[Peter Wagner]

I was searching online for something and stumbled over this link to the 1992 computer game Jack Nicklaus Golf & Course design (signature edition).  It looks like kids back in '92 could fire this up on their PC's and start designing courses!  Must have made a lot of youngsters happy at Christmas time!

http://www.mobygames.com/game/jack-nicklaus-golf-course-design-signature-edition

There are screen shots in the lower right of the web page.  Look how far PC graphics have come!

Best,
Peter

[Tyler Kearns]

Peter,

I spent way too much time designing courses with this program. It was extremely fun, and the quick 3D renderings where out-of-this-world exciting to a kid in '92. Of course, the ability to go out and virtually play the course you just designed was equally exciting. It usually required a few rounds of play, followed by numerous tweakings before getting the green contours right.

TK

[RSLivingston_III]

I had it too. The big problem was the time it took to create stuff and play time. Had to give it up because I wasn't getting any work done.

[Peter Wagner]

I wonder if an updated version would be a hit today?

I also wonder if such a program would be a sales tool for archies wanting to redo existing courses? 

My home course is in the Tiger Woods PC game and I remember watching the game company employees walking the course with their equipment to capture the course data.  I was surprised that it only took two people 2 or 3 days.  I was even more surprised at how accurately the course played on my computer.  Every member bounce and green subtlety is in there.  Amazing.

The idea might be far fetched but what if you could hand a dvd of a modified course to the club's management so they could play the new course before signing off on the vision?  I'd bet you could license the game software for this limited use, then hire the same data collection guys by the day, and have the game company compile it.  The archie would then have editing software to make the proposed changes.

I'm probably over-thinking a simple process.

Best,
Peter

[Peter Sayegh]

Peter
 I still have the floppies with some thirty courses I designed. Sadly, the software is not compatible with most newer (read, quicker) computers.
 It was great fun. Ralph is correct. I spent so many hours with it, one course I designed was named "Diem Perdidi Hills."
                                                                                   Peter

[John Nixon]

I wonder if an updated version would be a hit today?

I seem to recall that the EA Sports Tiger Woods games came with a course designer in the early 2000's versions. I haven't checked that game out for a few years, so I don't know if it still does or not.

[Richard Choi]

Ah, this brings back some fond memories...

I worked in the computer game industry in the 90's and that was the golden age for PC golf.

There were 6 or 7 different major PC golf games (and many more golf shareware games) and few of them had pretty extensive course designer module.

Today, most of the major golf games have all died out and most of the surviving games are for game consoles which makes it unlikely that we will see sophisticated course designers ever again.

Which is too bad, since the golf games on consoles are way too arcadish and cartoonish. While 3D golf courses are getting better and better, same cannot be said for the game play. I wish the golf games had more variety of lies and realistic effect of grass on shots.

I miss my Links...

[Guy Nicholson]

I wonder if an updated version would be a hit today?

I was a Nicklaus designer user, and still have a clunker old computer that runs the game. It was a very good product that allowed Photoshop-savvy users to add objects, backgrounds, skies and textures and do some really heavy-duty topographic stuff.

As Richard says, the console versions have rendered most of these games obsolete, but there still are communities of diehards out there. There was much desire among the Nicklaus diehards for an updated version after the 6th release, which came out around 1999. But the maker - Activision, I believe - ceased being interested in tweaking the product once Jack was supplanted as the most marketable name in golf.

[Richard Choi]

Further note...

If I remember correctly, the % of users who actually created courses using designers were fairly low (based on surveys). But then again, this could have been due to the fact that way to share your creation with others was fairly complicated and not everyone had modems back then and Internet was not widely used.

It could be different now since sharing courses on-line would be much much easier and better supported with discussion groups and whatnot. You would also have to deal with IP issues regarding course representation and copyrights which can be very cumbersome and expensive.

[Jeffrey Prest]

I think this may be a classic example of progress being a double-edged sword. Yes, the graphics look ancient now but I bet you could put a course together a darn sight more quickly than you can with the 'Tiger Woods' series Course Architect software.

I have 230 of other people's courses on DVD for use with TW2000 and TW2003 but much as I'd love to design one of my own, I doubt I'll be able to find the time anywhere this side of retirement, so complex is the software. It really is an embarrassment of riches.

Even just drawing up a routing plan for Barnbougle Dunes took me weeks...

Great games, though nevertheless. Those 230 courses are what's left after I weeded out all the junk and it really is the next best thing to being out there yourself.

[Tim_Cronin]

Ah, the Nicklaus course designer. I found the last version for the Mac on eBay and spent too much time in the spring of 2003 designing Augusta National's front nine, right up to the changes for the 2003 Masters. Had enough photos so trees edging the fairways were all in the right place. With four sets of tees, I had the '03 Masters tees, the previous tournament tees, the member tees, and ladies tees.
But, before I could finish the back nine and then do the ground and green contouring (which was suggested to be done last), the laptop had a major meltdown (on the morning of the final round of the U.S. Open in the Olympia Fields press tent, no less). I haven't reloaded the game/designer since, but it was addicting. (A friend did a Cog Hill Dubsdread layout that I thought was better than the one commercially issued for the Woods game.) Maybe after a book is finished...

PS - There was no way to attack the pin on the par-3 fourth when it was hidden behind the bunker.

[Andy Troeger]

Count me in as someone who designed a few courses on that game. I loved trying to design interesting drivable par fours and probably some par fives that would have been unplayable in real life for most people with duplicate fairways and such...kept things interesting for awhile.

[RSLivingston_III]

I think the last course I tried to do was NGLA from the map in CB's book. Unfortunately not knowing the topography of the course that attempt was doomed..

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