More changes at Walton Heath

[Bill_McBride]

Re 17 Old I couldn't understand why they were tinkering with an old classic until you see really old pictures of WH when 17 Old had a bunker left and right and a false front. So rather than tinkering they are restoring the hole to it's original design!

Chappers

A later creation of one long trench bunker fronting a green was done at Beau Desert as well.  Fowler has a rep for these and some folks decided to help foster that rep.  Still, the only way the change at #17 makes sense is for the front to be reshaped and the green coming down between the bunkers.

Ciao

Sean, #10 at Beau?

[Matthew Schulte]

The current 16th will make for an awfully good opener.  It will absolutely set the tone for a great round.  However, the walk from the current 18th to the current 2nd seems somewhat clumsy though.

[Adam Lawrence]

Horrible, horrible news from Walton Heath; course manager Ian McMillan died yesterday, very suddenly. It was only last week I was with Ian, and he seemed right as rain. Ian was one of the most important figures in the British greenkeeping industry; at Hankley Common he was responsible for overseeing the heath regeneration programme that made the course a beacon for so many others in the area, and he repeated the achievement at Walton Heath. The Senior Open, being held at Walton this July, would have been his crowning achievement; now it will be his memorial.

He will be sadly missed by the whole of the golf world.

[Robin_Hiseman]

Adam

That's very sad and distressing news.  I met Ian on a couple of occasions and he was very helpful and accommodating.  The McMillan family is legendary in greenkeeping circles and Ian was at the very top of the tree.  He will be sadly missed.