Fab & The BadBody at the Links

05/21/2001

Glen Abbey V2 by Colin Bell

Fab: First of all I’d like to say there was a missed opportunity with the name and music selection for this course, I mean its perfect for something most people would know and recognize instantly.  I can picture it now.  It’s to bad Colin hadn’t though about it or I’m sure he would have used it.  I know I am holding you all in suspense here so let me just say it, the song should have been sung by little sprout and it starts like this…..” Ho, Ho, Ho….From the valley of the Jolly  GREEN GIANT”  ….   Lol.  

Actually the course layout and technical aspects of its construction were well done.  It was a good course to look at….it was however boring as hell to play!!!  This is the epitome of the true “Grip & Rip” course.  No thought was required to make any shot here just take the default club and wack the hell out of it.  It’s almost impossible to miss these fairways they are so wide.  I’m not sure what the bunkers were for you couldn’t come close to them unless you were to fall out of you chair while swinging….lol 

Once you have traversed these tight fairways … lol … You come to the greens.  Now these are some difficult greens, pool table smooth and large enough for any NFL team to call their home field.   Beware of playing here though I understand that Heathrow airport uses this course as an alternate field.  Like I say the greens are all, except for a few virtually flat, sinking a 60’ putt here requires only that you hit the ball straight and hard enough to reach the hole.  Break is not present.  It’s like Colin lives in a two-dimensional world, that is until you reach hole 15, then its like a school child who just learned something and had to use it… Colin discovered elevation on his greens.  The front tee position on 15 was a joke, land anywhere around the hole and your ball rolls off the green and into the fringe some 40’ away.  But alas three-dimensional green only lasted for 1 hole, then its back to the prairies of the Midwest. 

If you need putting practice for long straight putts then by all means download this course, otherwise don’t waste the time, effort or hard drive space.


Don’t waste your time downloading

BadBody:  I thought Glen Abbey was a very nice looking course. By nice looking I mean visually speaking. From the trees to the mowed grass, it looked nice. But IMHO, that’s where it stopped. 

The holes were laid out nicely but a bit to spacious for my liking. Not once did I have to adjust my player’s aim off the tee. The bunkers looked good but didn’t come into play. The fairways were just to wide to allow the bunkers into the game. The greens are some of the biggest that I have seen in PGA golf. Another point that  stuck out was how flat they were except for maybe 2 holes. Colin designed a nice looking course but there really is no challenge here. 

I’m going to base my review for newbies. For the newer shooters out there, download this course and see how many birds you can rack up. For the advanced shooters out there, you may like the look of the course but you won’t find any challenges here. This course is far to easy. If you want to make it a challenge, bring a blindfold and use it. Can you say “grip and rip”.


Nice Course Worthy of Keeping

 

Quarry Course At The Foothills by Aaron@Rattlesnake Designs 

Fab:  Hehehehehe, that was a blast.  I loved this course, what can I say.  This course is located as the name implies in the foothills of a mountainous area.  The views are breathtaking and so are some of the elevation changes.  One of my favorite holes was a par 3 that had you teeing off from 156’ above the green.  What a blast. 

This course does not use sand traps like most course but instead uses grass mounds on both sides of the fairways and greens, and frequent outcropping of rocky areas.  There are boulder fields and, some very steep drop-offs over the sides of the outcropping of rock. This is definitely no “Grip & Rip” course, you must think thru all your shots.  One par 4 in particular was I believe 278 yards from tee to green, as the bird flies, but you re3ally need some big kahunas to try the shot.  Luckily I made it and got an easy birdie.  Meanwhile my pard fell just a tad bit short, hit the edge of the rock and fell 105 yards downhill.  Looked like it was going to be easy to get it back up, but alas he fell from –3 to +3 on that hole. 

This is by no means an easy course to play, you must think thru all your drives and approaches.  The greens are for the most part unforgiving, large and well constructed.  If you land more then 12-15’ from the cup, count on 2 putting.  But with good course management shooting below par is possible. 

As with all courses I am sure that there were some technical problems here, but who cares….on this course the grass could have been orange and it still would be a keeper…lol.  Great job Aaron, this course has earned a place in my all-time favorite list.

   
Excellent – A Definite Keeper 

BadBody:  OMG, we got us a beauty here. What a course design and layout. I can’t explain in words what a great time I had playing at The Quarry. Anyone here from Chicago, if so lets rename this course to Da Quarry…lol.

