Another awesome-looking course by rlslay where, once again, you spend more time gazing at the gorgeous scenery than playing...
With a panorama that includes mountains, small cities and the ocean, combined with beautiful plantings, plenty of sand and high rough everywhere, and... yes, a few lakes, Desert Lakes GC 2013 is anything but deserted !
The par-4 1st hole with its tree-lined fairway, sand and high rough, is a very good indication of what you will face on this par 72, unlike the nice but very short (less than 110 yards) par-3 2nd hole. If the par-4 3rd hole, with its rollercoaster fairway and blind approach shot to the elevated green is nice, with the panoramic view of the ocean and the city, the left dogleg par-4 4th is nicer and tougher, with trees near the tee box and a big pond near the green, with a nice gazebo on the right side.
In fact, it is not until the very sharp, but short, dogleg par-5 5th hole, that you will face a wide lake on the right, praying that your tee shot won't end up in the water, while admiring the panoramic view.
The left dogleg par-5 6th hole has no water but is quite tough too, with plenty of sand and high rough all over and a lone tree in the middle to make your long approach shot a little bit tricky, unlike the par-4 8th hole, where after hitting your tee shot over the lake, you will have to avoid high rough again near the green.
On the back 9, a little bit easier, I like the gorgeous downhill par-5 11th hole, with plenty of sand, high rough on both sides of the fairway and mountains as a backdrop, the overall view of the downhill par-3 12th hole, and the dogleg par-5 14th hole, with its twisted fairway, going right then left toward the green, with plenty of sand and high rough in between and where you can forget about reaching the green on your second shot.
I also like the downhill left dogleg par-4 15th hole, with the mountains and a nice gazebo in front, the par-3 16th, with a lake behind the green and the spectacular panoramic view beyond, and the superb left dogleg par-4 17th hole, with its meandering creek all around the fairway.
As for the par-4 18th hole with, once again, plenty of sand and high rough all over, it is a nice way to finish your round.
As usual with rlslay's courses, this course is quite demanding graphic-wise but it ran fine on my PC (and with TW07), make it more enjoyable as I moved along. If you might feel a little bit "crowded" on the front 9, with all those trees and the vegetation around, the back 9 is more wide open but, no matter where you look, this course is a masterpiece, proving, once again, that rlslay is one of the top designers around !

Fast game is a good game - not a phrase normally associated with golf, but entirely relevant when it comes to computer play. Reading thru earlier comments, a design of this intensity doesn't "play nice" with every system out there, no matter HOW good the setup. That's just the luck of the draw, so the designer shouldn't be criticised for trying to provide us with the best experience possible. Stylar is a perfect example for me, as every time I play his Dante's Inferno, it crashes to the desktop every few holes. I didn't mention it in my comment as it's not his fault, just my luck of the draw for that course, along with a few more by other designers every so often. My point being I love what Stylar did with that design, just as I love what Rob has done here (no problemo by the way) - they are both talented artists creating worlds of enjoyment for the rest of us. With his exceptional attention to detail, Rob has created imagery here that any landscape photographer would be more than happy to capture out in the real world...

Played okay on my low power graphics card and processor. Very good course Risley. Loved the various shades of brown and green colours. Even loved the joblot of redundant bandstands scattered around the course. Hole 5 is very scenic. The attention to detail which your courses have certainly makes them more believable. 5 stars from me.

It was also laggy for me but played okay on auto settings good course and enjoyed it...hard one mind!

Played as smooth as silk on my new PC (I7 3.50ghz and Radeon HD7870 2Gb card).

Rislay, Have really enjoyed the 30 some courses you have put together for us over the years. This one, however, really does have a video problem. I have a decent vid card..Nvid Gforce 610 2gb...Usually no probs. This one just has the worst frame rate I have ever experienced. Hope you might be able to revisit this for us. Thanks