I remembered hearing at some point in the past that there were plans to add a third nine at High Pointe. If that's correct, is this new nine to the east on that land or was that different land? If it's the same land, is it the same routing?
It's hard to see the details on the routing map, but it looks like this routing incorporates the pond from the old 18th hole. I didn't mind the old 18th hole but it was brutal if you didn't hit a good drive. It looks like this version does away with the weak part (the drive) and keeps the strong part (the shot over the pond) and I wonder what Tom thinks about having a second take on this hole if I'm seeing it correctly.
Hi Brett:
I did a plan for a third nine holes in 1988, but the owners never pursued it beyond that. Somehow I still managed to save a copy of that routing for all those years - even though I remembered it pretty well, too. I thought at the time that part of the land [east of the original clubhouse] would be a better fit with the back nine than the front nine was, and when we started discussing the new project, I volunteered that we could build 18 holes behind the hops farm without tearing up much of the crop. And, yes, I'm using the same routing for those nine holes . . . I did another version last winter but didn't like it as much as my original take.
The original 18th hole was very frustrating to most players, partly due to a wetland delineation that I hadn't predicted correctly. So, indeed, I'm happy to get it out of there. In fact, the original 16th-17th-18th are all changing, as I can eliminate the long walk from 15 to 16 by building two new holes south of 11-14.
There were some really good holes on the old front nine, too, but I do think the new version will be better for eliminating the two weakest holes on the original course.