[Bill_McBride]

The highlight of our trip was the day we spent at Alwoodley, on the north side of Leeds, en route to Scotland.  This course was Dr. MacKenzie's home course, designed and built in 1907, and what a gem it is.  I defer to Ran's profile, which is absolutely spot on about Alwoodley, and has better photos as well.  We were having a very competitive modified Chapman match against our hosts and it was difficult to remember to take photos!

Here is the clubhouse, which looks like it's been there since 1907 but was built in 1995 when it appeared the old original was going to fall down.  Every club should have a terrace and veranda like Alwoodley, where you can watch the tee shots on #1 (it's an out and back routing) and observe the last putts on #18 while enjoying tea and toast!



This is the tee shot at #6, a 410 yard par 4 which looks narrower than it actually is, as the gorse hides the left third of the fairway.  A tee shot up that side shortens the hole significantly.



The short 7th, the first par 3, has a steeply sloping green and deep bunkers which appear tight against the green and aren't, adding deception.  This was one of Dr. MacKenzie's standard ploys, so this early effort already illustrates one his deceits.



MacKenzie was a member of the Leeds Golf Club when a group of local businessmen decided to form a new club at Alwoodley.  MacKenzie was appointed secretary, and went about routing a course in the 120 acres the club purchased.  It was then decided to call in H. S. Colt to be the architect.  He apparently was pleased with MacKenzie's plan, as the course has not changed to this day except to add a few acres which allowed the 10th hole to be advantageously lengthened.  The green originally was blind at the bottom of a hill with a large bunker behind.  Today the green is on a hill behind the original green site, with the original bunker now serving as a cross bunker in front!

I know the routing plan hasn't changed because after our round, our host, formerly captain of the club and now historian, brought out the ORIGINAL MacKenzie drawing, complete with the good doctor's handwritten construction notes!  I almost fainted dead away!

Here's the outstanding par 5 eighth hole, a dogleg left with a nasty patch of heather and a hidden bunker which goes almost all across the fairway 140 yards out from the green.  This called for some real decision making on the second shot, particularly when playing my wife's tee shot!  



Here's the 8th green, just to show how deep the bunkers are and how well the right side bunker guards against a shot played down the open right side of the fairway and avoiding the cross hazard.  



This is #12, a very good slight dogleg left, with the corner protected by that large oak and outcropping of rough.  This tee shot is one of the few forced carries, perhaps 180 yards of gorse to carry.



The 13th tee, showing the great natural vegetation at Alwoodley.  Wispy fescue grasses, heather of several varieties, and gorse, not to mention a border of large hardwood trees which makes the course completely private.  The gorse blooms in the late spring, followed by two varieties of heather which bloom through the summer and early fall.  Beautiful surroundings and very playable and firm turf.



The 14th is a more dramatic version of the par 3 #7, and perhaps 40 yards longer at 190 plus.  The green is also wilder, with similar slopes but a ridge running through it, and a very deep and menacing bunker on the right side.  The par 3's are a strong point at Alwoodley.  The 11th is a hole which some feel was the model for the Gibraltar hole which MacKenzie built at neighboring rival Moortown not long after Alwoodley opened.



The home hole at Alwoodley, 400+ yard par 4, great view of the clubhouse and awaiting terrace.



What a great day, you could just feel the presence of Dr. MacKenzie.  I feel about Alwoodley just as I did when I saw Geoff Shackleford's book on Cypress Point with those photos of MacKenzie and his Packard!  It was like playing golf in a time capsule.

GCA's Mark Rowlinson is busy writing the Centenary book for Alwoodley, which turns 100 in just a year or so.  

Off to North Berwick!  Life is good.  

[David_Tepper]

Bill -

Thanks for the pix. Nice job.

Love the gentleman in the shorts and knee socks. Only in the UK!

DT

[Bill_McBride]

That is our host.  He hates the knee socks rule, would love to adopt our shorts and low socks look, but the rules are the rules at Alwoodley -- and lots of other private clubs in the UK apparently.

By the way, the knee socks did not keep him from hitting a really nice 3-wood tee ball with a very consistent draw, out there in the 250 range!

[Bill_McBride]

Photos fixed.

[BCrosby]

Wonderful stuff, Bill. Thanks for posting the pictures. Northern England/Wales is my next trip.

Bob

[TEPaul]

Bill:

I felt just as you do about Alwoodley---all of it. It was the first time that old remark of turf being "springy" underfoot occured to me---and it was fast in that dry summer, two summers ago. My round at Alwoodley, the one before it and the one just after it ending my trip I think was the last good golf I played.

[Bill_McBride]

Bob, let me know before you head that way.  Alwoodley is a strict don't miss.  If you're going to Wales, Pennard and Porthcawl are in the category just one step below.

