...is now posted under In My Opinion.
You hear the name 'MacKenzie' and the first thing that comes to mind is the artistry he brought to golf course architecture. Think Cypress Point and Royal Melbourne and you understand the point immediately.
However, think Augusta National and your head could rightly explode as to how the single most unique design of all time has been relentlessly compromised. HOWEVER, a surprising development, at least to me here on the east coast, is that the re-design work done to Augusta may not be for much longer the single greatest crime ever committed against the work of the all-time greatest golf course architect.
That dubious distinction could be bestowed upon the City of San Francisco if they let MacKenzie's Sharp Park disappear from the landscape. Read this excellent call-to-arms In My Opinion piece by Bo Links and Richard Harris and as always refer to Dan Wexler's Missing Links. You will become ill at the thought that the very people who are charged with encouraging people to get outside and enjoy being a part of nature are the very ones who are seeking the demise of this cherished municipal course that is available to one and all. We here may obviously mourn the thought that two (!) MacKenzie Lido holes as well as some inspiring oceanside holes might be forever gone but the battle is much bigger than that. Yes, not unlike MacKenzie's cherished Old Course at St. Andrews, this design was meant to be enjoyed by as many people as possible. By introducing this brand of strategic/multi-option golf to as many people as possible, who doubts that the allure of the game would only grow?
What a pity - indeed I say a crime against nature
- if this course was to go away. Sharp Park only occupies approximately 120 acres of a 400 acre park, much of which is a forested wilderness. The land adjoins a portion of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Yet, the environmentalists in California apply such stringent rules as to snuff all the joy out of the varied ways land can be enjoyed. Why convert this land into a wetlands restoration project? Yes, the endangered San Francisco Garter Snake and California Red-legged Frog live in or around the golf course. However, that's the point: they live there already, and they live there precisely because of what MacKenzie did to transform the landscape into a green belt oasis . . . proving that man, golf, snakes, and frogs can co-mingle. It should stay that way, and Dr. MacKenzie's artistry should be restored the same way we'd care for a treasured work of art.
Please have a read and register your opinion at
http://www.sfpublicgolf.com/ The folks who oppose this land for use as a golf course (much less a former treasured MacKenzie gem) are acting; if we don't, we can blame only ourselves for what will occur after the glare of the media from the President's Cup leaves town next week.
Cheers,