Copyright: Copyright © 1996, Accolade Inc.


Jack Nicklaus 4

Golf Course Designer

What is a Golf Course Designer?

The Jack Nicklaus 4 Golf Course Designer(tm) is a tool that allows you to create your own golf courses, playable with the Jack Nicklaus(tm) 4 golf game. Use the designer to place trees, move hazards, and change terrain elevations. Make rolling fairways, create a giant bunker, or design a monster par 3--the possibilities are endless. So take some time, learn the tools and create the golf course of your dreams.

About this Demonstration version

The Golf Course Designer included with this document is a limited demonstration version of the Designer found in the Jack Nicklaus 4 game available soon. With this version, you will be able to build three hole golf courses only. You will be able to save and open as many three hole golf courses as you would like. You will need the full Jack Nicklaus 4 Game and Course Designer in order to complete the remaining 15 holes for each course and to play your golf courses.

How do I begin?

Once you have the Designer up and running you can begin to create a course. To start a new course click on the Blank Page Icon located in the far left corner of the icons bar, or select "New Course" from the File Menu. To open an existing course click on the Open Folder Icon located second from the left edge on the icon bar. You can also select "Open Course" from the File Menu. Now that you've got an open course window you're ready to get to work.

Creating a New Hole.

There are two main ways to create a hole, Manual Creation and Course Wizard.

Manual Creation

To manually create a hole, right click your mouse inside the course window and a pop up menu will appear. Select "New Hole" from the menu. Your mouse cursor will change to our placement cursor. Using the cross hair as a starting point move your cursor to the location where you wish to begin your hole placement. (Don't worry you can adjust the placement at anytime. Your first click is for tee placement, this is where your hole begins. Once you've placed the tee a small box will appear with hole number and yardage information. When you move the cursor a line will appear between the spot of your tee setup and the placement of the cursor, this is to show the distance and direction of the tee shot (Distance is shown in the Hole info box Under tee, second shot or approach. Your total yardage is also shown.) Once you feel you have the proper distance and direction, click your mouse button for placement. Once you have placed your first shot you have just created a par 3, you can choose to add a second shot making it a par 4 or a third shot for a par 5 or you can finish the hole at anytime by right clicking the mouse and selecting "Finish Hole" from the pop up menu. To Cancel a hole at anytime right click your mouse and choose "Cancel Hole" from the pop up menu or press the "Esc" button on your keyboard.

Course Wizard

Under the File Menu select "Course Wizard" and a menu labeled Scorecard Input appears. To create a hole select the appropriate hole from the hole list in the upper left hand corner of the menu. Once you've chosen an proper hole begin creation by choosing clicking on the small triangle in the par box and choose a par for your hole (3,4, or 5). Setup the distance from tee to pin for each of the four tee placements, this is done by clicking your mouse in the box for the Black tee and typing in an appropriate number (618 yard maximum) continue this process through all tee types (Black is normally the farthest from pin then blue white and red) Once  you have selected par for your holes the usable setup boxes for the par you've chosen will no longer be grayed out.(a grayed out option is not available for the hole you have setup so far) If you have chosen above a par 3 in the First Leg box click on the small triangle and you have a choice of Straight, Dogleg Right, Dogleg Left (Dogleg is a hole that curves right or left after a certain distance from the tee.) The angle of your Dogleg can be set once you have chosen which direction your first leg will go. Click the small triangle and choose the desired angle or choose random to have it randomly chosen for you  On a par 5 the Second leg is setup in the exact same manner. Once your hole has the desired setup select OK and your hole will appear on the course palette.

Moving and Rotating your hole in the Course Palette.

To move your hole on the course palette simply click on the hole and drag it to the desired position. To rotate the hole click once on the chosen hole to select it and then right click the mouse and a pop up menu will appear select "Rotate Hole" from the pop up menu.

Adjusting your custom hole.

Once your first hole has been laid out double click on the chosen hole, a window with an enlarged view of the hole appears this is the course palette. The hole palette consists of the Hole Layout and Camera.

