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St. Andrews from Google Earth

• andyson 6,415 Posts

  Mon, Mar 8 2010 9:17 AM

  I was wondering how the front 9 holes of St. Andrews all linked together and in which direction they all faced.  Click on this link for a satellite view of  St. Andrews taken from Google Earth or click on the image below to have a bigger image.

  Firefox and IE browsers allow you to zoom in on the picture by clicking on it.

  Blue numbers are the tee boxes, yellow numbers are the greens.

  The tee box for hole #1 is in the lower right corner

  

• duffer66 700 Posts

  Mon, Mar 8 2010 9:34 AM

  Nice work Andyson, now we can really get an idea of the wind direction on this course and see how in corresponds from hole to hole. Hole 2 thru 7 should have close to the same wind direction. My guess is the prevailing winds should be right to left on these holes as the ocean appears to be right of the pic.

  duff

• TarheelsRule 5,471 Posts

  Mon, Mar 8 2010 12:03 PM

  One of the complaints that I have about WGT is the lack of consistent wind direction on a course. This view shows you which holes should have the same wind and it doesn't work that way on the game. Kiawah is similar with16 of the 18 holes running parallel to the beach but the wind being in your face on one and behind you on the next hole, even though they run in the same direction.

• andyson 6,415 Posts

  Mon, Mar 8 2010 3:02 PM

  Thanks duffer!  With the wind being so much a part of links golf, especially at St. Andrews, and the WGT goal to be the most realistic golf simulation ever created, it seems logical that realistic playing conditions have to be part of it.

  So lets add a Virtual Wind Model to the mix MisterWGT and give those competitors another nut to crack!!

• TallAcePaul 1,455 Posts

  Tue, Mar 9 2010 4:02 AM

  Agree totally with the above. The other thing to do as well is to make wind conditions different  throughout a tournament day. One of the great things about links courses is that those going out in the morning can have blue skies and not a hint of wind , and they tear the course apart but from early afternoon the wind gets up and its a different place altogether.

  This could work by having a random wind setting on "some" days. It does not have to be every day but it would add that extra element. This does not mean target the top players but make it random, that means that anyone can be lucky or unlucky on the day.

• Stellarscience 65 Posts

  Tue, Mar 9 2010 4:18 AM

  I agree with your above statement as well.  Consistency comes to mind.  You can have a 20 mph wind right to left and it really matters on one hole and then the next hole you aim wide of the hole to accommodate the wind and when the ball is in the air it doesn't move...This is something that bothers me, especially since I pay attention to detail so much.  Any thoughts???

• TheLighterDark 1,404 Posts

  Sun, Mar 14 2010 2:03 PM

  That's good stuff right there. It appears that if the wind was blowing directly off of the beach that you would have a wind advantage on the Front 9 and a deficit coming back with it being in your face. However, little angle variance would be suffice.