MacKenzie Greens

Royal Portrush

2005-03-21T09:48:00.000Z

Royal Portrush (Dunluce) is the fifth-best course in GB & I according to Golf World's 2004 Top 100 list. It features 15 fabulous links holes and a closing trio that - although solid enough - aren't quite on the same stunning terrain as the ones that went before.

Though golf has been played there since 1888 the credit for the current layout belongs to Harry Colt, who visited prior to World War 2 and again prior to the 1951 Open Championship - the only time the event has been held outside Scotland or England.

Bernard Darwin was moved to remark that Colt had built himself a monument "more enduring than brass" and it was said to be the architect's own favourite - though he is quoted as saying Swinley Forest was his "least bad course" and others on his resume include Muirfield, Royal Lytham, Sunningdale (New) and St George's Hill.

It would be hard to create dull holes with such perfect dunes, rising and falling in great peaks and valleys, but it is the touch of a master to make so much of them, with virtually every shot challenging the swing and delighting the senses.

It was dull overhead for photos but if the sun was only going to come out for two minutes on St Patrick's Day at Portrush it couldn't have picked a better place than the sixth tee, allowing this shot of the fifth green with the castle ruins just visible in the background, above the gorse to the left of the flag:

It was windy enough to blow you off your feet, as some of these pictures show ;)
Back on the tee, David lets rip:

And Scotty:

Someone had to go in the bunker of the 17th:

Golf during wartime

2005-01-06T15:52:00.000Z

The website www.ruleshistory.com reproduces some interesting local rules for golfers during World War 2.
They were made of stern stuff in those days, and although "a player whose stroke is affected by the simultaneous explosion of a bomb may play another ball" the rule goes on to say "penalty one stroke".
Here's the full list:
www.ruleshistory.com/misc.html#war

A baker's dozen at Brora

2004-12-07T10:13:00.000Z

Dr MacKenzie set down his 13 points for the ideal golf course in his book Golf Architecture, published in 1920. In 2004, his baker's dozen is still a sound checklist.
Brora, a remote James Braid links even further north on the east coast of Scotland than Dornoch, ticks more boxes than most.
Here's MacK's list, with annotations for Brora:
1. Two loops of nine holes are preferable. No. Brora is essentially an out-and-back links, with some changes of direction, particularly for the short holes. (Click here for the routing). But MacK amplifies this point, stressing that though two loops are preferable, they should not come at the expense of good use of the terrain. Most of the great links, and many of his own courses, including Cypress Point and Alwoodley, do not conform to this point.
2. At least four one shot holes, two or three drive and pitch holes, and a large proportion of good two shot holes. Yes. Each of the par 3s face in a different direction, further adding to the variety. The opening hole is a particularly fine example of the drive and pitch genre, forgiving the stiff opening swing while exacting of those trying to force an early birdie.
3. Short walks from green to next tee, preferably forward to allow elasticity for future lengthening. Yes, though at 6,110 yards and par 69, Brora is perfect proof a course doesn't need length to be both fun and testing enough for most.
4. Undulating greens and fairways without hill climbing. Yes. The terrain is superb, as the pictures below show.
5. Every hole should have a different character. Yes - and the wind that blesses links means each hole will have a different character each time, depending on the wind strength and direction.
6. There should be a minimum of blindness for the approach shots. Yes - by 1920 standards. MacK was writing at the tail end of an era when courses had been laid out at the gallop by the star professionals of the day and blind holes were ubiquitous, because of a combination of carelessness, inability to move much earth and a belief that they were "sporty". Mac's stricture was directed at excessive and unnecessary blindness and though there are one or two approaches at Brora where the bottom of the pin is not visible even after a well-placed drive, I believe MacK would find them acceptable.
7. The course should have beautiful surroundings with the man made features indistinguishable from nature. Yes.
8. Sufficient number of heroic carries from the tee with the option of alternative routes for the shorter player if he is prepared to sacrifice a stroke or portion of a stroke. Yes, though in a few cases the only alternative to a heroic carry over the burn is putting across the bridge!
9. Variety in the strokes required to play the various holes, ie. challenging shot making. Yes. Like most links, a shot-maker's delight. Low, high, draw, fade - the options are endless.
10. No lost balls. Yes. The most Utopian of MacK's 13 points, but Brora scores here, thanks to the livestock that act as nature's greenkeeper on the rough. Go offline and you will generally have a tough angle to the green, often have a dubious lie but almost always find your ball.
11. Playing interest to stimulate improvement in even the plus handicap golfers game. I wish my own game were good enough to offer an opinion here, but for what it's worth a disproportionate number of crack Highlands golfers have apparently been members at Brora.
12. High scoring golfers should still be able to enjoy the course. Yes. A good test of a fine course this (and also of the golfer's own character). You always want to play well but if your game deserts you there's still ample pleasure here to be found in the architecture and the surroundings.
13. The course should be equally good in summer and winter with perfect texture to greens and fairways, and the approaches of same consistency as the greens. In as far as this can be true anywhere - and bearing in mind the reasonable fees for members and visitors - emphatically yes.

