Adam
I played Princes last week with my local golf society for 2 rounds
First round was on Shore and Dunes
Second round was on Dunes and Himalayas
The general consensus by the players of my local society was that the Himalayas should have been shut as it was like a construction site with lots of GUR. For me it was an insight of what works have been carried out
Having played Princes a number of times in the past - they have started to convert a number of reverted bunkers of which was done by EGD a few years ago and converting them into a shaggy unkempt version which was proposed by Mackenzie and Ebert
However on the Himalayas there are major changes to the layout and a number of holes
Hole 1 - the fairway has been widened to the left and it has the most stupid small central bunker which is not visible from the tee which detracts what I think is a challenging opener
Hole 2 - existing holes 2 and 3 are being merged together into a monster par five - shame they are getting rid of the existing second green which is a nicely shaped green
Hole 3 - existing hole 4 the bunkers have been redone the tees have been extended further back the ditch on the right has been opened up a bit into what is intended to be a marshy water hazard
Hole 4 - existing hole 5 fairway bunkers have been given the shaggy look otherwise unchanged
Hole 5 - new par three which goes 90 degs away from the direction of the other holes looks a challenging short par 3 with a raised green which was difficult to see the shapes due to the amount of top dressing on it
Hole 6 - tees have been moved further left on top of Dunes ridge and the hole is straightened - with the marshy hazard which was put in a few years ago cleared
Hole 7 - apparently the long Himalayas bunker has been restored correct me if I’m wrong but it’s miles out of play to a super unbunkered par 3
Hole 8 - biggest change of the existing holes the tees have been moved forward on top of a dune near hole 7 green and shortened into a short par 4 with new marshy areas either side of the fairway replacing the trough like ditches
Hole 9 - new tees pushed further back
A lot of vegetation has been removed and the course is now more open with large sandy wastes and the length has been increased by 300 or so yards making it a tough nine to play
Personally I am not sure of these changes whether they were necessary on the other side it has probably made the Himalayas nine from the easiest to the hardest of the three different nines and it would be interesting to see how it evolves over the next few years
Cheers
Ben
Spangles
I think Princes is having a think about a partial restoration. I have no idea what this might entail, but some news is meant to come out soon....maybe Adam will reveal all.
Ciao
Sorry, I missed this. I'm going to a media event at Prince's in a few weeks, but that is for the unveiling of the rebuilt Himalayas. I haven't heard anything about restoration. A few years ago there was a little bit of chatter about a remote possibility of them trying to put back the pre-war 18, but that has long been forgotten about I think -- they wouldn't have spent the money on the Himalayas if they were even considering it.