Fab & The BadBody at the Links

05/29/2001

The Legacy @ Craguns By SmokinJo Habiger

Fab: The Legacy @ Craguns is a very well thought out and interesting design.  Some of the best holes are the par 5’s.  There is a definite risk reward design on the par 5’s that leads to some very interesting shots.  Technically the course was well constructed and looked quite realistic, the lone problem that I saw was a lack of grass cuts, which on a course of this caliber deserves to be included.  If they had, it would have been an all-time classic course.

 One of the key ingredients in any well conceived and constructed course is avoiding that “Grip em & Rip em” mentality which Joe accomplished very nicely here.  Standing in the tee box it is imperative that you study the layout of each hole to obtain the best possible chance of scoring well.  And although this is by no means an easy course, it is possible to score quite well on it.

The rating I am giving this course I must explain, when I see a course of this caliber and one of the key design elements is missing I can no longer give it two thumbs up, but this course is almost perfect, and with the grass cuts would have received two thumbs up. 


Nice Course Worthy of Keeping

BadBody:  I will start out by saying, I had a great time playing The Legacy. Yes, I enjoyed the course very much and my partner in crime had a lot to do with me having a blast. Two key elements to having a great time with PGA 2000 are, a good course and playing the round with a friend or two.  PGA 2000 is the greatest golf sim every made, I personally find it boring playing with the AI. Try shooting a round with your buds using voice instead of typing and you will see what I mean. 

Word of caution on this course, think about what your doing off the tee. Joe has done a great job of making you think about your shot, no “grip and rip” here. The fairways were laid out nicely, most had good size landing areas. There were quite a few bunkers and traps throughout the course. I managed to miss most of them and the ones I did hit, I had “nice outs”. The greens were protected well and it seemed that every approach shot had a trap to contend with. They were tricky but fair. 

Overall, this is a nice course. There were minor problems but they didn’t effect my round. Most of the faults were visual. Very nice job Joe, hope to see more designs from you in the future and way to keep us thinking off the tee.

So people, grab a friend or two, hook up the voice and go have a nice round of golf. If you happen to shoot like crap, don’t worry; your friends will keep reminding you how much you suck…lol. Thanks Fab for an enjoyable round.


Nice Course Worthy of Keeping

 

Stoned Hippo Golf Club By Bryan Carroll 

Fab:  Seeing the name Stoned Hippo Golf Club, I figured it might be one of BBB’s throw back courses from the 70’s so I figured let’s do it…..lol.   Just to add some excitement we set the winds on max and the ground on driest and tackled that Hippo.

The course was quite interesting and was well layed out.  There are many challenging holes…..but then any hole is challenging  at wind speeds of 40+ MPH…..lol.  Quite a few of the holes featured interesting elevation changes and water hazards which only added to the fun. 

Although this course could have benefited from a little more use of the smoothing tool, and a little more time spent in planting it was an enjoyable and playable course.  The greens although not easy were not impossible to putt from and most of them had steps which in very dry conditions makes for some exciting putting, followed by chipping, then more putting….lol

This course although not exciting or outstanding in anyway, yields a fun round of golf.  There was not a great deal of attention to the details that make a course noteworthy, although there were no major problems.  If grass cuts, better bunker design, some judicious smoothing, along with some other minor design aspects were included this course would have been much better.  This course is not a must have however some may consider it a keeper.

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

BadBody:  All I can say is, whatta trip. I had a blast trying to review this course. I played with 2 of my buds on Hippo, which made the conditions even more challenging. With all the crazy antics going on, it was really tuff to concentrate on my task at hand. After this round was over, I had a tummy ache from all the laughing.

Hippo is a well laid out course. Although there were some minor faults with the detail of the course, they really don’t affect your play. I enjoyed seeing the shared fairways and greens on some of the holes. Some of the fairways were sloped, so beware here. The greens were kinda tuff but fair, except for 1 hole. I forgot I was golfing and started playing ping-pong, just keep going back and forth. Bryan did a nice job with the Hippo. I wouldn’t rate it at the top, more like middle level.

It’s like Roseanne Roseannia Danna said…it’s always something….opps, sorry, got a buzz from playing this course. Anyway, all it takes is some friends, PGA 2000 and an average course…mix them all together and you can have a great time. So bottom line is, it’s more of whom you play then what you course you play. Thanks buds for a most enjoyable round. Have fun and play nice.

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

 

STC@Takefujii By Smak2000

Fab:  I thought I was prepared to play, I was wrong.  I looked in my bag, I thought I had it in there, but it was no where to be seen.  Actually there were two items I needed and hadn’t carried this day.  What was most needed to play this course was my shotgun and about 20 boxes of bird shot.  Now I am no great shot, but here all you have to do is close your eyes and shoot, your bound to bring down 20 birds or so, much like putting on these greens, you could close your eyes for the most part and get a birdie, the silent type…..lol.

The other item I forgot to bring was my ear plugs, now this may be a matter of personal preference, but too much of a good thing is a royal pain in the butt, and that describes the sounds on this course.  Not only do you have to put up with the never-ending birds but that horrible music does its very own Eveready impersonation, it just keeps going and going and going.  Actually the music wasn’t horrible, well not for the first hole but 18 holes of that is way too much.

OK, so the sounds drove me nuts and for those of you who know me I don’t have far to drive…lol, but what about the course?  The course was not horrible, nor was it challenging in any sense of the word.  This is not though a “Grip and Rip” course, it’s actually a “Close, Grip and Rip” course.  That’s right don’t even need to look, just accept the default club, don’t aim, swing and the ball goes exactly where it should, most of the times to the perfect default length for your next club.  Playing this course in hurricane force winds would not add much challenge to it; it’s simply just too damn easy.

