The Art of Camaflauge in Architecture

[Anthony Gray]

  Much is said about Alister Mackenzie's use off camaflauge in design after his experience in the military.

  What are some examples of this in not only Mackenzie's work but also of other architects?

 Photos please.

  Thanks,

  Anthony

[Garland Bayley]

http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,38892.msg811987/topicseen.html#msg811987

[Anthony Gray]

http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,38892.msg811987/topicseen.html#msg811987

  Thanks Garfunkel, but I still don't see it.

  Anthony

[Dan Herrmann]

We have a pair of bunkers at my Hanse-designed course that are built into the side of a shallow hill in the fairway that can't be seen until you're past them.  Essentially they're built "backwards", and they work great.

[Andrew Mitchell]

http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,38892.msg811987/topicseen.html#msg811987

  Thanks Garfunkel, but I still don't see it.

  Anthony

  Very good Anthony

[Gary Slatter]

it's used more in dentistry although we have a couple very serious bunkers behind the 8th green which you cannot see from the tee when you play safe to avoid the really serious one in front.

[Scott Witter]

Anthony;

While I have always been interested and impressed with Dr. MacKenzies camo work and others from that era, I have been equally impressed and actually more interested in what I consider excellent camouflage work that is done by the Rennaissance group where they take considerable time to blend/camouflage the edges of their courses into the existing vegetation/terrain so that the eye carries far beyond, hiding the intrusion of the course on the landscape.  To me, this is an important effort and not easily achieved. On the surface it sounds easy and appears straighforward, but it requires a deft eye, skillful execution and an understanding of edge and how to treat it carefully to be successful IMO. 

[michael damico]

scott i believe makes a great point, but what i'm surprised hasn't been mentioned is where it all begins: the tee box. most people don't realize push up tee boxes which stand out like a sore thumb. most look like they have been designed by (and no offense to anyone) engineers with the simple mindset of drainage. Renaissance does a good job of blending (or camouflaging) their tee boxes into the natural surrounds.

i cannot speak for many Mackenzie courses as i have only seen Crystal Downs thus far, but he did an excellent job of blending the greens and bunkers into the surrounds (and i speak of the first nine in particular). the thing i took the most from that course was not why to place bunkers, but rather ask the ground for where to place bunkers. wow, now it sounds like a completely different thread; sorry, but my 2 cents...

[TEPaul]

Anthony:

If you are so interested in Alister MacKenzie's camouflage ideas you should know that Alister took that stuff very seriously and with more applications than just golf course architecture. Did you know towards the end of his life Alister actually wrote President Roosevelt a letter telling him that if FDR would only allow him to come talk to him he would lay out a plan for how to create eternal peace on earth by making war irrelevent in the future via really good camouflaging techniques?

As far as I can tell, FDR did not respond to Alister's letter. And I think FDR was a dumb putz for not responding to Alister's letter because just look what the hell happened with a decade----eg the world was at war in WW2.

Alister could've prevented the whole damn thing!

This kind of global missed opportunity is beginning to annoy me more and more every day the more I think about it. I mean, if Alister Mackenzie and Max Behr only had their way with golf and architecture we would all be living in virtual golfing nirvana today. There would be no rough to bother us, we could all drink whole flasks during our rounds that would be completely camouflaged from detection and we could all play golf in our pajamas if we wanted to! Those guys were geniuses, I tell you----total geniuses!!

That letter to FDR is no lie, by the way.

[Anthony Gray]

  Does anybody have photo examples?

  Thanks Anthony

[Niall C]

Anthony,

Perhaps one of the guys up in Fife could go along with their camera to Pitreavie GC in Dunfermline which is a MacKenzie course from 1922. MacKenzie had a burn in front of a couple of the greens including a downhill par 3. He deliberately raised the front edge of the burn so that it was above the level of the back edge of the burn thereby making the burn invisible to the player. Very sneaky when you haven't played the course before.

Niall

[Chris_Clouser]

Ron Kern did an excellent job of this on his course at Purgatory.  But I'm sure this was a conscious decision as the course was based on the principles of Mackenzie.  There are only a few bunkers around the course that are apparent when looking at the hole from the green end, the 16th hole is one example I can think of right away.

[Emil Weber]

This picture shows the mounding around the 18th green at Saunton. I don't know whether they're man-made or not, but they are FASCINATING.