I say, Mr Els, why didn't you leave my Wentworth alone?

Caddie's Role: Wentworth Golf Club has always drawn mixed emotions from those who visit; its visual splendour of mature foliage certainly does inspire, writes Colin Byrne.

Those most pass-remarkable are the professionals who revisit annually for the flagship event of the European Tour, the PGA Championship. With the largest purse on offer for a European Tour event and held at Tour headquarters, this is as good as it gets for the European players.

It was decided the course, originally fashioned by the renowned and respected early 20th century course designer Harry Colt, needed a bit of a shake-up to re-establish it as the challenge it once was for the better players.

With the winning scores in the high teens under par in recent years, this seemed to be a logical move. Although with David Howell's 17-under par winning score on Sunday perhaps they need to re-redesign.

I wonder what Mr Colt would make of his course now and so here is a letter I could imagine him writing to the re-designer, South African multi-winner and three-time major champion golfer Ernie Els.

Dear Mr Els,

I am writing to you from way above the clouds, somewhere that I can only assume is the place you go when you live a good and respectable life. Word has spread up here that you have been tinkering with my masterpiece in the leafy environs of the stockbroker belt in Surrey. I am terribly interested in how you may have altered my work for the better of the modern golfer.

Of course back in my day, I was attempting to combat the march of the new hickory shafts and in later times, the radical steel shaft and that supersonic missile, the Haskell golf ball.

What a lethal combination they were. If you had half a swing at all you could unleash a drive of up to 200 yards. Of course the ball was a lot smaller than nowadays. Naturally, I was concerned my courses were going to be annihilated by the hot shots and their fancy equipment. I was particularly worried that slasher Ted Ray was going to make a complete mockery of the course and reduce it to pitch and putt.

Therefore I wanted some length to the Burma Road but I also wanted to challenge the likes of Ted, who may have been inclined to spray the ball a little bit.

I have gathered from the rather garbled messages I am receiving up here - we don't have internet, and the telepathic vibes I am receiving are naturally open to interpretation - you have lengthened my tricky little sixth hole by about 60 yards, whereby the decision to go for the green or lay up with a shorter club has been taken away from the confused golfer. What a pity.

Of course with the bunkers you have added - up to 30, I believe - you must have done a deal with some middle-eastern group to get such a vast quantity of sand all at once (incidentally what are our relations with those eastern boys - have they taken to the game at all or are they committed to watching their birds fly for entertainment, or do we have any contact with them?).

The first hole, which I designed as a par five, sought, of course, to ease the golfer into the course. Now, as a par four with punishing bunkers left and right of the tee and a cluster of them added by the green, the hole has certainly got some vicious teeth to it, bared while the unsuspecting golfer is probably still trying to get his shoelaces tied.

I heard the new heather-framed bunker on four and to the left of 11 are right up my alley when it comes to the more natural look. I know it's the exclusive Wentworth estate but I always liked the heather to be a little more rugged and not quite as manicured as I hear it is now. I was never looking to contribute to the Chelsea Flower Show.

As you so rightly ascertained, I had a penchant for framing my golf holes. It was heather that took on that role for me, but of course they allowed the members to drag their trolleys over the plant and naturally killed it off. There is no doubt, Mr Els, some of my originals cried out for peripheral adornment.

I must tell you the origins of one of my favourites, the eighth. The water feature to the left of the green had to be kept back from the green because in my day, there was a shortage of golf balls and I was strongly urged to keep the water well back from the putting surface.

The ninth I am a little disappointed about, you see the camber of the fairway naturally running off into the hazard and trees on the right I felt was a clever feature. The two bunkers plonked in the landing zone hugely detract from what I was trying to achieve. The game I felt should give the marginally errant golfer the chance to use their skill to recover, the bunkers negate this principle.

Of course, Mr Els, you were a great cricketer and rugby player, they were the sports I was encouraged to play in Cambridge. Golf in my day was not thought highly of so I was something of a maverick getting involved in what was a relatively new game. The game was not seen as promoting the right values, sense of duty, co-operation and honesty. I believe all that has changed now, Mr Els, despite the little rumour going about up here that there was a senior member of your golfing fraternity embroiled in some ball moving scandal in the Far East. Wouldn't have happened in my day.

I would hate to sound sniffy but I either designed, co-designed or reviewed almost one hundred courses in the British Isles alone between the 1880s and the 1920s. I have contributed greatly to the development of courses on continental Europe , I tinkered with courses as far away as the United States of America I was, like you, Mr Els, a global designer, the most obvious difference was nowadays it doesn't take you a week to get to your destination. But on arrival I do have to admit that I had the pick of some pretty special land.

I heard from a chappie who was recently transferred up here to me there have been some pretty dramatic climate changes in your era.

In fact, he was at the PGA Championship and it had rained heavily for the whole week.

I always liked the West with its healthy soil when the surface was hard and running. Indeed that's when the purpose of design features really come into their own.

I believe the general consensus is your colleagues are suitably impressed by your handy work, Mr Els. It would be rather foolish to disagree with a man of your stature. I have also been advised that in the modern era not many will give their honest opinion in public; everyone seems to want to be loved by everyone else - what a positively charming place the world must now be.

If you are fortunate enough to get a warm summer in southern England this year, I would be fascinated to hear the players' opinion about the modern alterations. Because when the ball starts kicking and bouncing into all those treacherous traps the scores are going to soar and I am not sure just how enjoyable the Burma Road will be for the average golfer who has to play more than one week of the year.

Must sign off now, old boy, a sterling effort, though given your relatively novice status as a course designer, I always thought a player of your calibre should be concentrating on hitting the shots.

The West at Wentworth is like a fine old tweed suit - it's a bit dank and smelly in the rain but looks its finest when crisp and dry,

Yours sincerely,

Harry S Colt Esq.