Another fascinating aspect of this course is MacKenzie's use of two landforms and one stream -- just three features -- in what appears to be a relatively circumscribed area, to create a routing that doesn't feel shoehorned or contrived in any way. There is a brilliant economy of design here.
On one landform, MacKenzie managed something like 10 greens and tees; on the other, something like another 9-10.
The stream plays brilliantly into the strategy of two holes in particular, the 7th and 16th.
So: the routing is fascinating. Interestingly, what makes it interesting also holds it back a little: there are a number of holes where one plays from elevated tee, across a meadow, to an elevated green. That feeling of repetition might dissolve if the fairways were returned to their original widths, widths it must be said of fantastical size -- and were this a public course, surely of "lawsuit-width."
Still, how MacKenzie managed to fit this course, using meadow, landforms, and stream, is really impressive. I also liked how he worked out "connector" holes, and those may be my favorites on the course, in particular the 1st and 7th. (The 7th deserves comparison with ANGC 13; in my book it's a far more likely "progenitor" to that hole than is Alwoodley 10!)
You also get to see MacKenzie's (first?) widespread use of "amphitheater" greens, a design he would make famous at Cypress Point and Augusta. It would appear that when he came to this high meadow he managed to "work out" some perhaps partially-formed ideas he had in his creative mind, ideas he soon would put to use....
I was surprised to read Tom Doak's comments on the course in his guide, but perhaps Mike DeVries' excellent work puts paid to them.
This course I think must be considered a very important bridge in MacKenzie's North-American career, a transition between the type of work he did before versus what he did next.
Mark