Clifton Lakes Country Club
First off, I know Wagtunes is keen to learn so I will attempt to provide some useful pointers. Hopefully I won't offend :-D
Par 5, 414yards
Ok so this is a strange start if I am honest. You are trying something a little different having a banana shaped hole with a big risk reward element. I.e. Just how much can you cut off. This in principle is great but the execution neglects a few basics. First off, here is the view off the tee:
The aim is straight into trees which will annoy at least 95% of players including the designer himself at a guess? The fairway starts off far to the left and winds around, but as a TGC golfer driving 265yards you'd never hit down the left. However, what adds to the realism on a good course IMO is consideration for the imaginary non virtual golfer. Trees actively block this route which suggests consideration is only for the cut off the corner route.
Now for the tee shot itself... With almost no wind I just went for the green, on a par 5... Here is where I ended up... Yes it is in the rough but it's just a pitch away:
Make it a par 4, lessen the angle slightly and open up the left side of the water and you have a good risk reward hole. One thing I also noticed was this little bit of rough eating into fairway. I believe it is likely in error due to the red brush sculpting being below water (rocks hint at this). To fix raise up or flattern with the red brush.
Another thing, I strongly suggest setting the tee size to 0 and making your own, or at least put rough or heavy rough around it, right now is is a big square with an ugly dark rim:
Par 4, 471yards
This hole actually does a lot of things right, there are just a few subtle touches that show to the trained eye. For starters though, this tee shot looks great, nice use of trees framing the shot (varied and interesting) plus you show off the fairway bunker nicely.
I also felt the position of the bunker was excellent, you could really cut a decent amount off the corner with a slightly risky line. One thing to note though is that from the overhead you can see very clearly the shapes used:
Whilst this isn't necessarily a bad thing, I can see that each shape spans the width of the fairway meaning that you get a pinched effect between shapes. I always try to go down one side first, heavily overlapping shapes in order to smooth the transitions, and then go down the other side. This prevents the overall width from going in out in out.
My next point probably comes from an attempt to keep thing interesting by mixing up the shapes a lot. However I believe this has allowed you to fall into a common trap. I believe you likely use the 1 click fairway, 2/3 clicks rough technique? If you do so then in order to keep the band of rough consistent you need to use brushes of similar size and fuzziness. The fuzzier the brush the thicker this technique makes the band of rough. This screenshot shows that quite clearly I believe:
Another issue is that the bunker doesn't have a consistent edge around it. I think it looks fine with 50/50 light to heavy rough when intended, but otherwise should be the same type all round avoiding the ultra thin strips you can see in this pic.
Par 4, 447yards
I really enjoyed this last hole. Not sure if it was intended but I hit a high draw through the trees and ended up with a short pitch. Mega high risk though which was rewarded. The more standard approach makes for a decent 2 shot par 4. Perhaps a little more interest of the tee would make things even better, but good hole to end on.
Overall
I thought the greens were solid. Gently sloping, making them interesting by not too difficult. I like a bit more challenge, but work well certainly for lower CC tour players
Closing statement/disclaimer!!!
Hope my feedback is well received, I took the liberty of providing some detailed feedback as I see it, but take what you wish from it... Some of my observations were guess work, so sorry if I guessed wrong, but most of my tips should still apply I hope. Of course, just my opinions as well, I do have some courses that have done well, but doesn't make me an expert