Hole Layout

The Hole Layout consists of the shot setup line and course shapes (including fringe, fairway, putting green and tees) to select a shape to work on just click near the edge of the chosen shape. Every shape is made up of points, which are represented as circles on the edges of the selected shape. There are three main ways to adjust your shapes. To move the whole shape without changing it's outline simply click and drag from any place within the shape that is not touching the edge. To move a point on a shape simply place your cursor over the chosen point when the circle turns yellow click and drag the point so that the shape is adjusted to your liking. Two adjacent points make a segment which can be adjusted by placing the cursor over the edge of the shape until the chosen segment turns yellow, then simply click and drag the segment to the desired spot. To add another point to a segment simply move your cursor over the selected segment, Right click your mouse and select "Split Segment" from the Pop up menu.

Rendering and Adjusting the Camera.

The camera is represented by a yellow arrow and circle. To move the location of the camera place your mouse cursor on top of the circle when the circle turns blue click and drag the camera to the desired location. To rotate the Camera place your mouse cursor on top of the arrow when the arrow turns blue click and hold down the mouse button moving your mouse in the desired direction until the camera is angled as desired. To render a picture of your Course press the "Space Bar" on your keyboard or select Rendered View from the View Menu. To change the height of the camera right click in the rendered picture and select the desired height from the pop up menu.

Zooming in and out in the Hole Palette.

To view a specific area on the course more clearly you can select the Zoom Icon (It's a magnifying glass with a "+" in the middle) from the Icon bar. This will zoom in on a chosen area. Click on the icon again to deselect Zoom. You can also choose to hold down "Ctrl" and "+" to zoom in or by right clicking and choosing "Zoom In" from the pop up menu to zoom out hit "Ctrl" and "-" zoom out by right clicking and choosing "Zoom Out" from the pop up menu.

Creating New Shapes.

To create a new shape, right click your mouse button inside the hole palette and highlight New Shape a list of 12 possible shapes will appear. Highlight the desired shape and click on it to choose. With your mouse cursor select the spot in which you wish to place your shape. Each click of the mouse will set a point into the shape. When you feel that your shape outline is set, right click your mouse button and select "Finish Shape" from the pop up menu. You can cancel a shape at anytime during the setup process by right clicking your mouse and Selecting "Cancel Shape" from the pop up menu or press "Esc" on your keyboard.

Adding Objects to your course.

Now that you're hole is adjusted to your liking it's time to add some items such as trees, bushes and sounds. To see the available items select a palette from the View Menu and the palette will appear. (some of the palettes include trees, rocks and more) To place the object click on the chosen item and then click on the appropriate space for your item in the hole palette. To place multiple items of the same kind on a hole simply hold down the "Shift" key when you click on the item in the palette. To Cancel that feature simply press the "Esc" button on your keyboard. To adjust the options to an Item double click on that item and it's option box will appear.

Changing Terrain or Course Elevation

Now that you've placed your items it's time to add some terrain. In order to change elevation you must have a shape selected. You can change the basic shapes by selecting a shape by clicking on it once. Once a shape has been selected the Terrain Icons become usable. Click on one of the 12 Icons or select one from the "Terrain Menu". To adjust the terrain of a specialized area select "New Elevation Shape" from the Terrain Menu and place the points as you would any shape. A pink are will appear marking the chosen area. Now adjust Terrain as you would any shape. You can hide the red marker in rendered view by selecting "Hide" from the Terrain Menu. To view Elevation in the Hole Palette simply select "Terrain from the View Menu.

Course and Hole Info

The user can name the course and add a description by selecting "Course Info" from the Edit Menu. You can also add in descriptions of each hole by selecting "Hole Info" from the Edit Menu while at the course palette window.

Saving and Loading Courses

To save your Course choose "Save" from the File Menu or click on the Save Icon (looks like a floppy disk) and type in a save name for your course

More Information

Jack Nicklaus 4 will be available in the U.S. in March 1997 and in Europe in Spring 1997.

For more information, or to order direct, call

1-800-245-7744

and be sure to check out

http://www.accolade.com

(c) 1996 Accolade, Inc. All rights reserved.

Produced in association with Jack Nicklaus Productions.