This folks is not a course I would recommend, especially since it’ such a large file size.  Save you disk space for something better.


Don’t waste your time downloading

BadBody: When the screen opened on the 1st hole, I said cool, someone finally added there own music to a course. It sure didn’t take me long to start going into the sound options looking for the kill switch. I thought by the 4th hole that I finally turned those annoying sounds off only to find them back. Not only were those screaming birds bugging me but the course music caught a nerve too. My only option was to turn ALL the sounds off. What a drag not hearing my own club hitting the ball.

The course layout wasn’t that bad but it wasn’t good either. This course was more like putt-putt golf or miniature golf. In all my games with PGA 2000, this was the easiest course I have ever played. I was sinking 50ft putts with ease and my pard was playing blindfolded nailing eagles. This course presented no challenge what so ever. The hole designs weren’t that bad but the greens were like Kansas…FLAT. I also didn’t like the color blends of  the course. I got off to a bad review because of the sounds and it really never improved from there.

I liked the idea of custom music in PGA but this was the wrong type. Alfred Hitchcock would have been proud of the screenshots that were used from the movie Birds. I’m sure glad I’m not a groundskeeper, whatta mess cleaning up all that bird poop. Sorry Smak, nice try but this course is going into the pooper scooper. Don’t waste your time and hard drive space people.


Don’t waste your time downloading

 

SilverHill By Pobs_UK

Fab:  Silver Hill is an interesting course.  The concept for the hole layout was very imaginative and challenging.  This is definitely not a “Grip & Rip” course.  Pobs_UK will keep you thinking from the first tee to the last cup.  This course is full of drastic elevation changes and severe slopes.  If you plan on playing 18 here make sure you bring a fully charged electric golf cart or a Tim the “Tool Man” Taylor souped up gas job….lol.

The greens on some holes are excessively small, and could stand to be quite a bit larger.  The bunkers are all what I call eyebrow bunkers and IMHO are excessively done and could use some serious smoothing.  As a matter of fact the whole course begs for a serious smoothing effort.  I normally love elevation changes and sloped fairways, but the slopes on these fairways are way overdone.

Pobs_UK uses trees and some awkward fairway layouts as his way of guarding the greens, along with his eyebrow bunkers, however the shortcomings on his smoothing effort is what will give people the most trouble.  It is still possible to have a sub-par round as long as the golfer is not to greedy.

It was a good effort Pobs but I think a lot more work would be necessary for this to be a keeper.


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

BadBody:  Oh my poor feet. Damn, they are a hurtin’. The main reason my tootsies are so sore is because Silver Hills had me on my toes the whole round. Every shot seemed like a challenge from the tee. No blindfolds here, its eyes wide open. Just save your “grip and rip” mentality for another course cause this is a thinking man’s design.

I’m going to make this review short but not sweet. Yes, there are some problems here in that some aspects of the course were overdone, but they really didn’t affect my round. If you think and play smart off the tee you can score well. It seemed like every bunker was 10ft deep although I know that wasn’t the case. If you like rolling hills and plenty of high mounds, you will find this course enjoyable.

Pobs UK has some very nice creative ideas here. Overall, this isn’t that bad of a course. I think a lot of smoothing needs to be done to make it have more eye appeal. If your looking for a challenge, I think this course will do it.  Have fun and play nice.


Nice Course Worthy of Keeping

 

Ballybunion By Chris Clouser

Fab:  Ballybunion Golf Club is located in Kerry, Ireland and was home to the 2000 Irish Open.  Chris has given us his rendition of Ballybunion, and from the pictures I have seen and the course layout he has done a fine job.  This is a seaside course and its terrain is what I call tortured, with many rolling hills, dramatic Oceanside drop-offs and sparse vegetation.  Never having been to Ireland I can’t comment on the choice of texture’s or vegetation (what little vegetation there was) but it does give one the feel of courses of that region.

This course with its challenging layout and elevation changes is a challenge for all on-line golfers.  The fairways though plenty wide are something that you must stay within or else you will find yourself, like me, in the punishing deep grass. Should you venture into deep grass grab a larger club and hit it hard as getting out is not nearly as easy as it was getting into….lol.

Courses of this type are not really my cup of tea, I like trees, mountains and plenty of water, but this course is very well done and I believe will be a lot of fun for all.  So grab some Kilean’s Red, some good friends and head for the Irish Oceanside to enjoy a great afternoon of golf.  Just don’t drink too much or your afternoon will be filled with tall grass.


Nice Course Worthy of Keeping

BadBody:  I don’t know where to start. On one hand the course layout was great but on the other hand, this is not my type of course. Ok, I will go with great course layout. It’s hard trying to review a course that is the exact opposite of what I like to play. As always, I will do the best I can.

Chris has done an excellent job of a real course rendition. I really liked how the layout was broken up by deep grass on the fairways. If you managed to venture into that deep grass, you were in deep s**t, if you know what I mean…lol. I really can’t say enough about the hole layouts, they were awesome. The bunkers on Ballybunion were definitely in play, so use caution. The greens were fairly easy but your main concern was just hitting them in regulation. Overall this is a nice course with tricky terrain. I enjoyed thinking about every shot I needed to take.

It’s always nice to play a rendition of a real course. I haven’t traveled abroad but Ballybunion would be what I would expect a course in Ireland to look like. The only thing that really through me off was the trailer park. That’s one thing that I would never imagine would be next to a golf course. Excellent job Chris on your real course rendition. Can’t wait to see what you come up with next. Have fun and play nice.


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