I think it was hole 10 or 11, doesn’t really matter what hole, I got screwed big time. It was a par 4, dogleg right, with a rock hill lining the right side. Anyhow, after seeing my pard land close to the pin off a tee shot, I figured what the hell. I hit my tee shot, it looked great, at the last second it sliced, hit the rocks and we waited about 30 seconds for it to stop bouncing around. Eight shots later I was on the green. Damn, I loved that hole. This course is fantastic. Every shot keeps you on your toes. From the rolling hills in the rough to the brutal greens, this is my kind of course. I managed to miss every trap, only because I think there were only 5 on the whole course. Be very careful here and you can score under par but if you get cocky….beware. 

I totally enjoyed my round on The Quarry Course @ The Foothills. If you like mountain courses that present a challenge, this course is for you. My hats off to Aaron @ Rattlesnake Designs, great job. This course is staying on my hard drive plus it’s making it onto my burned copy. 

 I’m sure some might find minor faults, but rest assured, they won’t effect your round. DA Quarry is an excellent course, download your copy today at the nearest Copyright Club. Hurry, it won’t last long.

   
Excellent – A Definite Keeper 

 

Peppermill Resort by 975D $ Flatblade

Fab:  975D & Flatblade2k are both to be commended on a well thought out and constructed course design.  They are sure to score top marks with my pard BadBody as they have the two key elements in this course that he looks for……flower beds and no magnets in their sand traps….lol.  Don’t get me wrong their sand traps are probably one of the nicest elements of this course they are very well thought out and constructed.  If you have the misfortune of falling into one, extricating yourself is not as easy as it may appear. 

The course has many elevation changes and an excellent and believable rolling terrain to their fairways.  Most of the greens are either raised or lowered from the fairway and makes your approach shot just that much more important.  Speaking of the greens, these are not your typical greens but most are thought out and constructed very well.  There are no (well almost no) easy putts on these greens, at least I didn’t have any.  

If you pay careful attention and make good approach shots this course will yield the occasional birdie and eagle.  But it doesn’t give them easily. 

The only problem that I saw in the design of this course was the dreaded un-flat water bodies.  It appears to me that the designers had flattened their water but through the use of the smoothing tool had bent the edges up.  They should have flattened their water again after smoothing.  A small mistake but on a course of this caliber, something that should not have been overlooked.  For this reason I can’t give this course two thumbs up, but it was very close.


Nice Course Worthy of Keeping

BadBody:  Oh yea, color on the 1st tee. What a great start for my review. I know some people out the in PGA land don’t like to see clutter on the tee boxes but not this guy. I would much prefer to see flowers, markers, ball washers, structures and all the other so-called clutter on the tee boxes, rather then scattered all over the course. So 975D and Flatblade2k, you scored points with me right off the bat. 

PepperMill Resort is a nicely designed course. There are a couple minor problems but they didn’t affect my round. Shooters need to be careful off the tee. Most tee shots weren’t “grip and rip”, line your shots up well or you will be in for a tuff 2nd shot. The rolling hills on the fairways were a very nice touch. In my opinion, they made the course. The traps and bunkers were easy to avoid, which is fine with me. I think I only found 2 my whole round and both of them were greenside. I just switched my ball from a metal core to a rubber one, so those trap magnets didn’t get me…lol. The greens on this course were very tricky, so a good approach shot was an absolute must. Be VERY careful putting or a 10 footer will turn into a 3 putt. 

Overall this is a very nice course. I suggest grabbing a friend, which I did, go out and have some fun playing PepperMill Resort. You won’t be disappointed with the course layout. It’s nice to see a 2 person design, very nice job 975D and FlatBlade2k. Hope to more designs from both of you in the future. Have fun and play nice people.


Nice Course Worthy of Keeping

 

South Pacific Golf Club  by Robert@

Fab:  Another signature course by Robert@.  What can I say I think Robert@ has achieved greatness….lol.  Oh by no means are his courses perfect, none are but he gets mighty close to it.  This course is a small departure for Robert@ as the greens are not as tough as they are on most of his courses.  Thru good course management skills it is quite possible to score well here. 

Pacific Coast Golf Club as its name implies is located in the South Pacific, on a small group of islands.  This is not a course for those who do not like water, because its there on every hole.  Robert@ again demonstrates his mastery of beautiful scenery.  Now add some wind and either dry or very dry ground to this course and might want to bring your scuba gear, or at least a half dozen sleeves of balls…..lol. 

If you like water, sand, tropical breezes and some exciting golf you NEED to download this course….as a matter of fact if you see Robert@’s name on a course you won’t be disappointed. 