Here's some pictures. They're not necessarily the best holes - just the ones I managed to grab snaps of.
In the evening the sheep reclaim the course. This is the approach to the long 8th. As the excellent GolfClubAtlas review that inspired my visit points out, there's a pit short right that deters those "sort of going for it" in two:

This shot from the left of the 8th green shows the interesting green contours. The GCA review described the greens as slow, but the human greenkeepers can get them quick enough when they want to - when I visited for a 36-hole Open Brora's greens were faster than Dornoch's.

The attractive par 3 9th:

...and from the left:

Not quite sure, but I think this is the 7th:

Over the burn to the 11th towards the marker:

Club website is: http://www.broragolf.co.uk/home.html

Paint your driver for extra yards

2004-12-03T13:10:00.000Z

I'm far from an equipment junkie but was interested by this: "A major shaft company took a group of identical drivers and painted the shafts black on half of them and champagne on the other half. During a "blind" test the majority of male golfers swore that they could hit the black-shafted drivers farther than they could hit the champagne-shafted drivers. Few realized that the clubs were identical."
However, many players could cut their handicaps by avoiding black equipment in favour of green, or even pink, as these 'softer' colours will encourage them to swing less aggressively.
Note: this post has been edited as the source article is no longer on the web and the domain is was posted on has been taken over by spammers.

Golf really is the new rock'n'roll

2004-12-02T11:27:00.000Z

Lawrence Donegan, former bass player with The Bluebells and Lloyd Cole And The Commotions , is the new golf correspondent for The Guardian. He also wrote Four-Iron In The Soul, one of my favourite golf books.
His predecessor at The Guardian, David Davies, looks back on 21 years in the job here.

Machrihanish ...if Lord Byron had been a golfer

2004-12-02T11:08:00.000Z

ARE there really 48 courses in Great Britain and Ireland better than Machrihanish?

So Golf World’s 2004 rankings would have us believe but of those ahead of it in the list which I have played only Royal Dornoch impresses me as much.

If golf architecture, like other art forms, can be divided into Romantic and Classical schools then Mach is as Byronic as they come - remote, windswept,
big dunes, greens and fairways undulating like the wild ocean.

When the tide’s in your drive has to carry some of that ocean, on one of the most famous opening holes in golf...

It’s the epitome of Heroic golf - where the penalty for failure makes
the thrill of success all the sweeter. Having said that, the beach is a lateral
water hazard, rather than out of bounds, so recoveries are possible.

The reward for a decent drive on a bold line is a straightforward second to
relatively flat green and perhaps a par or better to get you on your way.

The second shot to the second is way up into the start of the real dunesland.
This undulating green is the best thing about the hole and a foretaste of what’s
to come...

Then it’s hole after hole of pure magic.

The third is a blind drive over this marker post...

...followed by a fascinating second to this great green. Yes, bad shots can
get lucky with a kick onto the green but the imaginative player can also use
the banks and slopes to coax his ball close along the fast-running turf. There
are few greens like this one around, mainly because they are so hard to drain
properly without the sandy soil enjoyed by links like Machrihanish.

It’s followed by the only short hole going out - in fact the only non-par4.
The green is a decent size target for such a short shot but no recoveries are
easy if you miss it.

The fifth sets up beautifully for a draw off the tee, leaving this second:

Again there's a myriad of ways of getting close - and plenty of ways to blow
it as well. A good recovery's needed if you miss it right. You might not get
down in two, but you'll have fun trying:

Sixth is just 301 yards but hitting, holding and putting the green are all
a joy. Drive displays Machrihanish's inspiring dunes:

Try shaping this with a bulldozer:

On the 7th it's the second shot that's blind:

Eight is up over the hill to a sunken fairway...

