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Citadel

(Thoughts by Voyen)

My first encounter with Dan0 occurred when I downloaded and played his Biscayne Bay. I loved the course, but when I listened to the sound of beating a small chipmunk I thought: now here is a man with the rare sense of things absurd, and this is right up my alley!

At this point Im going to leave the world of cyber-golf design and move way back in time, to the previous century.

In the mid 1960s, as a very young aspiring actor in Prague, I saw the production of stage play Ubu the King by Alfred Jarry, who is considered to be the father of theatre of the absurd. From that moment I had dreamt of being able to appear in this particular role. Years went by, meanwhile the Russian army had invaded the country, and I went to live in England and eventually to Australia. By now I had all but abandoned my acting career and turned to the visual arts instead. Then, suddenly, an opportunity came my way to play the lead role and also to co-direct this play, here in Brisbane in 1983.

Why am I telling you this, you might ask. Just to show you that once you tap onto something it is likely to come back to you, in some way. Therefore I was not really that much surprised when Dan0 suggested this co-design, because I knew that the great minds think alike.

Do I imply that Citadel is meant to be absurd? Not necessarily. Perhaps, in its mixture of realism and phantasy (thats not a spelling mistake, just the old Pa Ubu's way of expression, when for instance he terrorizes his subjects and demands the phinances with his phshit hook...) it could best be described as somewhat bizarre. For a long time I had a feeling that the element of eccentricity was somewhat rare in GBC design. Surely, there were fantasy courses released like Manuel Kellner's Transsylvanisher and Gaulick Village or David Lewis with The Hague and Valley of the Kings, there were even courses released in JN5 situated underwater and in the outer space. Several times I had almost succumbed to the temptation of designing something similar, actually I did, in the long gone days of JNSE, when for instance I designed a course with the holes winding through various abstract objects. Thankfully, this happened long before I would even dream of sharing the fruits of my twisted mind with my Internet colleagues, thus together with several other such attempts this one has now long been confined to an eternal sleep in the great cyber graveyard...

I don't want to be misunderstood. IM far from condemning the fantasy designs, those named above or those by any other designers. They will always hold their value as works of cyber-art, and IM not altogether ruling out the possibility that one day I might attempt a similar design. My Aquarian nature however rules that I am at the same time a bit of a dreamer and a bit of a realist. Ever since I had realized that I could find a means of self-realization through cyber golf, I had also recognized that I had to put the needs of the community high on the scale of my priorities. And these needs, as I feel, call for releasing designs that would not be just of some novelty value, or l'art pour l'art, but simply courses that would be playable and enjoyable to most members of the community.

DanO and I have never met in person, but I feel that we both think along similar lines. We might not always entirely agree with each other's ideas, but we are certainly able to compromise. This is why we could come out with Citadel, a course that I think should at worst come mightily close to the lofty goals that we had set ourselves (that, of course, is for others to decide).

We wanted to create a course that many community members could identify with - hence its fictional setting in California. We wanted a course that would be visually and audibly stunning - it is set on the rocky shore and also inland (we used two different, original horizons) and it uses a lot of custom objects and sounds. We wanted a course that would challenge the best of the best - well let's see about that. From the testing I have personally done it is obvious that the course plays several, perhaps half a dozen strokes, harder than an average GBC designed course. Scores in the 50's therefore, though not impossible, should be an absolute rarity at Citadel. An average cyber golfer, playing in at least the medium winds to the pin positions 3,4 or 5, should find breaking par quite difficult.

Having played GBC for the best part of a year, I find that there are not many courses around that cannot be "taken apart" with the scores of 12 under or lower. I felt that it was high time for some designers to come out with something that would put breaks to this, even at the cost of slaughtering some sacred cows of golf design.

Thus: please, don't whinge if you have to play a blind shot at Citadel. Or if you have to hit a put of 15 feet with 15 (or more) inches elevation. I can guarantee you one thing. If you place your shots correctly, any hole can yield a birdie and no puts will roll of the green. Just try it.

DanO's Views:

My first recollection of Voyen was Australian Links (I think that' s the name of it). I have to admit I was wowed by his use of textures and colors. At the time, I found it to be one of the most beautiful courses ever released for jn5, and his subsequent releases just kept getting better and better.

I have always loved courses set on the Monterey peninsula. Biscayne Bay was first set as such but later (for my girlfriend) it was moved to New Zealand. No easy task I assure you!

Over time I have been somewhat dismayed at the scores good courses have been yielding and in my mind, realized that something had to change. Real golf of course is much harder than the cyber golf experience. Do the rules need to be changed for cyber golf? Perhaps, Citadel at best will create a lot of discussion on this topic.

Awhile back Mr. Tom Glass released K-Valley, I felt at the time that this was along the very lines I was thinking of. I had to play it many times before I could break par. Was this what I was looking for? Yes it certainly was. I thank Tom for giving me the inspiration for Citadel.

I have always enjoyed Voyen's courses and love the team design concept, so I thought a co-design with Voyen was worth a try. I e-mailed Voyen and asked him if he would be interested in helping with a co design. He was, and needless to say I was thrilled to benefit from his involvement.

I had the front 9 pretty well constructed using the textures from Cypress Point by Mr. Brian Silvernail(maybe Brian also should be considered a co-designer). Later on, Voyen re-colored most of the textures and created a new texture I ended up using as a bunker, although I think he had something else in mind. It looks great in my opinion.

