Working on my First Course Design (Not Mine Though)

[RaceTo100]

I just got TGC recently. I am recreating a now closed Robert Trent Jones Jr. course. It was a terrific course for fun rounds. I miss the course. It's fairly wide, the greens fairly flat and it's not too long. To recreate the course, I have downloaded free LiDAR data. I converted that data to a shaded relief GeoTiff with 1' contours. I loaded that GeoTiff into Google Earth and have been using that to define the topographic relief within the Course Designer. I have also been using the program WindowTop to adjust the transparency within the course designer to position all the planimetric features.

It has been a long process. I have about 12 holes completed right now. They play really well so far. I have gotten much better at using the Flatten and Raise tools. I will definitely refine the course as I play it more. Definitely prior to publishing it. I plan on publishing two sets of tees. The longest will be about 6,600 yards and the white tees will be a hair over 6,000.

Some background, I am a land surveyor and GIS professional and have been creating topographic and planimetric maps for the past 20 years. Using the course designer is kind of like doing that in reverse. Making a model out of a flat surface as opposed to making a paper map of the actual ground. Anyways. what an awesome program and community here.

One tip for anyone making replica courses. Using a transparent window helps. Using the distance tool, not only for distances but also double clicking it for a 0 distance works great for placing items after you turn off transparency and change your view angle.

[Fhacker]

I also did an RCR of a local course. I tried some of the reccommend "see through" programs nothing seemed to work easily. I assume window top works with Win10. I googled same good reviews. Where did u download from. I am very wary of free software downloads, i.e. Viruses etc. Also any tips on using window top would be apppreciated.

[mthunt]

Splines are really good with windows overlay.

[Fhacker]

mthunt. Which win 10 overlay program do u use

[mthunt]

I use peek through.

[RaceTo100]

I created and published an old favorite course. I had planned on making multiple sets of tees. Once I published it. The old course file is gone. Is there any way to get it back so I can add the back tees? Thanks.

[mthunt]

In TGC2 designer open it as a legacy published course then publish it then open it as a legacy published course in 2019.

[RaceTo100]

Thanks. Yeah, I switched the toggle in the upper right to published and got back to it. I'm all set.

[RaceTo100]

Yeah I have no suggestion on what to load on a computer. My computer may in fact be transmitting my personal data to the dark web. But my course recreation is sweet.

[Solstice72]

All that sounded pretty cool. I'm def interested in your course. ⛳👍🏻😊

[RaceTo100]

It's been published "Eagleglen Golf Course (White Tees)" 6,209 yards.

[frodaddy00]

I want to create my country club course and was trying to figure out if LiDAR info is available. Guess ill do more google searching now you've piqued my interest.

[RaceTo100]

Okay the course is called Eagleglen. 18 holes. 6200 +/- yards. Not too hard. I might have called it Eagleglen Alaska (White Tees) something like that. I don't know how long it takes to show up on the servers. I played it multiple times from different locations. It might not be perfect, but it definitely captured the shot making necessary at that course. Like I may have mentioned before, it was a Robert Trent Jones Jr. course and a great place to play.

[delta1274]

Race, do you have a recommended site to get the LiDAR data download?

[RaceTo100]

I would search County/Municipality/State GIS sites. There's so much out there. All in different formats. It's usually out there. The USGS may have some published too.

[frodaddy00]

I spent a few hours trying to figure out LiDAR and topography maps.. converting to google earth files, etc. That was an interesting experience but didn't walk away with anything useful.

Instead I downloaded WindowTop that let's you make the top screen transparent and just pulled up my home course on Google Earth as the overlay. This approach does let you get the fairways, greens, bunkers, etc to a very good detail.

But wow course building is a painstakingly slow process for me. I'm about 10-15 hrs in and have the skeleton of about 6 holes. Honestly I will be doing good to wrap up a course in under 100 hours. Then you have to make sure its playable etc. A time consuming, but fun, project so far.

Thanks for the hints on overlaying and for those training vids.... very helpful.


It would be awesome though if we get to the point where you could automate the terrain of course building by using available data.

[RaceTo100]

Google Earth Pro is great. You can also go back in the timeline, to see the course with different tree cover. Different photos will show the different grass conditions. For the course I published, It was really a bunch of different photos. I saved the path of the hole to my places. I would also double tap the distance tool within TGC to mark key points. So I could zoom, rotate, and pan to the right locations. I am to where I can do one good hole in 2 to three hours based on the topography, water, trees, green complex, bunkers, etc... I am working on the Anchorage Golf Course now. I am really taking my time on this one. No more late nights. Of course it has so much change in elevation, hills, trees... It's going to be an absolute nightmare. Ha.

[Solstice72]

Look forward to playing that. Give us room to drive

[RaceTo100]

There's definitely room to drive. It was a great course for a relaxing round. It was a great walk too. I miss it. So does everyone that ever played it.

[RaceTo100]

It's available in the Public Courses Filter. I didn't realize it until just now. I would've played it tonight. Oh well. Tomorrow it is.

[frodaddy00]

Hey Race I had a question. What additional data/view is available from the LiDAR data for that old course vs. just pulling terrain up on google earth? Is it just the fact that it no longer exists so you needed historic data?

I'm just wondering if there is extra value in me pursuing additional GIS data for my local course im building or is Google Earth already 90% coverage of what I'd see otherwise...

I think I will just take my DSLR out to the course and take pictures of all the greens and bunkers so I can get the slopes down once I'm ready to fine tune.

[RaceTo100]

That was my first course. I'm hardly an expert. It seems like Google Earth data is more than sufficient. I used the LiDAR shaded relief because I'm not allowed to access the site anymore. The google elevations seem to be good enough. I went flatter on the greens since I couldn't see them. A little bit goes a long way on the elevation shifts. I figured erroring on the flat side was better than ball rolling away wildly. I just played it outside of the designer. I shot an 81 which more often than not is what I shoot. I feel like the course captures some of the stuff I liked about it. Someone else has played it and rated it a 5. I'm considering that a victory. The person that played it had some wild left misses going. They were playing from places that I didn't even know existed. I would have rated it much lower from those spots. Give it a try. I enjoyed it. Maybe I have low standards though. I sure wish I could have taken some pictures.

[Mdsypher]

RaceTo100 I am in the middle/end of my first design. I also am using google earth but have not used the elevation tool. I will have to look into that. I basically went off of memory. I actually didn’t know it existed. I will look for it later. I love the design option in TGC. I am designing a local Kansas City course that I have never played well at. I hope all the hard work pays off because I have a tournament there in March. I am almost done with it but I am going to look into the elevation changes tonight. Once you publish it, can you go back and edit it? I would like to get peoples feedback then do some more editing. It is kind of nerve-racking getting ready to publish. 😜 Thanks!