[Brendan Dolan]

I just opened my Sports Illustrated - Master Preview, and there is a neat article written by Geoff Shackelford about Alister MacKenzie’s dream 18.  Mike Clayton, Mike DeVries, Tom Doak, Nick Faldo, and Michael Hurdzan choose his dream course of the holes he designed.  With the article, Gil Hanse designed a very neat course map, which I would post if I had a scanner.  I am interested in what you guys think of the routing, holes chosen, holes omitted?  Here are the holes selected in the order that they appear in the routing.  They also used yardages and the hole designs that were current when MacKenzie was still alive:

#1   Pasatiempo #1      Par5   510
#2   U. of Michigan #6   Par 4   310
#3   Royal Melbourne #4   Par 5   470
#4   Kingston Heath #15   Par 3   155
#5   County Life Winner   Par 4   460
#6   Royal Melbourne #10   Par 4   305
#7   Royal Melbourne #6   Par 4   430
#8   Royal Adelaide #3   Par 4   300
#9   Moortown #10      Par 3   190
Out            Par 36   3130
#10   Crystal Downs #5      Par 4   355
#11   Crystal Downs #8      Par 5   550
#12   Cypress Point #9      Par 4   300
#13   Cypress Point #16   Par 3   235
#14   Pastiempo #14      Par 4   425
#15   Sitwell Park #18      Par 3   140
#16   Valley Club #3      Par 4   450
#17   Augusta National #12   Par 3   155
#18   Augusta National #13   Par 5   485
In            Par 35   3095

Total            Par 71   6225

I am surprised that they did not include the 16th from Pasatiempo, as I believe it was MacKenzie’s favorite hole.  What about a hole from Lahinch as it is the only MacKenzie course that I have been fortunate enough to have played.  What do you guys think?

Thanks,
Brendan

[Mark Arata]

Very surprised about leaving off Pasa 16 and using #1, I would have replaced 1 with 16. Also could have used #10, one of my favorite holes out there.
 

[Matt_Cohn]

Geeze, it's really short. Are these current back tee yardages?

[Brendan Dolan]

No, the yardages are from when MacKenzie designed the original holes.  The routing done by Gil Hanse also shows no bunker in front of the 12th at Augusta National either.  So it seems that they used the hole designs the way MacKenzie origanlly designed them.

Brendan

[Jack_Marr]

What about a hole from Lahinch as it is the only MacKenzie course that I have been fortunate enough to have played.  What do you guys think?

Thanks,
Brendan

It might be because he remodeled Lahinch, rather than designing it from scratch. Would that count?

[Brendan Dolan]

Jack you might be correct, that they only included courses that Mac originally designed.  But aren't some of the holes at Lahinch originals, as he added some holes in the bigger dunes.  I don't know for sure but I believe that both 9 and 11 are his designs, and are both highly regarded holes.  

The article can be viewed on the SI website, but they don't have a picture of the routing plan by Gil Hanse, which is really quite neat.

Brendan

[Tom Huckaby]

Brendan - we had a thread on this not that long ago, when the magazine first came out.  I'd link to it, but my searching skill still suck.  Go back a few pages and you'll find it.

TH

[Brendan Dolan]

Thanks,  I will check it out.

Brendan

[Brian Cenci]

You've got to have #13 at Crystal Downs in there, if you're taking two from Crystal Downs I'd go with #7 or #17 as a better short par 4 than #5 that was listed.  Nothing wrong with #8, but #13 would really "beef up" the difficulty.

[Jack_Marr]

Jack you might be correct, that they only included courses that Mac originally designed.  But aren't some of the holes at Lahinch originals, as he added some holes in the bigger dunes.  I don't know for sure but I believe that both 9 and 11 are his designs, and are both highly regarded holes.  

The article can be viewed on the SI website, but they don't have a picture of the routing plan by Gil Hanse, which is really quite neat.

Brendan

Hi Brendan

You're probably right. They've recently "restored" some of the Mackenzie greens too.

[Brian_Sleeman]

You've got to have #13 at Crystal Downs in there, if you're taking two from Crystal Downs I'd go with #7 or #17 as a better short par 4 than #5 that was listed.  Nothing wrong with #8, but #13 would really "beef up" the difficulty.

Agreed on #13 as a solid hole, but I still like #5 better, certainly more than I like #17 (just a little on the goofy end for my taste).  I think #5 is just a really unique use of the fold in the land that bisects the fairway on the diagonal.

Hole #7 is a favorite of mine too, though, with the short/long options off the tee and the incredible green.

In the end it's hard to go too far off on this list.

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