Tom, I think Alwoodley is pretty inspirational.  A really good routing, all solid holes, and the ghost of MacKenzie wandering about!

[T_MacWood]

Bill
Thanks for sharing your personal experiences. How did you plan your tour...what you wanted to see?

[Bill_McBride]

Tom, we planned to attend the Open in St Andrews and I knew I wanted to spend the prior week in the UK.  I wanted my wife to see Painswick, where I had such a great time in May 2004, and I was interested in Pennard which unfortunately was a long way out in Wales.  Then I was introduced to the historian at Alwoodley.  It all just fell into place and worked out well.  The week in Scotland with little travel was a good complement to the hustling trip in England and Wales.  I've never been one for tours, much prefer to muck it up on my own!  But this all worked out.

[johnk]

These pictures are pretty much what I imagine heaven looks like for golfers.

[Jonathan Davison]

Bill
Did you visit Moortown just over the road it is an interesting contrast, not as natural as Alwoodley, but still has some wonderful bunkering. If in this area I would also recommend a drive to Ganton.

[Bill_McBride]

Jonny, I wish we had had time to do visit Moortown, if only to see Gibraltar.  It is literally across the street, on our way out I noticed the sign as we turned north to head out of Alwoodley village.

[TEPaul]

jonny:

Interesting what you said about Moortown. The one time I played Alwoodley, I had the option of playing Alwoodley or Moortown. I didn't know too much about either but perhaps a bit more about Alwoodley because it was MacKenzie's first. I don't remember why I made the decision to go to Alwoodley over Moortown but I think I made the right decision. The course does have a couple of holes I call "European amorphous" which is the way I describe the 1st at Maidstone. But I like a lot the contrast from the rest of holes like that.

[Lou_Duran]

"Ace",

Did you learn just how much architectural credit was due the Doctor?  For some reason, I didn't think that he had all that much to do with the design, and that not much if anything remains that could be attributed to him.  Am I in "right" field on this one?  The grees also don't look all that contoured and sloped.  Are they?

P.S.-  did Stevinson follow-up with their commitments on your success there?  

[Bill_McBride]

Lou, you should probably read Ran's profile of Alwoodley, he does a better job of photographing and writing about courses like Alwoodley.  The greens were of great variety.  Many had steep slopes, a couple were flattish, all had some interesting feature or another.  The greens were that perfect 9 speed.  I really enjoyed putting on them.

The story has it that Colt arrived to serve as architect and MacKenzie had already done the routing plan, which Colt liked so much he did nothing other than approve it.  I believe this to be true because I saw and held in my own hands the original handdrawn, MacKenzie-signed, routing plan.  The original construction notes were on the plan.  I think Colt was so pleased with the plan MacKenzie prepared that he not only accepted it without reservation but also formed a partnership with MacKenzie which lasted for years.

It is for sure that the holes on the ground today are 100% the holes on MacKenzie's plan.  The only exception, which I mentioned above, is the 10th green, which was moved perhaps 60 yards back when the club acquired some additional land.  And the suggestion to do so is on MacKenzie's plan!

MacKenzie was soon offered the Moortown design commission on his own.  The club had not yet raised much money but wanted MacKenzie to go ahead with the course.  MacK suggested they take the money raised to date and build ONE really good hole to attract new members and capital.  The club agreed, MacKenzie designed and built the Gibralter par 3, and the money soon began to flow.

So to answer your question about MacKenzie's authorship of Alwoodley, I think you are not only in right field but actually out in the bleachers!  

Never heard a thing from Stevinson about the hole-in-one but I have your photo of Huckaby bowing to me with the green in the background as all the memorabilia I need or want!

[Tom_Doak]

Bill:  You are generally right that Alwoodley is MacKenzie's design, however his partnership with Colt was not formed until many years later, it didn't happen overnight.  And I tend to believe Fred Hawtree's take on that, that it was expedient for Colt and MacKenzie and Alison to partner and take as much work as possible and divide it amongst themselves, instead of competing for it.  They did respect each other, but the partners did not work closely together at all, and the partnership did not last for very long.

As for Alwoodley, I have to say I was not quite as enamored with it as the rest who have posted here.  All of the bunkers have been rebuilt since I first saw it in 1982, and to me they looked more like MacKenzie's work "before" than "after".  But the routing and the putting surfaces are still intact, and they get the maintenance meld right while spending only a fraction of what we do in the States.

I thought there were 3-4 better holes at Moortown than any at Alwoodley (although I am fond of the 3rd, 6th, 11th, and 17th at Alwoodley); but on the other hand, Moortown has had to change some holes because of boundary disputes, so it is less MacKenzie at the end of the day.