...then up again to another drunken green:

The ninth green is the last close to the sea before the course turns round
for home:

The front nine at Mach is a fine example of how interest and variety resides in more than yardages. Apart from the 4th every hole is a par 4, generally mid-length, but there is never a hint of sameness about the challenge.

The back nine isn't quite as strong as the holes going
out but it's still pretty impressive.

Tee-shot at the 10th, the first par 5:
...and looking back from behind the green:

12th is another par 5. If you decide to go for it in two, better be long than short, as this series of pictures show:
Closer, showing yet another drunken fairway:
...you don't want to be in these bunkers:

13th is a cracking hole. Depending on the wind, pin position and your inclination, either a low running second up the bank or flying all the way onto the top can work:

The green from the right:

15 and 16 are back to back par 3s. 15 is shorter at 160 yards but if you do miss the green it's easy to keep going from one side to the other:

16th, like so many holes here, will play differently every time depending on the wind:

Pure golfing gold at the end of this rainbow:

17 and 18, on flatter terrain, aren't up to the standard of the rest of the course and there's talk of combining them into a monster par 5 finisher and building another short hole somewhere out in the dunes.

But there are bigger changes than that afoot. The planning process is well-advanced for another 18 hole course, designed by David Kidd.
Members are apparently very supportive of this, as they will have playing priveleges and the new course and associated 'resort' will boost the local economy.
However, green fees at the new Kidd course are bound to be much higher and this, along with the increased visitor numbers the new resort is likely to attract to both courses may make the 'old' Machrihanish experience less special and more expensive.

So go now! The drive down the Kintyre peninsula is spectacular and was a significant part of the whole experience for me but Loganair also offer direct flights from Glasgow.
The official website is http://www.machgolf.com/main.htm and there's a good write-up on GolfClubAtlas

Heavy Putter

2004-12-01T10:16:00.000Z

The Wire has this article about the Heavy Putter.
Here are a couple of the styles:

The theory behind it strikes me as very sound in terms of line but, like other putting 'fixes' - left hand below right, the claw, broom handle, belly putter etc - less sound for length. However I am willing to be convinced and have emailed them for a review sample. If they send one I will report my findings.

Incidentally, I've had three putters in over 25 years of golfing. The first was a hand-me-down, old technology even in the seventies, implement made by Forgan of St Andrews. The head shape and loft were similar to a 1-iron, the extra loft to cope with the furry greens back in the day. Second was another hand-me-down, a bronze centre-shafted blade made by John Letters called a Golden Gobbler (they also made a Golden Goose so I'm guessing 'gobbler' is a reference to the turkey). After 20 years with this I tried a Carbite DC (like a Ping Anser but with tungsten weights in heel and toe and soft face insert) and realised that far from being a bad putter I was actually a good putter but my equipment sucked.

Robert Simpson's rankings

2004-11-29T13:15:00.000Z

Other people's opinions of courses are usually interesting, so long as you don't take their views - or your own - too seriously. I came across this list while looking for something else.

West Lancashire - shining bright from the dark ages

2004-11-27T21:06:00.000Z

There's a popular theory which essentially says the quality of golf courses travelled on an ascending arc until being brutally derailed by the 1930s Depression and World War 2. Thereafter, goes the theory, technology combined with the American economic juggernaut led to a dominant form of course design whereby both unsuitable land and marginal climatic conditions could be manipulated to create 'greatness'. The apotheosis of this trend, goes the theory, was Robert Trent Jones.

I've only played one RTJ course (Moor Allerton, mediocre, but perhaps he did better) but I am interested in the people that came between the Golden Agers and the new breed.
One was Ken Cotton, who worked with the UK's leading minimalist architect Donald Steel in the sixties and seventies.

Around that time (Peter Allen says "recently" in his 1973 Play The Great Courses) Cotton took a respected but unheralded links layout at Blundellsands, ditched the flat holes furthest from the sea, went further into the dunes, re-arranged things into two loops of nine and created a test fair for the elite playing for a living but fun for all.

