Sandy’s visit to Willie Park Jr’s lovely Huntercombe course in Oxfordshire, England, didn’t prove too difficult to the massed hordes of Gopher Watchers. We had, again, a veritable flood of correct answers, and almost no wrong ones. A surprise – we thought Huntercombe, a pretty low profile and quiet club, would be below the radar, but obviously lots of GCA readers have made the trek to Henley to experience the quite unique set of greens that Park built at Huntercombe. To those who haven’t been, we recommend a visit, but keep your mind open when you go, it’s not a place for the closed of mind. Danish golf architect Caspar Grauballe, a good friend of ours, was first out of the hat, and the shirt is on its way.

This month, Sandy is back on the links, on a hole that many good judges have cited as one of the very best in England. Sadly, the club seems determined to ruin the hole, by playing it shorter, as a long par four rather than a gambling par five. Normally, we are great advocates of the ‘par is only a number’ school, but in this case, 30 yards shorter means more golfers can fly the ball to the green, avoiding the fantastic contours in front. It’s a shame. Answers, as usual, to gopher@golfcoursearchitecture.net.