[Marc Haring]

I played Alwoodley back in January in a bitter north wind. I suppose one of the charms of heathland golf is that there is not a great deal of difference between the winter and the summer in that the turf can still be firm, the heather is still punishing and the pine trees are exactly the same. About thirty degrees in temperature made a difference in the swing though. I remember actually stringing a few pars together after I had warmed up to the point where I could feel my fingers but a three doubles in a row capitulation turned sure victory into painful defeat. But the course was great fun and a joy to play.

Here’s the fifth I believe. It's a delightful short par 4 breather hole after the cert double on #4.

[Bill_McBride]

Marc, that 5th hole is a very good one, the sloping fairway sent most tee shots over where the rebuilt bunkers create a mental if not physical obstacle.

We played on a beautiful day in the 80's, it must be a bear in the 40's!  You are corrrect about #4.  That is one of those holes that is a short par 5 from the medal tees and a lengthy, difficult par 4 from the member tees.  I can never understand why they do that in the UK.  There are examples all over of 470 yard holes that are 485 from the yellow markers and play as par 5, and 470 from the white markers that are par 4.  #8 at North Berwick is one good example, into the wind!

[Andy Levett]

This is the 11th that Bill and Tom mentioned.

The flat light doesn’t really show the big slope from the back. There’s another deeper bunker you can’t see back left. I played what I thought was a good shot out, looked down to rake the sand and looked up to see my ball trundling back off the front edge of the green
The 11th at Alwoodley  struck me as a sort of cross between the Redan and Gibraltar – favouring a draw more than the latter but having much of the same ‘hit the green and stay below the hole, stupid’ demand.
Though I look forward  to going back to both a few more times to give a more confident opinion  of which is best to visit  if you only have time for one, for now I wouldn’t argue with Tom’s award of an extra point to Alwoodley in the CG.
Gibraltar and the 5th stood out for me at Moortown but it also seemed to have more of the lesser holes in the 36. (eg the first  three at Moortown seemed an extended throat clearing and the new holes through avenues of silver birch, 6 and 7, a bit out of character) Alwoodley seemed so consistently strong.

[Paul_Turner]

Didn't the greens go through a USGA spec redo, a few years ago?

Its natural feel is what I remember.  The course blends into the moorland terrain and I like the idiosyncracies of the land (the furrows...) which you hardly ever see on modern courses, where everything is smoothed out.

If you like Alwoodley, then Whittington Heath has a similar, low profile, character.

[Bill_McBride]

According to our host, those furrows in the fairways, particularly 15 and 16 if I recall correctly, are agricultural in origin, and were designed to hold water.  It does give the fairways some bumpy contouring.  I played an American course with a similar feature but damned if I can remember where.

[Jonathan Davison]

Paul
I recently read that Alwoodley were changing to USGA spec? not sure if this work has gone ahead. Stri guy's are responsible.

[TEPaul]

Bill McBride said;

"The story has it that Colt arrived to serve as architect and MacKenzie had already done the routing plan, which Colt liked so much he did nothing other than approve it.  I believe this to be true because I saw and held in my own hands the original handdrawn, MacKenzie-signed, routing plan.  The original construction notes were on the plan."

Bill:

You held his plan in your hands? Is that the same plan that hangs in the corridor in the clubhouse? What did you do, take it off the wall and hold it?

I looked as carefully as I had time to of that plan and the notes on it and it sure looked to be pretty close to everything out there on the course.

TomD:

Interesting you liked #3 so much. I thought that hole was probably the blandest out there both in look and to play. The holes I really liked in play were #7, #8, #10 and #17. I should probably add #15 because it's a hole that makes you really think both on the drive and approach to an interestingly contoured green. But all the holes I mentioned had some very interesting strategies to them that were anything but obvious for the first time player. (on #17, a blind approach, I thought I hit the approach about 3/4 of the way to the green but actually knocked it about two feet. #8 really tricked me on the drive and the second shot).

I just loved the overall feeling of Alwoodley in every way but to sit down and actually think through the nuances of most of the holes out there---I don't know, other than those I mentioned I thought they were pretty straightforward.

As for those agricultural furrows in the fairways, I actually don't remember them at Alwoodley but I sure do at Scarborough North Cliff---they were all over the place and pretty damn hilarious in play. They were on a number of holes bigtime at Fulford too.

From my trip over there in the summer of 2003 (really dry and firm and fast everywhere) nothing in England I saw (which wasn't that much more than what I mentioned above) matched the intersest of Ganton for me. That course is wonderful strategically.

[Paul_Turner]

Is the routing plan dated?  Looking at the copy in Tom's bio, it doesn't look to be.  Unless on the back?

 

[TEPaul]

Paul:

It appears to be MacKenzie's handwriting on the notes on the Alwoodley plan. If one matches the chronology of the creation of Alwoodley that routing plan is probably from 1907. As far as the details of the holes on the plan and who did them, didn't Colt generally number holes with roman numerals? He sure did at PVGC.

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