Routing
Routing is arguably the easiest part of designing a course. However,
it should not be taken lightly. The par for each hole is determined
by the number of shot points on the hole. A hole with 2 shot points
(tee and green) will be given a par of 3, a hole with 3 shot points
will be given a par of 4, etc. If you'd like to change the par on
a hole once it's routed, you can add and delete shot points. Do this
by moving the mouse between two shot points, right clicking and choosing
"add shot point" to raise the par. Likewise, if you want to lower
the par, move the mouse over one of the shot points, right click,
and chose "delete shot point".
When routing the course, it's a good idea to start out with a par
4 between 350 and 410 yards. The norm for routing is to have a par
72 course with 2 par 3's and 2 par 5's on each nine. You can either
route all 18 holes at once, route them one at a time, or route them
in groups of 3-6, depending on what you are trying to accomplish with
the design.
One of my favorite things to do is route holes with 'in-between'
yardages. For example, a 300 yard par 4, which plays like a par 3
1/2. The same thing goes for par 5s, I like to include a shortish(480yd
- 520yd) par 5 which requires good placement to reach in two, rather
than pure length.
Terrain Shaping
Terrain shaping is one of the most important aspects of the course
design, as it effects both how the course plays and looks in a direct
way. One of the biggest mistakes I see from amateur and veteran designers
alike is the use of far to many vertexes in each shape, whether it
be a bunker, tee, fairway, or green. Try to keep your terrain shapes
as simple as possible, there is no need to have a bunch of vertexes
unless you are working with a VERY detailed shape. Most of the time,
more vertexes just make the shape blocky, hard to work with and to
keep rounded.
There are various combinations of terrain types that have become
popular among designers. The most common are a ring of fringe around
tee boxes, a dirt ring around bunkers, light rough rung around the
fairway, fringe around the green, ect. All of these effects can be
done very easily using the stretch command. Just copy and paste your
bunker, green, tee, or fairway shape. Next, just double click on the
pasted shape and change it to the desired terrain, then in the stretch
box, type in a number and the shape will stretch out. Then place it
under the shape that you want to "ring" with that terrain type. I
like to use a stretch of 2 for placing fringe, but you should experiment
with your own numbers for the other terrain types.
Be creative with your shapes - don't make everything round or oval.
Start by using shapes from the bunkers and greens palettes. Then when
you get comfortable with the designer you can create more interesting,
exotic shapes. An excellent example of good terrain shaping is Rolling
Evergreen by Brian Silvernail. If you take a good look at the course,
you will see that every bunker, green, tee, and fairway shape is different
and unique.
New designers should download this course, take a look at the shapes
and learn from them.
Elevations
Working with elevations is the toughest thing to learn about course
designing, and it's even tougher to master. The main thing to remember
when working with elevations is to use the smooth and power smooth
(shift + smooth) options often. Also do a lot of experimenting with
the elevations, and get a feel for how they work. The higher you want
your hill to be, the larger you need to make the terrain shape.
I like to create larger hills about 20-30 yards off the fairway where
they make a nice backdrop to place trees, and help hide the green
line. The more detailed and smaller hills I place on the fairway and
in the light rough. Try to create elevations that flow with the contour
of the fairway, and blend in with the green. Try for a natural look,
instead of placing large bulges just to have hills. For detailed work
near greens and bunkers, make smaller terrain shapes and bulge up
and down to get the desired look, making sure to smooth as you work.
A good guideline is 2-4 smooths for every large bulge, and 1 or 2
smooths for smaller more detailed bulges. Also use the power smooth
for faster smoothing results.
It's always a good idea to lower any water you may have on your course.
This gives a more realistic look. It can be difficult to lower water
without lowering other terrain that may be next to it. So, for lowering
water, try this... First, select the water, then chose the "change
elevation" command. In the "set to height" box, enter anything from
-2 to -10. Then smooth the water a couple times. Use the rendered
view to see the results of the lowered water.
Objects
Object placement has the biggest impact on how your course will look
and feel. Before you start placing objects, take a long look at the
trees palette and get a good idea of what types of trees are available.
Next, you need to choose a set of objects that you plan to use on
the course(or create your own artwork). Don't just place one or two
different tree types on every hole. Choose at least 5-10 different
tree types to place on your course. You should test them out and see
how they look together, so open up one of the holes and place two
or three of each tree type in a medium sized area - use the rendered
view to see how they blend.
Keep playing with the different objects types until you get a group
of trees that you like. I aim to have some very tall trees (80ft or
more), very short trees (20ft or less), and a lot of medium sized
trees (20-70ft). (I place about half the amount of tall and short
trees that I do medium trees.) This gives a more even feel to the
course. Now, once you have chosen the objects you will use, you are
ready to start placing them on your course.
Start with the first hole, placing trees around the hole, but remember
to make it look like the course was routed through the trees and not
the other way around. In other words, don't just pile the trees right
next to the fairway in neat little rows. Spread them out and make
it look natural. You will want to make some places more dense then
others, so once you have your base of objects set for the hole, add
more trees to certain places to make them thicker, and remove some
trees from other places - this gives a more natural look of dense
and lightly forested areas.
There are three basic categories for tree placement. The first is
all the trees that will likely never come into play and are just for
looks, the second are the trees that effect play when the player strays
slightly from the fairway but are still mostly for looks, and the
third type is those that are placed on or very near the fairway and
force the golfer to play around or over them. I've even seen some
older JN courses with trees on the green! Most designers never place
trees in the third type of category, which is a bit disappointing.
I like to have at least one or two holes where trees come directly
into play and force the player to work around them.
Another type of object you will need to place is bushes and shrubs.
90% of the time you will not want these to effect play, as they are
normally used for looks and dressing up the course. Some designers
like to place a lot of them, some just a few, and others will not
place any at all. So it's up to you to decide how you like to use
bushes and shrubs on your course. I usually lean towards just placing
bushes and shrubs near the teeing areas. I normally use the red azalea
and the pink/purple flowering ice plant, depending on the look I'm
going for. Under the flowers, I always place topsoil, dirt, or mulch.
This gives a more realistic look of being "planted" instead of just
sitting there on top of the grass.
Final Comments
Designing a course takes time and patience, so don't be in a big
hurry to finish your first course and release it to the public. There
are plenty of user-developed courses available to cyber golfers. A
well finished course will stay on hard drives longer and be enjoyed
much more than a rushed effort.
Also, don't expect to become a great course designer on your first,
or even second attempt. Some of the more popular Nicklaus designers,
like Steve Opfer, Ken McHale, and Scott Antes, have designed 20-30
courses before releasing anything to the public. I'm not saying don't
release your first course, just don't get your expectations up high
until you hear feedback from others. If your course is good, you will
hear about it, believe me.
And lastly, always play your course at least a few times from each
pin position, and use play testers to get outside opinions. This will
most likely weed out any problems or errors in your course before
it is released.
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