Gunpowder Bay by Bryce [Contest Course]

[BrianZ111]

Course: Gunpowder Bay (15.3 MB)
Type: Fictional, Oceanside
Designer: Bryce
Date: 1/12/2011
Images: Sp, #7, #17
Libraries Used: amaroo, coosbay, cypress, island, oceanside, palmela

[A Brandt]

This course makes me want to go on vacation! The scenery is beautiful. The course is very fun to play, nothing too complicated, just what I need when I'm on vacation. The elevation work is great, it seems like no earth was moved at all. I love the cliff work on #8, magnificent. The bunkers are well done, and not a serious threat on every hole which adds to the pleasure of the round. The greens are large and forgiving, putt true and well constructed. I noticed many tees that weren't flat, perhaps just overlooked. The planting is nice, but seems like more of a backdrop to the holes than being part of the course. I did really like the little touches, like the sailboats and the seagulls though. I enjoyed my round a lot, and this was the only course I played more than once before moving on to my final judging.

[Craigus10]

I'm guessing that this course is situated in Hawaii or somewhere similar, with the lush green plantings and textures. Again another different looking course with a nice tropical feel.

I think the thing I liked the most were the greens on this course. Each one has a very different shape from the next, meaning that you get plenty of tucked pins that you have to shape a shot on to get close. The bunkering was also done well, without too many on the course to land in them every shot. The course has a definate resort feel and the par 3 over the ocean was fantastic.

Great work Bryce.

[bryce]

Thanks guys! I'm glad you guys like it. We did a contest course with an ocean side plot about 8 years ago, and I never finished because I got married, much like ADC. That was my only oceanside or seaside course until now.

Adam, I don't know what happened to my tee boxes. I went back and I did see a couple that were slightly angled, and one that was more than slightly. I don't know how in the world I missed something that obvious I hope it doesn't take away from anything on the course. I could always resubmit if necessary.


*I went back into the arch file and only found a couple that were a little off. I don't get it though, I was done with elevation work on the actual playing areas in November, and all was fine then. Toward the end when it took forever to save/compile etc, I did optimize with children. Does anyone know if that would change anything like a teebox?

[A Brandt]

Doron, don't worry about it. I only brought it up because I am a stickler about flat teeboxes. Same with water, but honestly, it doesn't take away from the enjoyment at all! I'm pretty sure optimizing like that was the culprit. I would recommend only optimizing your larger texture shapes at the end, and don't include children.

[sandwedge]

Doron,

Thanks so much for this fun course The greens and the fairways are sloped to perfection here - at least from the way I see things I just could not stop playing this course - even after I had played it four times for judging, I still wanted another go at it. While it looks easy, just something about it made me think I should have done better! The only negatives I had were: 1. there are some seagulls in the air that are not flying but sitting, 2. the textures are a little too retro for my taste although I do have Amaroo Island and your course looks better than Voyen's IMHO, 3. there were only two tee boxes per hole - not good for my family as we all have different skill levels. My favorite hole was the par three 12th. I am keeping this course but I probably won't have much chance to play it with my kids.

[bryce]

Wow, thanks for the high remarks Sandwedge! I only used 2 tee boxes because most people only use 1 as it is. The course isn't really that long, so I was hoping maybe another tee with some holes longer and alot shorter would make it more fun. The short tees are only 6,700 yards and provides several opportunities to drive par 4's with a decent drive, not a big one. I think it's great that you get your kids playing with you, and from now on I will be sure to incorporate more teeing areas. The seagulls were from the Oceanside lib, and there are 3 birds on there that are suspended in air. I didn't know one was sitting.

Thank you Sandwedge, for your kind words and advice for improvement. And once again, kudos to YOU for playing this great game with your family


Just because I like to know, has anyone aced #7 or #12 yet? I made several between the 2 holes while playtesting and I'm just a par golfer.

[spencerturner]

Just a few comments . First I agree with Brandt that the plantings used from the Amaroo library are more a backdrop than an intragal part of the course. In the past I have been taken to task for unlevel tees and water and the critics were right there is no excuse for that. I felt there was a lot of sameness to the course. Almost all but a few of the holes are uphill. Not enough variety in my view. I dont think there was a single water feature on the entire course except for the ocean which was a bit dissapointing. The bunkers were well done, fairways were ok as were the greens. Except I remember one putt I had was 4 ft. uphill. That was a bit unrealistic. Overall a nice effort. Spencer.

[tincup]

First of all, I want to say that I liked the course. It has plenty of challenge. The back 9 is tougher than the front I think… probably because of the more frequent dog legs.

From a player perspective, the course plays tough for a few reasons:
1. Especially on the front 9, you have elevation rise into the green on almost every hole. Some of the rises are pretty dramatic (e.g., #6)
2. A high percentage of the greens are back-sloping to the players approach. This leads to some interesting backspin issues on approach shots. I found myself using a lot of extended clubs to control backspin.
3. Several of the greens have some pretty hefty false fronts. Miss the upper shelf and you have a monster putt to deal with.

The greens kept scores in check, but some of the big guns still managed to go pretty low on the course. It will be interesting to see how they do on very dry.

The holes on the front 9 have a “sameness” to them until about #7. Then you see a couple picturesque holes along the ocean. I liked that. I also liked the short par 4, #16… not a real difficult hole, but if you have some wind in your face, it can get dicey because of the huge OB rock quarry. Makes you think about bailing out on the left.

I did notice the unlevel tee on #2. Not really an issue if you move right a little, but it is a detraction. I am also not a huge fan of the Amaroo textures. They tend to be a little dark and grainy. I too would have liked to see a few more water features in play on the course.

Overall, a nice course and a worthy entry into the contest.
Dar

[Terry Grayson]

Global Terrain: One of the strenghts of this course is the fact that i believe Doron used the Global terrain without changing it too much. I really liked how he framed his holes out of the "already there terrain" work that is present. Great job here. The course reminds me style wise of an early work , and the name totally escapes me at this time.
Local Terrain : Bryce has good command of the architect tools and it shows. He has some really good bunkers and I really like the look of the rolling fairways. Very good work as well here

Greensites: Not overly done, and very nice efforts on the greensites.. The holes mostly were framed nicely by the greenside bunkers. not over punishing and putted true...
I really loved the par 5 greens especially number 2. That par 5 came up and I had the left hand pin in the little round spot on that green. I hit my two wood and carried it just short, bounced it off the hill somehow and it rolled down to about 3 inches from a double eagle...man i wanted that one... Matter of fact I somehow eagled all par 5;s except one...

Tee shots: Like i mentioned in other reviews I always stand and just look around at the tee shots. I can see where some people would say things about sameness in the planting phases,but it still to me looked pretty daggum good. Lush looking forested areas... I thought it was good planting. maybe a tad too much here and there but it didnt take away from my enjoyment of my round

Librarys and textures: Not really keen on the amaroo library but it definately looked different that other courses. nice lush looking textures and plantings to me, fit well for what Bryce was after I believe.


Overall : Nice course with nice rolling fairways, played retty easy for me. I always like to play one round using absolutely no setup cept for maybe a tad of loft here and there. shot -7 without trying, so pretty easy.... Putting was a breeze to me here, as long as it rolls true, you can have it break 7 ways between me and hole and most times Ill make it..LOL.... Good work here on thise course, another good one to add to the ever growing inventory...

Great job Doron, enjoyed it very much bud