Characteristics such as the two loops, large number of doglegs, the striving for fairness and fairly large greens to spread the wear were typical of the time and distinguish West Lancs from older links. Similarly there are only a couple of blind drives and no blind shots to the green - if you put your tee shot in the right position, easier said than done. Some visitors may wish for more quirk but others will like the honesty of the challenge.

Fashions have definitely changed - I suspect Allen hated the clubhouse, but discreetly settled upon "strikingly modern". The course itself has worn much better.

Because it is one of the few links greater now than it was back in the day, but was excused the 'new build' publicity drive, West Lancs has had very few pictures taken, at least on the web. Even the entry in Steel's book , though laudatory, is only illustrated by one general shot of the links by Brian Morgan.

All this is a roundabout way of saying that my visit in November 2004, in as FLAT as light gets, doesn't show the course at its best.
The first two holes set the tone, both dog-leg, requiring precisely played shots for a par, superbly played shots for a birdie (perhaps with help from the conditions and pin placements) but allowing bogeys after an intelligent recovery from one mishit/misconceived shot.
However, in case you think this too formulaic, forget intelligent and try the crazy recovery shots from crazy angles - they probably won't work but it's fun trying.

Here's the 2nd from behind the green:

3rd is the first of a fine set of par 3s:

4th green:

12th is a great par 3, green angled across the player. When the rough behind grows in the summer that apron front left could be the better part of valour.

You certainly don't want to be in these bunkers:

Imagine what this view from the 13th tee is like on a brighter day. Wales is over there somewhere:

14th looks less links-like, but is the hardest green to hit on the course:

I've not listed the hole lengths because the effective playing yardages will vary so much depending on the wind strength and direction. But there's a card and other information on the club website

Why MacKenzie Greens?

2004-11-27T10:14:00.000Z

In the north of England any green on two levels is known as a MacKenzie green. Some were even originally built by a man named MacKenzie, but many weren't, he didn't particularly favour them and there was a lot more to his art than that.

I like the title, partly for this irony and also for the original meaning of 'green' - which referred to the entire course. So this blog is, among other things, about MacKenzie's courses.

If you're reading this you've probably heard of Dr Alister MacKenzie, the GP turned golf course architect responsible for Augusta National, the home of the Masters, Cypress Point, Royal Melbourne and over a hundred other courses great and small worldwide.

MacK is arguably the greatest architect ever but one of the many paradoxes about his place on golf's pantheon is the obscurity of so many of his courses, principally in northern England.
Some are well-known, such as Alwoodley and Moortown.

Others, like Sitwell Park are famous by name with golf course aficionados across the Atlantic but missed off the tourist trail and relatively unheralded at home in the UK.

Still others make so little of their heritage that even some members, who could tell you the architect of Augusta in a trice, are unaware their courses were designed by Mackenzie.

There's a recent biography, researched by a non-golfing Leeds doctor, James Scott, who became fascinated by his predecessor in the city. He teamed up with Tom Doak, an American writer and golf course architect and MacK's descendant Ray Haddock to produce the book. Doak talks about the process here

It's arguably the finest bio of a golf course architect but the best parts - Doak's analysis and the historic and contemporary pictures and plans - only deal with a few of MacK's English courses, the ones listed above and some pictures and analysis of Cavendish and Reddish Vale.

In the back of the book is a list of all the courses MacK designed or remodeled and I was amazed when I read it a year or two ago to see scores I had heard of, and in some cases played, which I had no idea were designed by the creator of Augusta and Cypress Point.

As a long-term, part-time project I decided to play, photograph and research the history of these English courses, conveniently (for me) found mostly in the north as MacK was based in Leeds. In the fullness of time I plan to publish MacKenzie Greens: The English Courses Of The Good Doctor - either in book form if I can find a publisher or, perhaps more likely, on the web.

In the meantime MacKenzie is likely to loom large in this blog. If you are a member of a MacK course I'd be delighted to hear from you with any information, pictures etc you care to share. Cheers.

On the tee...

2004-11-27T09:58:00.000Z

Welcome to my golf blog. I'm starting this, firstly because I can and secondly because there's a lot of good stuff out there about the greatest game in the world but most of it is written by and largely for Americans.
I live in England so the idea here is to focus and filter for a UK audience not as well served by existing websites as our friends in North America and the Antipodes.
Enough flannel ... fore!