MEDINAH NO

MEDINAH NO.3

Designer : Steve Gazis

Release date : 12/8/1999

Type : Real course

Par : 72

Lenght : 7402 yards

From the first tee to the 18^th green, Medinah is a tough test of golf. This real course has hosted several significant championnships, the last being the 1999 PGA Championnship, won by Tiger Woods. When you look more carefully at this course, it was quite evident that this layout was tailor made for Tiger. First it’s a long, long course, over 7400 yards from the tips. Leaving the driver in the bag is not a real option here (Tiger is long, so he took most of the time a 3 wood from the tee, which gives him a huge advantage over the field). The fairways are fairly narrow, and there are a lot of trees in play if you miss them. This is a classic layout : not a lot of water, well placed bunkers, and difficult greens with a lot of possible pins placements. Steve did an awesome work of capturing the feel of this championnship course, and he makes one of the best recreation of a real course i think. Here’s a look at the ratings……

Design : 9/10 Steve shows he controlls each aspect of the design. I just can’t comment on the accuracy of the rendition but design-wise it’s pretty solid, without major flaws. The design style look a lot like Shawn Drake designs; clean and very realistic looking.

Strategic value : 8.5/10 There are some options on the par 5, as well as the dog-legs par 4s. The main problem is to choose which area of the green to hit with the second shot on many of the holes. The par 4s are pretty damn tough. You always need a solid drive (275 yards) and a precise second shot to assure a par. At over 7400 yards you got to have a good long game.

Visuals : 8/10 You won’t find a lot of objects on this course. Beside that the tree foliage is just perfect and you’ll see some parallel hole work here and there. The overall look is very realistic throughout the round, and is never broken.

Greens : 8.5/10 Very subtle, lots of ondulations, nice smoothing; these are difficult greens, especially on the fast setting. Finding the right part of the greens is an absolute must here to score.

Bunkers : 9/10 The bunkers are fairly standard, but if you assume that they are at their exact place on the course, the placement is just incredible. Too often we see bunkers that are never in play even for the average player, and hopefully it isn’t the case here. Make a slight mishit and you’ll find yourself more than likely in sand for the next shot.

Water : 7.5/10 Water have enough depth, but it feels a bit static sometimes, partly due to the color used. The par 3s over water are well done.

Textures : 9/10 Simply awesome textures. They match perfectly with the trees and the look of this area. They remind me of the Winged foot texture set.

Overheads : 7.5/10 Great overheads, very classic, clean and functionnal, but just a little too dark to my taste. On a course of this magnitude you want overheads that are precise and helpful, and that’s exactly what you’ll find here.

Splash screens : 7/10 Good course info pic, but not a lot of infos on the course. Would be better with some more informative text about the general history of the course

Others : 7/10 All is done by the rules, no real surprises here. Not a lot of sounds but it didn’t affect me too much during my round

BOTTOM LINE : Tough and challenging, this nice rendition by Steve Gazis provides great and strategic golf. Medinah is a keeper and a great classic golf course. It may not have the polished look of others high class real courses renditions (such as Augusta) but the layout is pretty solid and the course interesting to play.

I’ll start by saying that if you don’t have your A game, or if you’re just an average player (like me lol), you’ll have a tough time here at Medinah. The lenght of the course is not the only problem you’ll encounteer. The fairways are also very narrow, and a lot of trees border them. From the tees it’s often intimidating, but it’s a welcome challenge and a nice change from the bunch of easy courses avalaible. I would advise to keep the ball on the fairways at all costs. A 3-wood, a long iron, it doesn’t matter. You’ll have a longer second for sure but at least you’ll hit from the short stuff, which is better for having a chance of putting the ball on the greens. Try to make the ball bounce in front of the greens with the long irons when it’s possible too, I tried it myself and have good success. Much of the greens at Medinah are elevated a bit, which cause the ball to « kill » on the little uphill transition in front of the green, and stops faster after a smooth roll. To do so you must have a good long iron game, and some confidence . If you play aggresively you can score lower, but more often you’ll find yourself in a greenside bunker or over green, with a tough chip for up and down.