Course: Bison Ridge (28.9 MB)
Type: Fictional, Desert
Designer: Jim Hall
Date: 4/9/2023
Images: Sp, #1, #2, #10, #13
Libraries Used: bison_ridge_lib
Bison Ridge by Jim Hall [New Course]
Re: Bison Ridge by Jim Hall [New Course]
It seems to be not too many new courses uploaded here anymore,so the ones that are, I feel deserve look and a review,so here it goes. First off upon opening,the pano looks GREAT. I think this is a custom pano as it's in the Bison Ridge library. Off the tee the plantings are also great. not overly done,just enough to make it look realistic. The custom blends are also a treat. I liked when they jut out a bit into the fairway to give you a good look like on #8.
Design wise everything is solid to me. They are mostly shorter, flatter holes,some drivable like #6. Then theres the mammoth par 5 #12... with 3 landing areas with desert in between.Theres a nice split type fairway on #4, a rectangle green on on #7, a risky short #13 with water surrounding the fairway on both sides. Theres a nice little bail out area to the right if you are scared! an island green on #16. Every hole is playable,this is not a frustrating round with impossible greens etc...although some of the greens I feel could be a bit smaller. Overall very enjoyable,especially the scenery. If I had to nitpick I didnt really like the plants in the water, to me they werent as realistic looking as the rest of the plantings. And no Clubhouse. No big deal, just takes away from realism. Thank you taking the time to design this, it is a great one.
Kent
(KSBC6499)
Design wise everything is solid to me. They are mostly shorter, flatter holes,some drivable like #6. Then theres the mammoth par 5 #12... with 3 landing areas with desert in between.Theres a nice split type fairway on #4, a rectangle green on on #7, a risky short #13 with water surrounding the fairway on both sides. Theres a nice little bail out area to the right if you are scared! an island green on #16. Every hole is playable,this is not a frustrating round with impossible greens etc...although some of the greens I feel could be a bit smaller. Overall very enjoyable,especially the scenery. If I had to nitpick I didnt really like the plants in the water, to me they werent as realistic looking as the rest of the plantings. And no Clubhouse. No big deal, just takes away from realism. Thank you taking the time to design this, it is a great one.
Kent
(KSBC6499)
Re: Bison Ridge by Jim Hall [New Course]
Why isn't Bison Ridge isn't showing up in the courses list? I just downloaded it by clicking on the link in Brians post.
Re: Bison Ridge by Jim Hall [New Course]
Thanks, Kent! I always wanted to design a fairly simple desert course but didn't like the sharp delineation between desert and rough that you see on many courses. Thanks to Brian's input, I was able to produce blends that makes the transition from desert to rough more natural if you will. As for the plants in the water - I started without them, added them, removed them, put them back in and came to the realization that I could keep going back and forth forever so I stopped with them in 
If you've played any of my other courses, you will probably recognize that I tend to like large greens (these are smaller than on most of my courses LOL). I think that comes from my experience playing my favorite 2-3 courses in the area that have large greens but with each typically subdivided into 2-3 different regions, or complexes, that play quite differently.
As an aside, I keep all of the objects, textures and panos that I create so if anyone would like to use them without having to download the library, I'm happy to share.
Thanks again, Kent! Glad you enjoyed it.
If you've played any of my other courses, you will probably recognize that I tend to like large greens (these are smaller than on most of my courses LOL). I think that comes from my experience playing my favorite 2-3 courses in the area that have large greens but with each typically subdivided into 2-3 different regions, or complexes, that play quite differently.As an aside, I keep all of the objects, textures and panos that I create so if anyone would like to use them without having to download the library, I'm happy to share.
Thanks again, Kent! Glad you enjoyed it.