Voyen also created two wonderful backgrounds for Citadel that are among the best I have ever seen. In fact, one inspired much of the back 9 of the course. Voyen was in charge of most of the custom artwork for Citadel, creating custom objects and placing them on the course, although I did get to create a few myself as well. I concentrated on the design and elevation work, made the splash-screens, and the hole overheads. With Voyen's assistance IM also responsible for all the sounds you will here.

Of all my works to date Citadel is my favorite. I am thoroughly thrilled with the way it turned out.

The following is a quick guide to help get you around this difficult course with a minimum of frustration. Enough of my banter, lose yourself in this world known as:

Citadel

Hole 1. Slight of Hand. Par 4. 444 yards-410-381-361

Hug the right side of the fairway here and remove enough distance from your club of choice to keep it from blowing threw the fairway and into the ocean. The experienced player will find many subtle options here as well as some radical ones. The approach shot into the green will test your imagination.

Hole 2. Whales Tail, Par 4. 416yards-416-398-387-378

This hole will test your ability to hit the right spot on the fairway for the flattest stance for your approach. Whales tail has a very large green. It. s basically turned into two greens by a large bunker splits it into two parts.

Hole 3. Soar. Par 3. 178-165-136-115

The green is over 100 yard's below the tee area on this tricky little 3 par. The player will need to reduce about 2-3 clubs depending on wind and pin position. The 3^rd green is also shared by the 5^th hole.

Hole 4. Roustabout. Par 5. 570-546-517-489

One of the toughest par five's on the course. Power drives must guard against hitting it towards the right side of the fairway where the side-hill lie will make for a brutal long try at eagle. Watch out for the ob area on the right up by the green.

Hole 5. Thread the needle. Par 4. 410-389-368-363

Take care on this tricky par 4. There's more room to land the ball then what you think you have at first glance. Hint; favor the left side as much as possible.

Hole 6. Roller Coaster. Par 4. 473-465-444-434

One of the longest par 4's on the course, however the fairway runs about 80' below the surface of the tee making it quite shorter. Be careful not to hit too much club off the tee though or you will splash into Smorgas Fiord.

Hole 7. Orca Hill. Par 5. 520-506-463-448

Hit the ball over Smorgas fiord here and up the hill shared with hole #6 to a tricky three tiered green. It's birdie time if you stay out of trouble.

Hole 8. Topaz. Par 3. 219-187-148-119

Topaz features a very small green but also a straight forward shot. I like to hit a high fade on this one to help hold the ball. Tough to do when the wind starts blowing.

Hole 9. Eagles Nest. Par 5. 555-510-458-422

Tricky hole here. I have never been able to hit this one in 2. Keep the ball out of the puppy paws bunkers and take an easy bird.

Overall the front nine on Citadel is 3785 yards in length from the tips. 3576 from the blue's 3302 from the white's and finally 3129 from the red's.

The back nine.

Hole 10. Tempest. Par 4. 464-457-427-412

Tempest is another very long par 4. Options abound on this hole, so Ill let you decide what you want to do. Smallish green drops dramatically from back to front. Stay under the hole.

Hole 11. Signature. Par 3. 144-135-129-123

Shoot your ball to a rock enclosed green, and over birdbath cove. Hey quit looking at the scenery and remember to hit the green.

Hole 12. The Angle. Par 5. 535-513-482-453

Another interesting hole here. An eagle is a possibility but, bring you're A game and your A brain.

Hole 13. Juice. Par 4. 323-297-269-252

Drivable par 4 here with four distinct landing areas. Prepare for the correct shot and have a easy birdie oportunity. One of the few breather holes at Citadel.

Hole 14. Dunes. Par 3. 227-218-203-191

Smallish green from slightly elevated tee. Reduce your club here and try to fade the ball into a hook wind. Not an easy task and maybe the toughest par three on the course.

Hole 15. Champion. Par 4. 449-395-372-344

Very difficult par four here with two sepperate landing areas to choose from. Your approach shot here will make or break you on this monster. Take your par and run to the next hole.

Hole 16. The Snake. Par 5. 559-548-526-501

My personal favorite par 5 on the course. Snake is a very tough hole to eagle if not near imposible. It's not from the length either. It's from the hook lye to a fade approach angle with trees hugging the right. Best of luck here.

Hole 17. Tranquility. Par 4. 440-406-377-352

Dont be fooled by the name sake. Tranquility is far from tranqual in its play. Another hole with many options.

Hole 18. Glory. Par 4. 435-415-398-371

Not the toughest par 4 on the course, but if you miss the generouse fairway here, bogey will be a good score.

Overall the back nine on Citadel is 3576 from the tips. 3384 from the blue's. 3183 from the white's. And 2999 from the red's.

Total length. 7361-6960-6485-6128.

Played carefully and thoughtfully I feel Citadel can yield good scores. Don't expect many under 65. I recomend Citadel be played to hard greens and with hard greens for a best but fair challenge. Voyen and I hope you enjoy playing her as much as we did painting Citadel. Good Luck!

D.L.Bunch

All original artwork is copyrighted and is the intellectual property of D. L. Bunch and Voyen Koreis. It cannot be copied or sold for a profit by anyone without permission of the authors. It can, however, be used freely by other JN and GBC designers for non-commercial purposes, so long as the file names remain unchanged and the name of their creator is mentioned in a text file included with their release.