![](http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn267/jamesboon53/Misc/WhittingtonHeathsketch.jpg)
A few repsonses to comments on my sketch...
Sean,
- Yes 6th tee could remain I suspect. I don't know why I drew those?
- I liked the idea of pushing the 6th green beyond the track there as Matt did. I can see the tee problems which is perhaps why I didn't but it could be similar to the 6th green at Colt's Swinley?
- 8th green need tricking up? Are you saying that just because I don't draw a few bunkers around it? Not like you
![Grin ;D](http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/Smileys/classic/grin.gif)
Paul,
- Yes, the 8th and 16th (current 10th) could be left as they are, I just figured for this quick sketch that swapping them would flow better.
- I'm not certain if the 17th would be too much uphill, but a little uphill wouldn't bother me. I'm thinking of Colt's 14th at Wentworth West?
Ben,
- The clubhouse could be moved away from the line, I probably sketched it too close.
- There is certainly some room to get returning nines but I'm not too bothered about that, maybe I play too much out and back links golf? I know the club have it at the moment, but if it was me I'd be advising they are better off keeping more of the original Colt design and compromising on the returning nines?
- Yes 2 or 3 bridges would be better. I was looking to see if the club could get bye with the cost of just one, and possibly negotiate to have the road bridge widened to allow a narrow access strip for the club?
- You mention the yardage, which I haven't measured as it was just a quick sketch, but I'm sure there is a bit of room to stretch some holes? 2, 3 and 18 could all be lengthened from what I've sketched. 13 could become a short 4, with 14 lengthened, as I think Tim mentioned, at a later date to reduce disruption? But thats all based aeround the club getting Open qualifying back? I suspect with these works it would be off the rota for a while anyway and so other lengthening or adjustments could be dones at a aletr date, again to avoid disruption in an attempt to have at least the bones of a playable course while the HS2 gets built.
I think Tim has it right in that the whole idea would be to keep costs down (Mark does say the chances are any compensation would take some time to get hold of) and reduce disruption to the members that the club will be desperate to keep on.
Its funny, when I first posted the plan showing the route of the HS2 "only" wiping out the 9th and cutting the 18th in half, I thought to myself that would be easy to come up with a solution. But the biggest nightmare about splitting the course in two would be keeping a course open at all through the works. If it was wiping out 4 or 5 holes on the edge, there would at least be the possibility of keeping 9 holes open through the works?
Cheers,
James