Course Design Ideas & Tips
Why? The Sand Trap tile. In a nutshell, due to the size of the sand trap tile fairways & greens must be multiple tiles in order to appear realistic. A greenside trap is seldom the same area in size as the green itself. So because of this alone we must make greens multiple tiles to acheive a realistic look to the course. Even is total area, one tile is not a true championship green. One tile is 25 yds in the game, 75 feet. The pin is dead center making the longest putt 37.5 from all sides. Seldom (if ever) will you find a green in which the LONGEST putt is 38 feet. Ever looked at a PGA tour event green? Or a green in a GOLF Magazine? Those things are huge!!! So if we use 3-4 tiles, we end up with 112 feet as the longest putt. Since our golfer are seldom the farthest away, they end up with roughly 80 foot as a maximum putt. This is very realistic.
The fairways must maintain this feel, so if a gree is 2 x 2 tiles, we want the fairway to be a minimum of 3 tiles wide - 4 is better, but the size of map will only allow it on a few select holes. By going to 3-4 wide tiled fairways, we can disperse pot bunkers & sand traps in select spots in the fairways. Achieving a balance between visual quality and realistic layout.
A true two tiered green is really hard to do in less than 6 green tiles. But since four is a good number for our course in layout & aesthetics, we will make one accordingly. Its not a 100% true two tiered green, but it is visually effective and the game physics do a good job representing the intended idea. Take a four tile green and raise the flag tile one height level to #2. Now take both corners of the adjacent tiles with the vertex tool to #2 height level. Viola! You have created a diagonal two tiered green. This works well in cases where players have to hit a draw/fade into the green., You will reward them for your effort. Just make sure the draw/fade hits the FACE of the tier. If it hits at a severe angle, you will just penalize your imagination ratings.
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