Extremely long courses

[bryce]

One of my favorite holes that I've done so far is the par 5 11th (610 yards). Not reachable by those of us who can't hit 325 yard drives, it still provides a tough layup. For those of you who can take a shot in 2.....beware!!
Overhead:

11overhead.jpg

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You must first of all chose which trap to take on from the tee to leave yourself in the best position. It's about 235 to carry the trap on the right, 260 yards to carry the middle trap, about 285 for the one on the left.
From the tee:

11tee.jpg

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A view of the fairway:

11fwy.jpg

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Since I can only put 3 attachments, I'll continue on the next post.......

[bryce]

.....Conitued from last post.......

There are 2 layup options. The safe option is to stay short of the big trap on the left and leave yourself 175+ yards:

11layup1.jpg

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Or, you can take on the bunker, even carry it to the fairway beyond to leave yourself a wedge:

11layup2.jpg

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Finally, the green is steeply sloped from right to left and has 3 levels. It is also guarded in front by a deep bunker.

11grn.jpg

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I just want to say that this hole has more bunkers than any other, but if you look at some of the courses the pros play, it would be about average for a long par 5. There are several holes with 0 or 1 bunker. Once again, I am going for the U.S. Open style course, where par is a good score on any hole. I have decided that I will do a second version of the course, which will be much more forgiving. This one will be called: Dogwood Trail Championship Edition.

Doron

[sandwedge]

Okay, I am officially hooked now

[SteveHorn]

Doron! Number 11 is an excellent designed hole and looks SUPER. Looking forward to its release.

[bryce]

Despite the fact that the course is brutally long, I have still implemented some birdie holes here and there. One such hole on this new design of mine, is the very short 16th hole. Big hitters can take a shot to an island surrounded by a pond on this 327 yard hole. However, the conserative approach comes with a risk too. The fairway is also an island, and starts at about 165 yards from the tee and turns left at around 240. The fairway expands as it goes forth, being only 20 yards wide where most of us would just hit an iron to. It's a full 275 yards to clear the water toward the green. The green has a runoff area of fairway just behind the green, and has 2 small bunkers guarding the left and right from the tee, but from a layup position they guard the front and back.

Here is a tee shot from about 20 feet high:

16tee.jpg

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A look from the fairway, where a wedge is the most you will need:

16fwy.jpg

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If you give it a go from the tee, this is what the green will look like from that angle:

16green.jpg

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Everything is coming along nicely right now, and I haven't had any lockups or broken glass in a week or so. I've got about 5 holes left for elevation work. The next pics will probably be for the last par 5......I love, love, love that hole! I can't wait to doll it up a little for you guys!

Doron

[bryce]

About 85% finished with the course, just 2 more holes of elevation work and then planting/replanting and testing. This is the 15th hole in the pics. It is the shortest par 5 on the course and can be reached with a good drive.

From the tee:

15tee.jpg

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From the fairway, with an elevated view to see the layout:

15fwy.jpg

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From about 50 yards short. Notice the collection area to the right.......a tough shot from there:

15grn.jpg

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I still do appreciate input on the planting, since I am still deciding which libraries to use.

Thanks
Doron

[SteveHorn]

Doron! Everything looks great to me for #15. The hole and planting.

[bryce]

Elevation work is almost done. I just need to go back and double check tee boxes and greens before I start planting. Here are some pics of the 14th hole, which is a par 4 of about 490 yards.

From the tee:

14tee.jpg

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From the fairway about 215 yards out:

14fwy.jpg

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A look from short and left of the green:

14grn.jpg

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I will not be able to finish up this week because of Independence Day break. I will hopefully be back to working on it next weekend. By the way, I just played my first full 18 holes with the elevation work finished, and shot a bogey free -4 (67). I may need to sharpen the teeth a little to get it right The course stats show that it is 8143 yards long.

Doron

[bryce]

Been working hard the last 4 days playtesting and rearranging a few things. I'm going to try to be finished in the next week or so, as long as I can get some quiet time! Gonna be 2 courses: a championship version and a regular version.

Doron

[bryce]

This is the 17th hole, a long par 3 on the championship edition and a shortish par 3 for the regular edition.

From the Championship tees, it will play about 270 yards to the middle of the green (Oakmont had one that was 308!):

17chtee.jpg

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It's only about 150 yards or so from the regular tees:

17tee.jpg

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This angle is coming in from the Championship tees, but the regular tees will be coming over the trap on the left. I'm trying to make it play differently:

17 green.jpg

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Just about finished with planting, but would still like some input if it looks bad.

Thanks,
Doron