Dismal Hollow GC by Spencer Turner [New Course]

[BrianZ111]

Course: Dismal Hollow GC (13.4 MB)
Type: Fictional, Mountain
Designer: Spencer Turner
Date: 3/4/2011
Images: #4, #14, #18
Libraries Used: barrenhills, bayhill, blends, cactusmirage, inlandheath, oldhead, pendeltoncc, windingwoodsigns

[tincup]

Five of us had a fun couple games on this course last night.

Technically, the course reflects the experience of a veteran designer like Spencer (This is Spencer's 29th course in PGA2000!). The bunkering, green sites, elevations, texture blending, etc, are all top notch. The greens are smooth and we encountered no spikes. The only negative here is that the mountains in the background appear a little pixelated and blurry.

The course plays pretty easy as long as you can hit the fairway (as with most courses). On this course, Spence uses a "heather" rough texture that is pretty nasty to get out of. So you are well advised to stay out of it if at all possible. For each 9 holes, our group scores ran from -4 to -8.

The consensus opinion: Pretty darn nice course. Well worth having.

Thank you Spence for your continuing contributions to our course inventory. Much appreciated.

Dar

[spencerturner]

Thank you Dar for taking the time to review and comment on my course. I agree with you that some views of the pano are a little out of focus but it was such different pano from what I am use to seeing that I just had to try it. Being the good golfer that you are and knowing to always keep your head down when hitting the ball I am supprised you noticed.(lol). Thanks again for your review and for all you do for all of us. Spencer.

[Indy Anna Jones]

Another nice course from Spencer. There's nothing fancy here, nothing bright and shiny, just a good old fashioned twists and turns, better hit 'em in the fairway course. And of course when I played it, I WASN'T hitting the fairway with much efficiency and spent a lot of time in probably the most horrificially insidious texture nature (and library makers) ever devised, heather. Might as well stick your ball in a bucket of glue and try to dig it out, lol! Divided fairways and isolated greens made sure that you had to challenge the stuff on more than a few occasions and even on normal the greens weren't receiving the ball very well. We had a lot of fun with it, even though our scores were more around the par level.

I have to agree with Dar about the pano though. Just getting over a stomach virus, the pixelation made me feel a little queazy, like looking at an out of focus tv screen for too long. It's the only pano I think I've ever shut off. It's a keeper though.

[spencerturner]

Thank you so much Indy for your comments. I always value your critique. I notice you are holding an infant in your avatar. I just became a grandfather for the first time in December of last year. Twin girls. Alas, premature, one weighed just 1.3 lbs. and the other 3.7 lbs. The little one is now 4 lbs. and the "big" one is 5-1/2. Thank you again Indy. Spencer.

[Indy Anna Jones]

Congratulations to you and yours Spense. Yes, the little one is Aiden who is now almost 3 months, and the little but bigger one is Maddysen, 6 months old. Our third (Alicen) will be 2 at the end of April. I fully agree with the old saying "that if you knew how wonderful grandchildren are, you'd have had them first."

[gova]

HI Spencer,

Thanks for a very challenging course and I enjoyed the look of the course, a nice change from the serene look of the greener courses.

With a 80 a very difficult course for me.

The rough a nightmare. hehehe

Cheers
Brian

[spencerturner]

Thanks for your comments Gova. I am glad you liked the change in the overall look of the course . Like you , I think the plush green sameness look of course after course gets a little boring. I tried to blend the pano into the course plot in such a way as to appear seamless so you couldnt tell where one began and the other left off. Good luck with your game, Spencer.

[Terry Grayson]

I downloaded Dismal the other day and finally was able to play it a few times tonight.

I really love how Spence always uses the less is more attitude when constructing a course (May not be the intention) but I always get that feel when playing them, and he
always does such a magnificent job taking this approach.

I noticed the background pano, and maybe a bit blurry in spots, but I really loved the look! I always love a course where you cant tell where the horizon ends and pano begins and you pull this off great Spence....It (Pano) did not take any enjoyment away from my round)

I love the construction and layout of the course. If you keep it in the fairway it plays a very good round of golf! I really love the views from the tee's and I love the stand alone greens in spots... DO NOT hit the heather folks, you will need a weedeater,4 iron, hatchet, and a kaiser blade to get out! Man its rough ... Literally LOL

Nice gently rolling fairways and greensites make for a very pleasant round of golf. I really liked the texture sets and plantings used, worked very well together for my eye. ... Reminds me a lot of the Southernrepub style of designing with the texture set used...

I had a great time playing Dismal Hollow! Spence once again you did a magnificent job on this one, and as I stated before, you don't need to build up giant mounds, huge terrain differences and a million trees to make a good course (Boy have I been guilty of this lol) You can take the less is more route and build a wonderful course we can all enjoy for a long long time

Thanks for your contribution Spencer, great work brother....Thoroughly enjoyed my rounds....

[spencerturner]

Thank you Terry for your gracious comments which means a whole lot to me. That makes the last 8 weeks worthwhile. You mentioned about my design attitude of " less is more" being intentional or not and it is intentional. A long time ago I noticed that Robert@ did not over plant his courses which can hide the detail you work so hard to create. And a fella with the initials T.G. from North Carolina taught me a few things like creating a vertical wall around a water feature (See hole #9). Hope to see your new course soon. Spencer.