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Alister MacKenzie (August 30, 1870 – January 6, 1934) was a English surgeon who was internationally known as a golf course architect. During World War I, he also made contributions to military camouflage, which he saw as closely related to golf course design (MacKenzie 1920, pp. 128-131; Behrens 2009).

Background

MacKenzie was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, Englandmarker, where he later became a teacher at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School. Initially trained as a medical doctor, he served as a surgeon with the Somerset Regiment in South Africa during the Second Boer War (Doak 2001).

Camouflage service

During his wartime service, MacKenzie became interested in camouflage, which was effectively used by the Boers. As a result, during World War I, when he once again served in the military, he worked not as a surgeon but as a camoufleur. In a lecture he gave on the subject, he said that “The brilliant successes of the Boers [during his service in South Africa] were due to great extent to their making the best use of natural cover and the construction of artificial cover indistinguishable from nature” (MacKenzie 1934, p. 42).

Golf course design

Following World War I, MacKenzie left medicine entirely, and began to work instead as a golf course designer in the United Kingdommarker, in association with Harry Shapland Colt and Charles Alison, with whom he formed the London firm of Colt, MacKenzie & Alison. He excelled at golf course planning, although he himself was not a good golfer. He was one of the first persons who had not been a leading golfer to become a prominent course designer (Doak 2001).

By his own admission, he thought he had learned a lot about the golf course planning from having designed camouflage. There are references to the latter in his first book on course design, called Golf Architecture (MacKenzie 1920), such as when he writes that “there is an extraordinary resemblance between what is now known as the camouflage of military earthworks and golf-course construction” (p. 128), or later, when he states that there “are many other attributes in common between the successful golf architect and the camoufleur. Both, if not actually artists, must have an artistic temperament, and have had an education in science” (pp. 129-130). In that same book, he also writes that “the chief object of every golf course architect worth his salt is to imitate the beauties of nature [and presumably also the hazards] so closely as to make his work indistinguishable from nature itself.” [1]

MacKenzie worked in an era before large scale earth moving became a major factor in golf course construction, and his designs are notable for their sensitivity to the nature of the original site. He is admired for producing holes that offer an ideal balance of risk and reward, and for designing golf courses that challenge yet also accommodate players with a range of skills.

Legacy

In the 1920s he moved permanently to the United States, which is where he carried out his most notable work, although he continued to design courses outside that country as well. Today, he is remembered as the designer of some of the world’s finest courses, among them Century Country Club (Purchase, New Yorkmarker), Augusta National Golf Clubmarker (Augusta, Georgiamarker), Cypress Point Club (Monterey Peninsula, Californiamarker), Royal Melbourne Golf Clubmarker (Melbourne, Australiamarker), Pasatiempo Golf Club (Santa Cruz, Californiamarker), Crystal Downs Country Club (Frankfort, Michiganmarker), Lahinch Gold Course (Lahinch, Irelandmarker), and Meadow Club (Fairfax, Californiamarker) [see extended list of his courses below].

He died in Santa Cruz, Californiamarker. Discovered after his death was an unpublished manuscript on golf and golf course design, which was posthumously published as The Spirit of St. Andrews (MacKenzie 1995).

Further reading

  • Behrens, Roy R. (2009), CAMOUPEDIA: A Compendium of Research on Art, Architecture and Camouflage. Dysart, Iowa: Bobolink Books. ISBN 9780971324466.
  • Doak, Tom (2001), The Life and Work of Dr. Alister MacKenzie. New York: John Wiley. ISBN 9781585360185.
  • MacKenzie, Alister (1915), “Military Entrenchments” in Golf Illustrated. Vol 3 No 1, pp. 42-45.
  • MacKenzie, Alister [unsigned article, but authorship claimed by MacKenzie] (1919), “Entrenchments and Camouflage: Lecture by a British Officer Skilled in Landscape Gardening” in Professional Memoirs, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army and Engineer Department at Large. No 47, pp. 574-638.
  • MacKenzie, Alister (1920), Golf Architecture: Economy in Course Construction and Green-Keeping. London UK: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent and Co. Ltd.
  • MacKenzie, Alister (1934), “Common Sense of Camouflage Defence” in The Military Engineer. Vol XXVI No 145 (January-February), pp. 42-44.
  • MacKenzie, Alister (1995). The Spirit of St. Andrews. Sleeping Bear Press. ISBN 1-886947-00-7.
  • Muirhead, Desmond (1995), “Symbols in Golf Course Architecture” in Executive Golfer (July).
  • New York Times (1934), “Alister MacKenzie Links Designer, Dies.” (January 7), p. 31.


Selected courses



References

  1. Sharp Park
  2. Cavendish Golf Club Website



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