Mackenzie's design for the Adirondack Club is listed by Cornish and Whitten, and Doak, Scott and Haddock as a course that no longer exists, although there seems to be little out there about it that I could find - until now.
I recently stumbled upon a website at news.nnyln.org which is a newspaper archive put together by the libraries of northern New York state, and a very nice, searchable (and free!) archive it is too. So I thought I would search the Lake Placid News for articles about the Adirondack Club and I found quite a bit of material in the 1930 to 1931 timeframe, but puzzlingly little after that, which raises a number of questions.
The first mention of the planned Adirondack Club I found was from June 20 1930 when an article reported that a $3,000,000 project was planned by the Stevens Hotel Corporation for their Stevens House property at Signal Hill, as well as a major part of the Brewster Peninsula where an 18 hole golf course would be built, comprising a total of around 500 acres. At this time the article quoted from a report submitted by A W Tillinghast who had been to inspect the property. No mention of Mackenzie yet.
In the August 15 1930 issue it indicated that work on the 18 hole golf course would begin in October with Tillinghast supervising its construction.
By October all that had changed. In an October 24 1930 article headlined "To Build World's Finest Golf Course Here", Mackenzie had recently inspected the site and was quoted as saying that "I have never inspected any site which more favourably impressed me inland".
By November 14, a team of engineers from Wendell Miller's office had arrived to survey the land and to prepare a topographical map of the land, as well as to study the drainage, irrigation and soil analysis. Harry Lawson was the engineer in charge for Wendell Miller and his report to the owners was quoted in the November 1928 issue. Interestingly he claimed that the firm of Wendell Miller had been involved with "400-odd golf courses" which would seem a significant exaggeration, and probably includes all of Mackenzie's as well.
By March 20 1931 a "tentative layout of the golf course has been completed by Dr. MacKenzie who is expected in New York this month for consultation with the board of Governors and with the engineers. It is fully expected that work on this course will be started early in the spring."
By May 15 1931 it was announced that there would be two courses, and that Mackenzie would be visiting agin soon to consult with the owners and the building architect, Clifford C. Wendehack. There is a reference to Bayside Links which is very dark and difficult to read, but its clear that a group of golfers and newspaper reporters were invited to view construction of the 18th green which was being undertaken by heavy machinery in the same manner as Bayside Links was constructed - quite an interesting report.
In June an explosives engineer from DuPont was on site to advise of the explosives needed to remove rocks and it was reported that Mackenzie would be visiting Lake Placid on June 20. In July the construction of a new road into the Brewster Peninsula was announced and it was suggested Mackenzie would be on site any day to check the road plan and ensure it did not impact upon his course. By July 17 it was reported that Mackenzie had been on site and that he would make several changes in order to avoid the road and that he would return to Lake Placid "in a few days to start a clearing gang on the fairways." By July 1931 it was reported that clearing or roads and fairways was now in progress, and on August 28 it was indicated that Mackenzie would come again "as soon as the foliage thins enough to permit of a final check up on the golf course layout. Those in charge realize that it would be extremely unwise to proceed far in clearing the fairways until this had been done as trees cannot be replaced for many years once they are cut." Interestingly it was reported that the Club chairman had received a letter from Bobby Jones' father to say that they considered Mackenzie one of the greatest golf architects in the world and that they had contracted with him to build a course for them at Augusta.
However, from this point on I could find no further reports on the Adirondack Club course until one on June 9 1933, where it was reported that "The new eighteen-hole course of Paul Smith's Adirondack club, completed last summer but allowed to "season", will be played this summer by the club members and their friends." Paul Smith's Hotel was a prominent local hotel run by one of Paul Smith's sons. If this report is correct, it would seem that Paul Smith's Hotel may have taken over the Adirondack Club project sometime earlier from the Stevens Hotel group, but I can't find anything specific on this. If they are talking about Mackenzie's Adirondack Club course as it appears they are, then the course was completed in the summer of 1932 (which ties in with a summer of 1931 start for construction) but was allowed to grow-in without play until the summer of 1933.
After this though, I could find nothing that might have indicated when the course officially opened for play, or when it became defunct. So this part is fairly mysterious and I'm hoping people with any knowledge can chime in with any information.
Apparently the book "Adirondack Golf Courses - Past and Present" by Peter J Martin (1987) does not mention the Adirondack Club at all, which seems puzzling as its formative stages were well covered by the local press.
Mackenzie being in Lake Placid in 1930 and 1931 for the Adirondack Club, brings up the situation of his redesign of the Mountain Course at the Lake Placid Club (1931 according to DSH and the LPC website), but curiously I could find no mention of his work at the Lake Placid Club in the local newspapers until around 1990 when the club began to publicise his involvement with the redesign of the course originally laid out by Alex Findlay. Is there any hard evidence of Mackenzie's redesign work at Lake Placid Club I wonder?
Look forward to any responses.
cheers Neil