Patriot's Point

[BradTheDad]

Hi Steve, I certainly hope this isn't your last design; I love 'em!

As far as others making such comments, everybody is entitled to their opinion, but as my Mum used to say "If you haven't got something nice to say, then don't say anything!".

Your courses have that touch of class that I can't get on my designs. I guess it's just the aesthetic talent of an artist. I wish I had that talent.

Cheers

Brad

[Sundance]

Hi Steve, I certainly hope this isn't your last design; I love 'em!

As far as others making such comments, everybody is entitled to their opinion, but as my Mum used to say "If you haven't got something nice to say, then don't say anything!".

Your courses have that touch of class that I can't get on my designs. I guess it's just the aesthetic talent of an artist. I wish I had that talent.

Cheers

Brad

Thanks Brad it's quite a compliment coming from a fellow designer, I'm hardly an artist but a devout fan of PhotoShop for Dummies!

[Sundance]

Designer Notes: Let's talk about the course overhead/plot and windage. When I do the final layout on my course overhead I always try to make sure that if you click on the hole number the actual hole will open up. To be able to do this you must arrange the original overhead/plot before you finalize it which means moving the holes around in the plot to where you want them before you finish it. One problem is doing adjacent holes on the same hole plot. When you do this you must align the hole you copied and pasted with the original. This does cause a minor dilemna because it's hard to find the number of the adjacent hole in the overhead but that's a small price to pay if you have laid out a nice adjacent hole on your course.
Another problem that arises when you start moving holes around on the plot is the windage of each hole on your course. Most designers will lay out their holes wanting the wind either at your back or blowing into the face of the golfer to make the hole more difficult. Knowing the plot becomes essential at this point. Here are a couple simple things to know. When looking at your course overhead plot the top being North, the bottom being South, the left being East and the right being West then the wind will work like this. Any hole facing North (top) or South (bottom) the wind will be at your back. Any hole facing East (left) or West (right) the wind will be in your face. The rest will be cross winds. Hopefully this isn't confusing and it really comes in handy when laying out your course.

[Sundance]

Designer notes: There was a recent post about planting objects and that it took several hours to copy and paste and they wanted to know if there was an easier way to get this done. If you want to speed the process up hold the control button down and click on your object . This allows you to place the object without using the copy and paste process. When I do large areas of grass and I have several that blend together well I hold the control button down and select several at a time which really speeds up the process. I also use this process at times placing trees or any objects you want. Say you want to use a couple trees from the trees palette and also from the bushes palette just hold the control button down open one palette and select the ones you want then open the other with the control button still down and select from there as well. You can use this method with as many as eight objects at a time. Be careful though because it's easy to get carried away and place too many objects. If you find that one or more of the objects you chose don't blend in then simply click on that object and select delete all and the designer will remove all of the unwanted object. Hope this helps.

[Sundance]

Hole #4 @ Patriot's Point is a 558 yard par 5. Into the wind off the tee your driving into an uphill fairway where only a massive power drive will clear the hill. Protection is provided by two bunkers to the left and one on the right and the landing area has a sharp left slope to make matters worse. Most will approach the 2nd shot with caution trying only to find the fairway that ends 30 yards short of the dance floor. This will leave a short lob to a very tough green where long putts are your worst enemy. Two shots and a good lob will reward most with a score!

Views from the tee, landing area, lob approach and green.

Designer notes: On this design I have made a conscious effort to show the background through the trees. I have made several similar designs that I failed to do so getting carried away with object placement. If you have a BG that you really like be wary of this mistake. I have also used stock houses that I show through the woods to give depth to the hole design. I also did this to show that you don't have to create a myriad of custom objects to design a course. I've also used quite a few stock trees but I must confess that I still used a myriad of custom objects as well but they mix together nicely which is very important in designs. That's it for now but next I will touch on shapes like tees, fringe and fairways etc and the copy and paste procedure that most of us experienced designers use to make it simple. I think I will aslo soon touch on bunkers and perhaps elevation. These notes are to help new designers as well as some experienced designers that aren't designing as much as I have to save time and simplify and if you have any questions on any of this please don't hesitate to send me a message here at the site.

[Sundance]

[BradTheDad]

Love those elevated views Steve!

Cheers

Brad

[tarheel]

I really like the background for this one.

[Sundance]

Hole # 5 @ Patriot's Point is a testy little par 4 that is 347 yards if you take the scenic route but if you take the ferry across the pond it's much quicker and only 275 yards to the edge of the green unless you make a splash. From the landing area you'll have a short lob and that makes it testy!

Views from the tee, landing area, facing the green from the water and looking back towards the tee from behind the green.

[Sundance]