   
Excellent – A Definite Keeper 

BadBody: Ok, I need to start out by saying, some people don’t believe you should download courses solely on my review. Ok, that’s fine, I can live with that. So I’m going to give all you dial-up shooters out there in PGA land some other options. First go to the player review section and check out the course review there. Ohhhh, so sorry, nothing there. Second, grab .75 cents, go down to the corner and buy a newspaper and check out the review there. Ohhhh, so sorry again, no review there. Ok, my third option will work for sure. Find a friend or relative who has dsl or cable and download the course there. Play a couple rounds and decide if you like the course. If you find you liked it, go home and start downloading and if you didn’t like it, oh well, you only wasted 2 or 3 hours of your time….OR… you can just read my review and decide. 

South Pacific Golf Club is a beauty. Robert@ has done it again. Like everyone has pointed out, no course is perfect and this is no exception. But when minor imperfections don’t interfere with your play, then they can be discounted in my review. I had a total blast shootin’ here. The course layout and design was FABulous…had to put that in…lol. On this course, with smart shot management, nice under par scores could be had. Don’t even think about stepping up to the tee with a “grip and rip” mentality, cause this course will bite you in the butt. I found most of the fairways to be narrow but that’s how I like them. The bunkers were placed nicely throughout the course. I really can’t comment of how easy or hard they were because I didn’t find many…bout time. The greens, IMHO, were not the trademark greens we have come to know and respect from Robert@. They were still tough but not brutal. 

So people, if you believe in reviews, grab South Pacific Golf Club. If you don’t believe in reviews, that’s fine too. It’s your time but I know you won’t be disappointed with this latest Robert@ release, trust me. Great job Robert@, can’t wait till your next course is ready for download.

   
Excellent – A Definite Keeper 

 

Deception Point by Bob 'Dammpa" Heider

Fab: I always look forward to the next Dammpa course, I think he is one of the great PGA 2000 designers, and although his courses are not always the most challenging, they are definitely enjoyable.  So as soon as I noticed Deception Point by Dammpa on the course download page I rung up my pardo “BadBody” and said lets check it out. 

As always Dammpa has a visually beautiful course to look at, he is one of the best at graphics in this game IMHO, and this course is no exception.  The textures and landscaping as always were everything I expected them to be.  

The course itself is a very playable although not the exciting Dammpa creation I have come to expect.  Don’t get me wrong its still a wonderful course, just not what I think of when I hear Dammpa.  As a matter of fact there are some technical aspects of this course design that rather surprised me.  And of course my pet peeve was the first thing I looked for and I didn’t have to look too hard.  It seems as though when this course was smoothed so were some of the smaller water shapes, causing the water to run uphill at the edges.  Most of the time it was minor, but some times it was visually noticeable. One of the ponds was off by a foot on the edges, that’s pretty dramatic and can be clearly seen.  

Also I was surprised by the lack of definition of many of the bunkers, they were flat and a well-hit golf ball would just roll right through them.  Dammpa is not known for his challenging greens and this course is no exception, most of the greens were relatively flat and an easy putt was the result.  Now let me clarify that none of these technical issues affect play in any way, except for maybe the flat sand traps.  This course is still very enjoyable to play, and would be worth the download.  I guess I just hold Dammpa to a higher standard, and I was surprised at what I saw.


Nice Course Worthy of Keeping

BadBody:  I enjoyed my round at Deception Point. We decided to crank up the settings to strong winds. I must say, it was very hard to hit anything close to a straight shot in 40mph winds. I think that was the best part….just trying to hit the fairways. 

I am one of Dammpa’s biggest fans. I think I might have just about everyone of his courses tucked away for future use. I really enjoyed seeing those tee box markers, Dammpa is a graphics genius. The hole designs were excellent just like most of his courses. I must say though, I was a bit disappointed with some of the other visual effects. Although those minor visual faults didn’t affect my round, they did catch my not to keen eye. The bunkers were rather easy to get “nice outs”. I did have some problems with 2 of my putts on the greens. They seemed to hit an invisible object and just roll away from the pin. 

Overall, this is a nice course. Without the strong wind blowing, I’m sure a whole bunch of shooters will get under par. I suggest cranking up the wind on this course for more of a challenge. I like this course although I think some of Dammpa’s other creations are better.


Nice Course Worthy of Keeping

   
Excellent – A Definite Keeper 


Nice Course Worthy of Keeping


Nice try -  With a little more work could be a keeper 


Don’t waste your time downloading