location beautifully. Gut Kaden plays fairly and realistically, and the design of the holes and hazards are such that they come more into play as you tweak to harder difficulty levels, always an excellent sign. As usual, Guenter's use of custom objects and clubhouses are exemplary. All the course combinations are fantastic and well worth having, the hole previews and start up screens are superb, and to be honest real European venues just wont come too much better than this.

TPC @ The Woodlands

Alan Price, David Russell & Ross Mackenzie

7040 yards. Par 72.

Difficulty Medium

Woodland

Real - 89mb

May 2005

Overall Rank 36th

Alan Price originally released this course in Mar 2001, a follow up to his first course at The Woodlands, this was the more well known PGA tournament course venue at the same location in Texas. TPC @ The Woodlands was an amazingly accurate replication of the former home venue of The Shell Houston Open. In 2003 David Russell gave this design a visual makover including new textures, hole previews, re-planting and a fuller tournament crowd option, and in 2005 Ross Mackenzie added texture blending, a couple of new textures and some general smoothing over. The predominant feature of the course is the importance of water on key holes, and the deep rough which surrounds the fairways. Fairways are reasonably wide, and rough areas often generous, so you can be wayward off the tee but recovery shots are difficult, and lay ups may be needed as a result. The holes are set well, being lined with woodland trees, some planted in areas of pine needles, and the course looks very consistant from start to finish, rich green in colour. The designers have achieved what is still one of the best use of buildings around, with many of them all around the course, lurking within the woods edging along the holes. They look unobtrusive but make their mark very well, there are some duplications but its varied enough to do a great job. Water is a common hazard and is often in play on approaches in particular, making for some great strategy. There are also now patches of grass planting for effect around the course but this has been kept to a minimalist look so as not to detract from the original release. The hole structures make this course special, you can usually play safe to avoid hazards, and there is a mixture of reachable and unreachable par 5's in two shots, and a good balance between the more difficult and easier holes, with some tricky par 3's thrown in. The island green on the par 5 13th works really well, as it will be reachable for the very bold, and the lakeside closing holes are just excellent, the 18th featuring a really nice stepped backdrop from the green to a large leaderboard. This is a very well designed course which offers excellent playability, has great hole previews, and now has full blending and a superb tournament atmosphere too.