If Pitreavie is the Morris Minor, is Cypress Point the Mini?

[Marty Bonnar]

In 1942ish, Sir Alec Issigonis designed the Morris Minor for Lord Nuffield. The car remained in production until 1971 and sold in massive numbers to a populace recovering from wartime poverty. It was rudimentary, agricultural, cheap and prone to breakdown but was not without charm and even today has quite a following amongst enthusiasts here in the UK. I think it may even still be being built in India...

Issigonis was later commissioned to design a British car to compete with European small cars which were swamping the UK market. His design for THE MINI was, to put it mildly, SENSATIONAL! It was so well-designed that it would remain in production for 40 years, become a design icon, win awards everywhere and spawn a number of variants, derivatives and downright fake copies. It is a work of genius. BMW loved it so much, they bought the name and re-built the car for this millennium.

Could Issigonis have designed the MINI without having FIRST designed the MINOR? I doubt it. Lessons learnt by a designer ALWAYS inform and influence later designs.

MacK, like all designers, EVOLVED. My premise is that CPC could not have happened WITHOUT those previous experiences.

Come and play the MacK UK lesser courses. You WILL have the chance to recognise the hand of the designer. You will see the germ of ideas used and developed elsewhere. You WILL come to appreciate MORE the EVOLUTION of a designer.

And it won't cost you a fortune! DO IT!

FBD.

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Martin, As you know, I couldn't agree more....

[Bob Jenkins]

Martin,

I too, could not agree more.

I just looked up Alec Issigonis on Google. Never heard of him before reading your comment. We were in Oxford in the summer of "05 and saw the Morris plant where I assume a lot of the Morris Minors came from.

As for your suggestion to play MacK's courses in the UK, all of us on this side of the Ocean would love to. That would be a great trip to organize.

I have my copy of The Spirit of St Andrews nearby but have not been into it for several years. I know he was referred to as "the consulting architect for St Andrews". How does one achieve that role? I assume he did not make changes to the Old Course. (I have trouble referring to it as TOC). Did he?

Regards,

Bob Jenkins

Just in the midst of planning a trip to Pasatiempo and thereabouts in April.

[Bob Jenkins]

Martin,

Is Pitreavie your home course? Just had a glance at their website as a result of your thread and thought it may be some place special to you.

[Mark Bourgeois]

Bob J. et al:

This year's BUDA is a "MacKenzie Trail" of sorts for those seeking to follow Martin's advice.  In a span of a few days, you can get three Mac courses, plus a great window into his professional origins.

I really am looking forward to this...

Mark

[Mark Chaplin]

Sean

Looking at Littlestone's website the course is a who's who of British GCAs. Laidlaw Purves, Braid, Mackenzie, Abercrombie, Pennick, Alliss and Donald Steel. That's some pedigree.

[Brian_Ewen]

Martin
Are you saying you have played Hazlehead and Duff House Royal ? .

Or have you still to experience these "MacK lesser courses" ? .

Brian

[Marty Bonnar]

Bob,
I'm pretty sure MacK didn't make any changes to TOC. As far as I am aware, he mostly spent his year in St A surveying it in fine detail and then producing the lovely map included in 'Spirit'.
Pitreavie not my home course, but located in town where I worked until last friday. I previously did some work on the Course for the Club, but am STILL waiting to receive payment. (One of the prime reasons I gave up my burgeoning architecture career for a job that actually pays real money!!!)
Brian,
shamefully, I haven't played either of those northern beauties. In fact, the only track I have played in Aberdeen is Westhill - where it is a positive advantage to possess one leg longer than the other...

FBD.

[Garland Bayley]

I disagree. CPC would have been spectacular with most any designer. E.g. a young Kidd, but probably not a young Jones.

Perhaps your argument should be made with Pasa.

[Marty Bonnar]

Garland,
I don't disagree (completely ) with you, but:
I was trying to give an impression of a couple of bookends to a glittering career and in that context, Pasa easily qualifies.

CPC owes a lot to its location, but you cannot deny the quality of the routing there. Any eedjit could have built a course on that site and it would always have looked incredible, but the genius of the flow of the holes and the ingenious use of the - surprisingly - few landscape features (aside from the OBVIOUS!) is very special. Which, by almost remarkable co-incidence, is precisely what Pitreavie achieves...

FBD.