Golf Sim Clubhouse Forum

Course: Danish Mermaid GC (13.1 MB)
Type: Fictional, Lakeside
Designer: SirTorben
Date: 8/16/2013
Images: #2, #7
Libraries Used: barrenhills, beartooth, bethpage1, ccove, danish_mermaid_lib, portmarnock, whisperwind

I just got home from work and decided to sit down and give this one a round and critique.

Sir Torben has given us his second course, first being BirdSong Golf Club. I very much like his first course, as he shined for a newcomer, so I expected to see a better course this time around. As I teed up on the first hole, I noticed quite a bit of water on my overhead cam. In fact, quite a bit is an understatement! The first hole is a par 5, that I almost chipped in for eagle. Then, after my tap in birdie, I holed out from the fairway on the par 4 second hole! Minus 3 after 2 holes??? I then gave a shot back on the 4th. I am noticing that the layout requires some strategy, and you cannot just pull out the driver and hit it. The fairways are pretty wide and the pins I am getting are quite acceptable. I stepped to the tee on the 6th hole and absolutely fell in love! It's a beautiful par 5, as are all of the 5 par 5's on this course. So I thought I would mention it as my favorite hole.....until I got to the 9th hole! It's a wonderful par 4 of around 400 yards. The layout of the hole makes you decide what will be the best approach to the green for your second shot. I chose to go over the waste area on the right and have a shorter shot in, rather than hit a 3 wood and have a straight ahead shot of 30 yards farther away. When I got to my ball, I found out that there is a tree right in my way! No problem, I'm only hitting a 9 iron in, so I went right over it and ended up with another short birdie putt. Here is the 9th hole: The back 9 was more of the same: pick your poison from the tee and stay out of the water! I ended up shooting 66 (-6) for my round, with 6 birdies, an eagle, and 2 bogeys. Not too shabby! So here is what I think about Danish Mermaid GC:

The Good

The layout of this course is first class, all the way! I love the strategic elements of all the shots. The plantings were very nice, especially with the grass. I like the rock walls that were used around some of the traps, water and waste areas. It kind of gave the course it's own personality of being different. The same goes for the tee markers....very, very different. I don't really know what that thing is in the pond on the third hole, but it definitely got my attention! I think he guards the green on the long par 3! The greens were very smooth from what I got to play of them.....not to brag, but I didn't really have many putts over 20 feet

The Not So Good

The only one thing I have a slight issue with is the bunker lips. They weren't 'set' like a real bunker would be, just kind of part of the slope on the way to the sand. Other than that, it was great!

Overall

Sir Torben gave us a great course on his first effort, but really stepped up his game to a top notch designer, with only his second course! I am beyond impressed with what I saw! The layout of Danish Mermaid is one of the best placement layouts you will see for all of PGA2000. The course itself was just beautiful to look at. I give this course a solid A! Sir Torben, I am your new biggest fan, and think that you have done a brilliant job. Hopefully, we will see more from you soon!

Everyone download this course and see for yourself. As for me, I think I will have another round!

Doron

The guardian angels are The Danish mermaid sculpture i Copenhagen, in 3 versions.
Glad to hear you like the course.
My first course was Lubker Golf Resort with 27 holes.

Thanks

Pretty much agree with what Doron said. I really liked the "shape" of the fairways combined with the angles;not only off the tee but the fairways into the greens as well. Very strategically thought out and accomplished. You are given a lot of options on most shots. I also liked the look of the course. Would have liked to see a few more elevations(mounding) so course wasn't so flat as with the greens too. Just MHO. Everything fits together nicely here. I'm also a fan of your courses and look foward to your next one. Thanks for the time and effort you put into building this course.

I pretty much agree with the other commits already stated. The layout of the course seems like one from a more seasoned designer then someone on only his third release. As Doron mentioned I also thought the 9th hole was a great hole and one I will keep in mind when I design again. I also liked #10 alot and the connected greens of the par 3 #12 and #16. I understand why this course is so flat. I'm assuming its location would be somewhere in Denmark and that also makes all the water on almost evey hole seem more real.
I did have a couple of issues I want to address that I thought needed some mention. First! here's another course with no sound except the club hitting the ball. If there's sound I sure did'nt here it in practice mode. Second although the tee marker just left of the tee boxes are unique I thought I was pretty far back compared to the markers placement. I had no issue with the bunker lips as Doron did but I thought many of them seemed more like a waste area then a bunker. Very large and flat sand. All in all though I like this course alot and on my one quick round of play would rate it an A minus. Great work Sir Torben. Hope to see more courses from you.

Got around to playing a bit on this course and thought I would give a review.

What I liked:
I liked the creativity in the layout - some places offer you a narrow shot between foilage and forest; very cool! - There was a consistent blending of libraries used that came out very nicely - The planting on the course and the waste areas were very believable - The attempt and success of the stone wall was appreciated; looked like one from the old Copyright Club tutorials!

What I thought needed improvement:
It needs sound - all of the creativity in the world falls flat for me without the ambiance of sound, sorry it just does - I also did not like the objects on the tee or in the water, BUT this is personal taste - I did like the attempt to be creative and different with the hazards and tee areas.

Overall impressions:
It looks more terrifying than it is as a course - if you are aware of where to place your shots you can score low on this course and feel good about doing it - I shot rounds of -5, -7 and -4 here in varying conditions - The scenery is above average and the playabillity is good but without the right blend of sounds, just short of an A course - Should be a download though if you are looking for a quality course. Thanks so much Sir Torben for the course - great fun!

I would like to say that this course is on our A list. It is a great layout and design. Keep putnum out there cause we still play this silly game lol.

I agree with anothers, but with no technical expertise this course is tough and great to look at.

Being an average player, found extremely difficult to play, but survived the round with a +11

Look forward to your next course.

Cheers
Brian

SirTorben,
I found an a new zip file for Danish Mermaid on the server this morning. The modified date on the .crs file contained in the zip file is 8/27/13. Is there something you want us to do with this new file? I won't do anything until I hear from you.

Dar

Thanks all for playing my courses, and the nice rewiews
And the new file is Danish Mermaid with sound.
And Yes - I have send a mail with the upload