Golf Sim Clubhouse Forum

Hello everybody. I am back to trying to design my first course after an involuntary hiatus. I have switched to building a real course, so I am working on a real course I am pretty familiar with. I went through all the steps to get my plot setup, then got the plot info from TA to Architect. I opened Google Earth and used Ghost-It to superimpose the GE image over the Architect plot. I set my grid size to 340 yds, built a precise 340 x 340 yard hazard box, and used GE ruler to zoom to where 340 yds in GE was 340 yds in Architect. I roughed in the water on the course, then zoomed in tighter to start detailing holes (tees/greens/fairways - 2d/3d stuff after). My first holes to work on are 2 of my favorites - the 411/361 yard par 4 14th (http://summerfieldgc.com/golf/emailer20 ... ook/14.jpg), and the 171/158 yard par 3 15th with peninsula green (yds from back 2 tees) (http://summerfieldgc.com/golf/emailer20 ... ook/15.jpg).

Here is where I ran into issues, as follows...

1.) Summerfield is what I've always called a "neighborhood course" - a course that winds through a subdivision. I am faced with overheads to replicate including houses, such as https://app.box.com/s/63aj9pvaophlybgut511uyxbnp9rfzzx (14th on left, 15th on right). I don't have a library that has houses that look like these. Same for the clubhouse and maintenance building. Any thoughts from the experts on how to accomplish this? Maybe the answer is to setup the course perimeter to exclude the houses? Also, should I include the roads in my design?

2.) Somehow, even though i triple checked the scaling to be within .5 yards, the distances reported by the scorecard are not reproducible on the course. Here is GE ghosted over Architect showing the measurement in GE from center of 15 green to center of back tee area: https://app.box.com/s/cz8xnujwodclxppha6ybpvew5zdkgx6r. As you can see, it's 20 yds shy! Even better when I try to layout 14 in Architect: https://app.box.com/s/01f44p2em4den8e06k4wcx6uaa0hhsgo. Supposed to be 411/361/331/300, but my measurements are nowhere close. Have I gotten something wrong? Here's the same view with GE image on top: https://app.box.com/s/qkb5qs3t8kk9pwb4av88wih0rivsl41y.

3.) 15 is a peninsula green, which is elevated and surrounded by a wooden wall (http://www.lakesidevacations.net/images/summerfield.jpg). But the plot I got from TA doesn't reflect this reality, as seen here: https://app.box.com/s/qpky83afkl926v66jl26oieg1e68nxtr. Now I obviously don't expect the retaining wall to be there, but I would expect some elevation change to be apparent from the DEM import through TA. Am I expecting too much? How do I raise the peninsula without losing the green contours reported via the DEM?

Thanks in advance!!

thejester1977! I'm no expert with the way your making your plot but the standard grid in the architect is 2000 yards by 2000 yards. Also have you looked at the houses1 library. There's also a few other libraries with house's. No one else but you knows what style the house's are so style really isn't that important

2) I would trust Google Earth more than a course's scorecard. It's hard to say how the course measures their holes. They could be measured from the tips of tees or to the back of greens or who knows what. You might look for a yardage plaque in the ground around the tees next time you go to the course. Courses measured here in Wisconsin by the WSGA typically have these at least on the par 3's which is nice because then you know where they are measured from.

3) Sounds like you have proper scale but how did you make sure the image was positioned in the proper location over the plot? Unfortunately high resolution LiDAR data can't be imported into PGA 2000 with Terrain Assist at this point so you'll still have to do some elevation work either way but yes I would typically expect see a rise where the green is even if it is very rounded off.