Catalina by Spencer Turner [New Course]

[BrianZ111]

Course: Catalina (12.8 MB)
Type: Fictional, Parkland
Designer: Spencer Turner
Date: 9/1/2011
Images: #9, #13
Libraries Used: bayhill, caped, coosbay, cypress, fabsflorida, inlandheath, oceanside, pebblebeach

[spencerturner]

Slight correction, t his is a fictional Ocean Side course rather than parkland and one of t he libraries is shown as caped, it is actually Cape D.

[sandwedge]

Spencer,

First thanks for uploading a new course - will try and play it after the holiday Second, I believe caped is the same as the Cape D library - I have Cape Daybreak on my hard drive (love the course) and that library with it. When extracted the library saves as Cape D, but before extraction it is shown as caped. Looking forward to another gem of a course - I always have liked your bunkering

[Terry Grayson]

Not a lot of reviews being put up in a while.. I logged in earlier and saw this one out there and wanted to give me old pal a review...

First impression: I have always been able to tell from the opening tee shot if a course is for me... When I opened it one I stood there and looked around a while.
What I always liked about Spencer's courses is that he utilizes the "less is more" as good as any designer out there...While I am one that uses the entire landplot and
puts stuff in spots no one will ever look at, Spencer puts a plant or tree here or there, and some bushes, and it just looks RIGHT to these eyes...

I absolutely loved the choice of the Pebble pano with this texture set and plantings...It just matched to me...Gave great depth to the course, and the rough and plantings matched so well it just looked like you could see forever out there... That is scale at its best right there....Made me feel like I was standing there and could see for miles and see the foggy appearance on the mountainside back in the background...

I loved the difference in green sizes and shapes...Not just a cookie cutter bunch of greens...You can tell Spence has been studying green building...saw some nice false fronts, nice raised areas, some backstops, and plenty of good smooth movement on the greens....

Great planting work , bunker work etc.... Really loved the tee view on #18...What a great view there, and I hit my approach a tad short and it bounced right up to about 3 feet from the hole... Loved it..

Spence is one of the finer designers in my view.... Dont have to put a million points (Like me lol) on a course to make it very very good...Here we have an almost 13 mb course and one that will get a lot of play time..


Hope you get a bunch of reviews bud... People are quiet now days...This one deserves some very good marks in my book...Great work bud...

Terry

[spencerturner]

To receive such comments from a fellow designer of Terry"s caliber makes the 8 weeks I spent on this design all the more worth while. It"s so gratifying to know some one takes the time not only to comment but to take the time to actually look at the course (not just play it) from all directions as Terry always does. The course does not play very difficult unless you turn up the conditions. I will leave the difficult ones to Robert@ . It was my intent to create a course whey all could spend a pleasant few minutes and enjoy the views. My sincere thanks to my friend and teacher. Spencer.

[Polslad]

I'm going to agree and disagree with Terry, greensites are very good, lots or work and movement in them, probably the best feature on the course, although I did hit a 90 degree spike on No4, (always one that slips through, I know there is one on my Augusta on No2).
Not so sure I like the less is more. There are a lot of 'open' spaces between holes, so what we have is a plot with 18 individual holes as opposed to a 18 hole golf course (does that make sense?)
But like Terry says, what you see is plentiful for the hole you are palying, the open ground is mostly apparent on the overhead view, so who is to say what's right or wrong, not me.
Snakey fairways and clever hazard placement make this a little more than a blast of evey tee, some ball placement is required, which is a sign of good design, trouble will find you if you don't go looking for it.

Good to know this club may be small, but the old design urge is still strong.
More reviews please.

[spencerturner]

Thanks for your review and comments Polslad. You are correct in that I sometimes focus on the individual holes rather than the overall plot. I"ll work on that on my next design. Spencer.

[DC#1]

I agree with what has been said, and would add a couple of my own. First I really enjoyed the greensites, they were well done and had good movement. As Pols said too you have to be careful on your drives because of the fairway design which was well thought out, since I found the rough more than a couple times. One thing I didn't like and it's not just on this course is the use of a deeper rough next to the fairway as a rough cut and then a light rough farther out from the fairway. I do like the look of it but not the bigger penalty for being just off the fairway,JMHO. One other note and this is more of a designer's preference is when you have a reachable par 5 I feel you should make a strip of fairway in which you could squeeze the ball in between to get to the green. My opinion for what it's worth, which is nothing. All in all a nice course that you have to think your way around. Everything technical was well done as I would expect from a seasoned designer. Thanks Spencer for your time and effort in building this course.

[sandwedge]

Spencer,

Likes: bunkers as always, options on the par 5's, the less is more look is something that I enjoyed.

Dislikes: seemed the ball washers were oversized and there were no ambient sounds as you worked your way around the course.

Overall: I would give it a thumbs up - it would rate much higher if I could hear the waves of the ocean, the singing of some type of bird and not just dead space. Certainly this is a course worth keeping - it could definitely be improved though.

[spencerturner]

DC, your comment about the rough puzzeled me at first, but I just now figured out what you were talking about.. Spencer.