It's been more than a few years...but just in case someone checks this thread....I love the re-do of Abernathy Park! THIS re-do was EXACTLY the WHOLE point of us including the architecture files in the CD. Headgate asked if we (the course design consultants) would do that and Jim, Ken and I stepped up because we thought it might spur the use of the architect (make it seem less daunting) and, in the end, help all of us to play more user-made courses. There is NO intellectual property right violation or anything coming close to that. That's why Headgate asked us so hesitantly. We agreed, though, because--quite frankly--it was work-for-hire and, by law, the property of Headgate anyway. It was nice of them to ask, though; they didn't have to, but they did. So those architect files are essentially the property of whoever bought the game and we did it to inspire people to do just what was done here...take it to the next level; look at it, get inspired, and get designing and publishing courses. Thank God that someone actually thought my puny little slap-together alpha-test course was worth using! Hallelujah! Job well done...if I do say so myself!
Here's a little trivia note. The very first hole of Abernathy Park (which you can still see in the before/after pics at the beginning of this thread) was created on the computer of Farrell Edwards by me. He's the programmer of the architect. He's not listed as such because, at that time, he worked under the supervisor who got credit for it. He later got credit for being the programmer of the TW series architect. I was there with Ken McHale, Jeff Jones, Jim Dickson (who passed away a few years after---very sadly), and myself. During the consultancy, we broke out into teams and I got Farrell. I sat at his computer and sculpted out a hole in about two minutes. He pointed out that the fairway was way too wide for the scale of measurement that they were using, so I said "screw it", drop a bunker in. I said the bunker couldn't be in the middle 'cause why would anyone then choose to go right of it. He saw the wisdom in that, so we put it left of center and essentially divided the too-wide fairway into two options: right and safe, but far from the green or left and dangerous, but closer to the green. Farrell never played golf, but the lead designer, Vance Cook, made the entire staff go out golfing on a regular basis so that they could all learn what it was about. Of course, he paid for all of those rounds and they were all on-the-clock, too!
From that experience, Farrell knew what I was trying to accomplish by placing the bunker, so we agreed that it was a "good" first hole...of the course I'd agreed to create for them. Keep in mind, we didn't see any trees or other objects; I placed those later. The software at that time only had textures and the gaming engine. We play tested it with a little "skeleton man" playing golf on it with no trees or sky. THAT is alpha testing; in fact, Farrell said it was "pre-alpha" and we were getting a first-hand look at it.
Those were some fun times! Thanks for resurrecting Abernathy and doing what was MEANT to be done with it!
In fact, where are the Mecklenburg and Jacosse renditions? That's exactly why we included those files; take off with them and get them to the next level of design. These were all alpha-test courses; they are not what any of us would've called "finished" designs. They were simply a starting point for potential designers and served as completed courses for beta testing.
