"One can quibble about CBM's copying holes from the UK all one wants, but one should never forget that these men really started the modern game here, and the holes they emulated were the only great holes in the world at the time."
jkinney:
While taking nothing at all away from C.B. Macdonald or NGLA one just cannot say something like that above and be historically accurate----eg the holes they emulated were the only great holes in the world at the time.
If one does the research they will see those holes he primarily emulated were just the holes that won a magazine or newspaper competition of a select group of golfers in GB back around 1900-04.
It has always been interesting to me that the primary "template" holes Macdonald used at NGLA were not necessarily the holes he may've thought the best. Basically he relied on a poll.
And this is precisely why The Lido may've been even more interesting vis-a-vis Macdonald himself. The guys who started the club (many of the same guys he seemed to always get involved with on Long Island) basically got him involved promising him that he could create anything he wanted by giving him a total blank canvas. I think for this reason the famous "Channel Hole" (#4) becomes most interesting because Macdonald claimed it was a basic copy of a hole abroad that just did not use the natural potential it had (for a high risk alternate fairway). Macdonald felt he totally improved the concept at The Lido.