Contest Course Progress

[Robert@]

Unfortunatly I will not be able to complete my course for this contest. Holidays taking up to much time and a glitch with my arch has my course crashing after just a few minutes working on it. Good Luck to all and look forward to seeing everyones final results.

[Craigus10]

I will be uploading mine in the next day or so. I only have the text file and splash to do. I have now finished all of my travelling around for the holidays

[Craigus10]

All finished off and uploaded. Now I need to start a new project. I might just go back to the Royal Melbourne layout that I have partially finished and look at that one again. Looking forward to trying out all of the courses.

[tincup]

It is probably about time we gave some thought to how the contest courses will be judged.

I can round up some players to rate the courses from a players perspective. There should probably be another group (designers) who look at them from a design perspective. Whoever volunteers to be a judge should be willing to put some work into looking at the courses in detail.

I guess one big question is what criteria will be used to judge the courses? I do have the criteria sheet we used in the last contest (2007) and I can post that if you like.

Dar

[Craigus10]

I think that would be a good idea Dar. Even if you want to post it so everyone can have a look at it beforehand and see if there is anything to add to it?

[A Brandt]

I also think that's a good idea. We can have a look at the sheet and see what to add or take away. I think it would be cool to have a group of judges who are mainly players and one that is just designers. Then each group judges based on their areas of expertise, then we combine the scores from the two groups. So we have one set of criteria focused on playabilty, and one focused on the design elements. I would volunteer to be a judge on the designers team!

On a side note, I'm thinking of starting another contest that should get some more involvement than the current one, but I won't give the details until the judging for this one begins

[SteveHorn]

I'm a bit confused! Is'nt everyone who is a member of this website eligable to vote for their favorite courses in order1,2,3,4,5,6. except for their own design if you submitted a course? Having Dars list would be nice for some people (me included) but isnt everyones taste a little different.

[tincup]

Steve,
Sorry for the confusion. Anyone who wants to vote on the courses is certainly welcome to vote on them. I just think there needs to be a consistent way of judging them. How do you factor in a vote that simply says "I didn't like the course" or "I loved it"?

What I am currently thinking is that every voter will provide an overall rating for a course. The rating will be between 1 and 1000 (1-100 on 10 different categories). Overall ratings for a course, from all sources can then be averaged for comparison to other courses.

I can collect the votes and do the statistical work if that is ok by everyone.

Let me post the judging sheet and we can discuss it more from there.

Dar

[tincup]

The following is an adaptation of a course rating sheet provided to me by Terry Grayson some time ago. I think it existed back on the Copyright site.

Summary
There are 10 categories in the judging criteria. Each of these criteria are worth 100 points in the overall score.
A perfect score would be 1,000. This judging sheet is designed to remove as much subjectivity as possible.

Rating 1-100 Category
1 ____________ Greens:
2 ____________ Fairways
3 ____________ Elevations
4 ____________ Bunkers
5 ____________ Objects
6 ____________ Water
7 ____________ Appearance&Layout
8 ____________ Realism
9 ____________ Design Balance
10 ____________ Playing enjoyment

____________ Overall Rating

The detail components of each category are as follows:

Details

Rating 1-100 Category
1 ____________ Greens:
____________ Are thy smooth Free of spikes?
____________ Can they be played on dry and ball will stop near the hole?
____________ Are they interesting?
____________ Do They show variety?
____________ Are they "fair" (e.g., severe slopes, unrealistic hole placement)?
____________ Are they proper size to hold the shot?
____________ Will the player have the chance to stop near the hole on very dry?
____________ Is there good variety of pin locations and are they fair?
____________ Are there some raised and/or lowered greens?
____________ Do greens roll consistently?
____________ Are the greens mutil-dimensional (ie false fronts,holding areas,multi layered)?
2 ____________ Fairways
____________ Are they smooth?
____________ Do they contain good strategic elements?
____________ Is there more than one option available on some holes?
____________ Are they wide enough?
____________ Are they close enough to the tee box?
____________ Is there a buffer texture between the fairways and the rough?
____________ Is the surrounding texture fair?
____________ Do they hold the ball in dry conditions?
____________ Do the texture colors match?
3 ____________ Elevations
____________ Are they somewhat believeable?
____________ Can they be mowed?
____________ Are the playable areas smooth and free of spikes?
____________ Are the non-playable areas suffuciently smoothed?
____________ Are they contiguous?
4 ____________ Bunkers
____________ Do the bunkers look real?
____________ Are they of varied sizes, shapes, and depths?
____________ Are they interesting?
____________ Are they properly sunken?
____________ Are they properly Smoothed and set?
____________ If they have lips, are they sunken and is the texture believeable?
____________ Are they properly constructed?
5 ____________ Objects
____________ Are the objects believable?
____________ Are the trees and bushes varied in height?
____________ Are they placed in a realistic manner?
____________ Are the bushes proper size (scale)?
____________ Are trees and bushes set properly (not floating)?
____________ Are misc objects proper size (ie.ballwashers)?
____________ Are there tee markers?
____________ Are misc objects placed correctly?
____________ Are misc objects planted correct (e.g., bridges land on both banks not floating)?
____________ Does it look uncluttered?
6 ____________ Water
____________ Is it set well
____________ Do the objects surrounding the water fit in (e.g., no floating rocks etc.)?
____________ Does the water placement force strategic shot planning?
____________ Is the water the lowest point where it sits?
____________ Is the water reasonably flat from center to edge with no bumps?
____________ Do streams flow downhill only one way?
7 ____________ Appearance&Layout
____________ Is the course interesting and pleasing to view?
____________ Do the textures look natural together?
____________ Is the horizon done well,and does it look natural?
____________ Did the designer take advantage of the full land plot?
____________ Did the non-playing areas receive the same attention to detail?
____________ Does it have good strategic elements without too many gimmicks?
____________ Do the holes follow in order: 2 after 1, 3 after 2, etc.?
____________ Does it have a good mix of par 3's, 4's, and 5's (not overloaded)?
8 ____________ Realism
____________ Could this course be built in real life?
____________ Do the textures match the surroundings?
____________ Do textures transition well (e.g., fairway to first cut, first cut to Med Rough,…)?
____________ Does the panorama match the course?
____________ Is there proper access to elevated or sunken areas?
____________ Is the course free from unbelieveable objects?
9 ____________ Design Balance
____________ Does this course have good variety of length?
____________ Does this course have a good mix of Doglegs and straight holes?
____________ Is there at least one drivable par 4?
____________ Uphill and downhill holes?
____________ Is it free of holes that penalize drives of 250-260?
____________ Are the tee boxes constructed properly (ample size,flat)?
____________ Are the tee boxes free of obstructions?
____________ Do the tee boxes allow the player to point at the target?
____________ Are most par threes under 200 yards?
____________ Are par 5's reachable in two?
10 ____________ Playing enjoyment
____________ Did you have fun playing this course or find yourself continually frustrated?
____________ Did you find the holes boring and repetitive?
____________ Were you challenged to really think about your shot placement?
____________ Does it have that "I want to go back and play another round feeling"?
____________ This is a subjective category,keep in mind you may not like certain sytles

____________ Overall Rating

[A Brandt]

Ok I think that's a good start. Maybe we can just limit it to the main categories; fairways, greens, bunkers, etc. I think all the sub-categories may turn people away from judging, or maybe not, who knows.