BAROON CREEK

Black Tees: 7025 yds
Blue Tees: 6800 yds
White Tees: 6337
Red Tees: 6027 yds

Baroon Creek is a fictional course located in Australia, somewhere in the coastal hinterland of Southern Queensland.

DESIGNER NOTES:

I have worked on Baroon Creek from about the beginning of October 1998. The work suffered a severe setback in the late November when I lost my primary hard drive and with it a lot of art work intended for use in the project. Some of the art objects, as well as some sound files, were used in my previous design, Australian Links. Some are new, all my original creations.

The basic set of textures, the fairway, the green and the fringe were created by Paul O'Brien, I have altered them somewhat and sent them to Paul for his approval. Thank you Paul O'Brien! The rest of the textures are mine, some adopted from my previous designs and altered to suit the course. The intention was to give the impression of hot, mostly dry subtropical climate of the region. The horizon is also original, a couple of its panels contain some images from Australian Links, the rest come from snapshots taken and scanned by myself, as well as the two custom skies.

The design method applied on this course makes exclusive use of the JN5 Designer's Random Terrain feature. I have employed it before on some individual holes, but never consistently as I did here. On each hole I started with the Aerial or Tower view and kept clicking on the Random Terrain set on the rugged, until I got one that I liked and that would fit the course. Then I added the creek winding through the valleys, and smoothed the hole many times. Only at this stage I would decide where to place the fairways, the tees and the greens, so that they would fit the terrain thus created. In a way it was not unlike designing a real course, where the designer has to make use of the existing landscape. Only, in this case I was the landscape's creator myself: a doubly satisfying experience!

As well as having the playtesters, I have tested the course and particularly the greens many times, as I knew that they are not going to be easy to put on. I don't believe that there are "unfair" pin positions, though on some of them it is adviceable staying below the hole and avoid downhill puts.

With the large amount of custom art and a fair bit of detail on the individual holes, the course might be a little slow to load at times. I hope that the player will find the occasional waiting worthwhile.

Good golfing, and try not to get lost in the bush!

ACKNOWLEDMENTS:


I would like to express my thanks to Paul O'Brien for making available the above mentioned textures and for his help with making them suit the course. I would also like to thank the playtesters DanO, Pat Caton, Radim Ponert, and particularly Mike New, who has played the course many times and who has sent me a number of valuable suggestions.