PGLS

Hi everyone,

Tomorrow sees the start of the last week of the PGLS Tours. Who knew 46 weeks ago what we were all about to go through in 2020.

I like a lot of players will be glad to see the back of it and with the possibility of a vaccine on the horizon let's hope 2021 is a much better year for everyone.

PGLS Tours will return on Friday 1st January and both Riddler (Alan) and JMK59 (John) have been hard at work sorting the courses out for both the American and Continental tours. The Continental tour is suffering from a lack of real courses but some decent substitutes have been proposed. 6 courses will need to be checked out, the first 3 of these, The Preserve at Stanley Lake, Palm Sands Golf Resort and Clearwater Bay will be used in the KO tourney this coming Sunday 15th November 19:00:00 GMT. The remaining 3, South Hills CC, The Strand and Royal Desert Palms, will be used again in the KO tourney on Sunday 22nd November 19:00:00 GMT. Your feedback on these 6 courses would be much appreciated as a reply to this topic whether or not you play them in the KO tournies ...

Finally a big thanks to over 150 players who took part in the PGLS Tours. A full breakdown will be posted once Week 46 completes.

See you all next year!

Hi, always happy to comment on courses, and I have a spreadsheet of comments on the courses I have played. I like the work done in the "Fletcher Ratings" but my own comments are rather less structured. So, courses rather like beauty.....it is always in the eye of the beholder! I have played a couple of the courses mentioned and my feedback is listed below.

The Preserve at Stanley Lake:
High altitude 5358 Ft course predominantly straightaway with some slight dogleg approaches to the fairways. Consequently, you were able to hit past the dangers with tee shots in the 350 yard plus range! Therefore, not a difficult course with FH93% GIR61% and Putts 1.22. No real dramas on the greens. Nothing to tempt me back.

Chambers Bay:
Graphics - Artificial and soft-focus rather like an old sepia photo. The holes were well laid out albeit with some huge carries to make to avoid a penalty. Lots of height changes and some very long holes, plus a drivable par 4. Added Bonus of trains running up and down by the sea!. The Greens were very gentle and true on the first few holes but became seriously more difficult on the back nine. FH 86% & GIR 62% Putts 1.33.
I had Major issue on the 7th hole a 511 yard par 4 with a Stroke index of 7. Massive uphill fairway and the two drives took me to 32 yards where I played a flop shot which fell short the ball spun off and back to 75 yards away. I then played a normal shot which landed on the green .... then zipped backwards like a bullet and hurled back down the slope to end up 208 yards away! Had to hit a massive long shot to beyond the green to avoid any further calamities.

As a point of reference I am a Custom Hacker, and my current favourite designer is Mika Henrik.

Cheers

Jettgod

Played The Preserve at Stanley Lake.Jettgod pretty much summed it up.A real "grip it and rip it "course.Not much penalty if you miss the fairway on most holes.Was sort of fun reaching the green in 2 on a 650 yd par 5.I predict real low scores by the top players.FPS fine any time I looked.

The Preserve at Stanley Lake is the replacement course for the WGC event, Mexico Championship at Club de Golf Chapultepec in Mexico City (7200 ft).
https://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/wgc ... ourse.html

I was going for a similar look, plus high altitude.

John

JMK59 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 13, 2020 8:05 pm The Preserve at Stanley Lake is the replacement course for the WGC event, Mexico Championship at Club de Golf Chapultepec in Mexico City (7200 ft).
https://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/wgc ... ourse.html

I was going for a similar look, plus high altitude.

John

I personally wasn't criticising your choice of course-I don't even play that tour(maybe next year) but we were invited to review the courses even if we didn't play the tour.I see no reason not to use it.I was actually looking more for problems like this(which I didn't run across).

I didn't take it as a criticism. This thread is exactly what you though - a place to collect playability feedback from the tour members. Keep going.

John

Palm Sands Golf Resort
The first thing I thought teeing off was "Have I entered the Land of the Giants?"As it turned out-in a way I had.

I've never liked it when there are plants sticking out of fairways or even worse greens.To me it signals a lack of attention to detail that might lead to greater issues.

I'm not sure if this boulder is floating in mid air on purpose but it sure did give me a chuckle.

Did I mention the greens are huge?Like really huge?Like Yuge huge?Like make St Andrews greens seem tiny huge?Like take out your wedge huge?I wouldn't recommend a stimp 8 setting.Many opportunities to make the longest putts of your life.

So the front 9 is very uninspiring.Very flat and not much thinking required.The back 9 is more interesting as both the fairways and the greens have more variety(ie they are not as flat).
I found no playability issues but I did not wander off the fairways which generally is where you find issues like invisible barriers.FPS seemed ok.
Should be fine in a tournament but I don't think you'll find people clamoring for a repeat.
One last thing.I know the course designers put in many,many countless hours on creating these courses which give us free enjoyment.So any designer reading this(especially this course designer) please understand I am very grateful for all your work.

Thanks for the review Tanman. We just played this in the KO event and I agree with everything you point out.

This is my choice for the replacement of the Saudi International at Royal Greens GC. https://royalgreens.net/golf/the-course/
The look of the course is close, minus the rocks. It's hard to find look alikes for the Middle East events. I'll keep looking for something better.

John

Hi, I may have missed it somewhere but I was wondering if all personnel stats will be reset for the new season. Thanks.

JMK59 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 13, 2020 8:05 pm The Preserve at Stanley Lake is the replacement course for the WGC event, Mexico Championship at Club de Golf Chapultepec in Mexico City (7200 ft).
https://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/wgc ... ourse.html

I was going for a similar look, plus high altitude.

John

Played a 3som on this course this morning, and it is a fine course nothing to report
should be a good replacement in the Tours.