As I wrote earlier, the back nine is a wonderful collection of holes. The biggest difference between the two nines is the creation of interesting angles because of the use of doglegs on the back nine.
Tim - I believe the course was originally designed by military personnel as it was at one time a military course. The Whittington Barracks are next door. The club slowly took over the club and I think they now own the land. I believe that Colt designed the back 9 and redid some holes on the front some time in the early 30s perhaps, but I am very sketchy about the details.
Peter - The bunkering is another deceiving aspect of Whittington. Most are quite deep (5-7 feet) and none are what I would describe as shallow. The really nice aspect of the sand is it is a mix of dirt and not terribly deep. This leaves options for explosions or picking.
The 10th is in the similar vein to the front 9 except, unusually, there is no fairway bunkering.
The 11th is a lovely down and up hole. The fairway bunkering creates some cool angles for approaching.
The approach is steeply up the hill and the left bunker is about four times larger than one imagines. I erred to this side and was caught out when I went a bit too far left.
The 12th hole is quite interesting because the fairway is so wide that it really helps to be on the correct side for the best angle. Unfortunately, I didn't know which was the best side!
The green is very cool. It runs from the front to the back and it is very angled to the fairway. One can't get close with a run up the current hole location without being well wide right - this is a great example of why wide fairways make sense.
The 13th is a short hole with a shallow green. Of course, one can't see the entire putting surface from the tee. This may encourage people to believe the green is gigger than it appears - wrong assumption.
14 is another legger to the right.
More deception for the approach. There is a wee gulley protecting the right side which is unseen. The penatly is not as severe as being bunkered right, but it is enough to make one be a little less sloppy.
You can see that recovering from the right is downhill. Man, I really admire this sort of out of your face design.
15 is about the fourth tee shot that flies over a green. This is a fairly long par 3.
As is obvious, darkness was upon me. The 16th is a very cool approach. These bunkers are 40 some yards short of the green. With the pin up front it is terribly deceiving. Of course, anything left short leaves a nasty downhill-sidehill chip.
A better view of the green.
Just when things may be predictable, there is no bunker guarding the left side. The 17th.
I was rapidly losing light! There is a very cool backboard to the right side of the green. I chucked in a low runner and watched it come off the bank of the back bunker and roll to 2 feet.
The last hole is a cracker. Its maybe 420 over a brow and then down to the green. At the green the terrain turns hard right to left. For the life of me I couldn't see this as 180 yards. There is dead ground up there. I didn't trust the yardage and came up well short. In the background is the barracks.
The time is 3:45pm and the light is all but gone.
That then is Whittington Heath. A damn near perfect blend for a leisurely game with your mates. This in fact is one of the great aspects of golf in England. A visitor can walk on a course the quality of WH for £30ish quid and play in 3.5 hours - golf the way it was meant to be.
As I have become quite the fan of the McRihcMichelin Guide I will use it from now on. Whittington Heath gets a definite thumbs up from and is worth 1*. It makes a great combination to play MW and then stay at the Beau Desert dormy house for a game there the following day (about 20 minutes away).
Ciao