Golf Sim Clubhouse Forum

Course: Medinah C.C. #3 (14 MB)
Type: Real, Parkland
Designer: Steve Horn
Date: 9/15/2011
Images: Sp, #13, #15, #18
Libraries Used: augusta2001, baltursol, barrenhills, bayhill, bethpage1, bullock_run, ccovemidday, DSTour, northamerican, pebblebeach, petitpays, royalstgeorge, sammamish, spiritlake, thelegacy, tpcsouth, welschap

Steve has used 17 libraries on his new course which I find excessive and unnecessary . That's a lot of libraries for very little reward . There is a lot of sameness to this course. Except for the par 3's I felt like I was playing the same holes over and over again. The tree plantings are just ok but could use some underbrush plantings to give the field a fuller look. Did not like the use of the flowering trees. They just look tacky. Some fairways have an abundance of undulations to them, others do not. I guess what I object to here is a lack of consistancy . Some of the greens are nice and are smooth with some movement to them. The bunkers need improvement. Some were too deep for the size of the trap which gives an awkward look to them. Also they look like the design of the bunkers has been overworked , too many shapes, curves, etc. . The bunker lips might look better if they were a little larger . The lips appear to be 1 inch , I think 2 inch looks good on small green side bunkers and maybe 3 inch on larger fairway bunkers. Dont know about anyone else but I use 12 steps to create a single bunker. A properly designed bunker makes a big visual difference on any course. As an example , check out Roberts@ course: Cades Cove. Steve, you are a good friend and a good designer but not where you should or want to be yet. Please dont look at these comments as a negative as they are sincerly intended as constructive observations . I am sure you will receive many sugar coated , feel good reviews to make up for my comments. Respectfully, Spencer.

Spencer! Thanks for taking time to do a review of Medinah. Bunkers have always been a weakness of mine. I realize some were just Ok and some I thought turned out very good. ALOT of bunkers on the course. As far as size and shapes of the bunkers these are accurate from measurements from goggle earth. If it was my design I would have made the bunkers different but I was looking to be as accurate as possible. I'm not sure what you mean as far as abundence of undulation in the some fairways and not others but I respect your opinion? Maybe you mean the par 5's, #5 and #14 which as in the real course are stairstep style uphill holes. There is underbrush but in some areas its light and not always visable. Many country clubs have little underbrush because the ground crews never let it get out of hand in most areas. I realize I used alot of libraries but I don't create my own and to get the looks and objects I wanted thats how it turned out. I'm sorry that you feel this is a sub par design but it is a real and fairly accurate recreation of the course in the Chicago area.

Steve, I did not realize it was a real course and t hat you were trying to duplicate the real thing. That does limit your own creativity. Steve , I dont rate it as subpar, just par and I know you can and will do better. If I can be of any help t o you with your bunker design, please send me an e mail. Spencer.

All of the challenges of the real Medinah will test you in this version of it. This is done, in my opinion, fairly well. I also really thought the plantings in this version are better than in the Robert Parisseau version. I liked the choice of textures except for the dark green strip that lined the fairway as the first cut of rough. Some of the views from the par 3 tees were spectacular. I think this course is worthy of a download. I will not be keeping it on my hard drive however. I like the Parisseau version just a little more. Thanks for the great effort - seems doing a real course is even more difficult than one of your own design. This designer has talent and it shows here in many places. Take a look and see for yourselves

sandedge! Thanks for the reply. As far as the first cut dark green strip this was a VERY CLOSE almost perfect match as far as how it looked when about 300 to 500 feet above looking down on google earth. I used the C.cove midday as fairways, first cut is from the Whisperwood library. Greens are from Royal St. George and fringe is Pasatiempo. All the rough textures are from Bullock Run library. I used all these textures because they were a good match as how it looked on google earth and they play well.
As far as the Pariseau version goes, back in 1999 this may have been a pretty good version. But after seeing the course and all the different elevations on some holes and some of the green sites on the par 3's and #15 and a few other holes that he did I decided his version was just to inaccurate to use as any sort of reference.

I liked it!
Lots of work gone into recreating fairway undulations, the greensites have a lot of movement in them, and I think the bunkers look good, interesting shapes and contours that really frame the greens. The course seems long, as you would expect of a USGA championship layout, and the par 3's over water are the signature holes.
I certainly shall be keeping this course, and will add it to my rota of major championship venues.

Our group finally got around to playing this course today. Technically I thought it was pretty nice, though I did have a few misgivings about the textures. The first cut and tees just didn't blend in well with the rough Steve selected. That's just a minor complaint though.

We all shot well on a/m/b (we let the game pick conditions.) This course is much more fair than the Medinah '99 version with it's snaky fairways. I did like the fairway and green work. Good job Steve.