Mackenzie's South American Designs - article in Golf Australia magazine

[Neil_Crafter]

David
Glad you liked the Simpson article. I am a little surprised it doesn't match anything on the Nautico plan, perhaps he changed his mind after sketching the hole and sending it off to Simpson.

I have not heard about Mackenzie using his prize winning design anywhere else, so this is probably a first - apart from the Lido of course where Macdonald used it.

Thanks for the info re Cotton and Boomer. Which brings a question. I recall that Cotton's name is in the guestbook at El Boqueron - I believe Cotton, writing in Golf Illustrated after his trip with Boomer, mentioned that he played golf at El Boqueron while he was in Argentina. I thought there was no course there until Dentone designed a nine holer some years after Mackenzie's 1930 trip. But Cotton and Boomer were there in 27. Any thoughts? Or have I got this mixed up somehow?

[David Edel]

Neil,

It is all kind of hard to know the reality of it all, but Cotton and Aubrey Boomer worked on the Miramar just south of Mar del Plata in 1927.   The connection to a nine hole course in Mar del Plata is probably Miramar which Boomer is credited as the architect, but Cotton was also involved.  Enrique Anchorena as a very influential man in Argentina, being both a member of the JockeydDown Town Club and Mar del Plata.  They played El Argentino, now the municipal course when it was taken by Peron.  Enrique A. supplied many of the horses for the work done on the Jockey.  When Mackenzie was asked to do some work for Mar del Plata, it would make sense that Cotton and Boomer were asked to come his Estancia which was one of the grand estates in Argentina.  It appears that due to the importance of the new guests, that a guest ledger was created.  I was told by Jaime Zuberbuhler that all guest that come to visit the estate would sign in, regardless if they played golf.  Since Cotton and Boomer were the first, the book many have been created for their visit.  Mackenzies signature is on the fourth page a month later. 

It is not really clear whether a nine hole Dentone layout existed prior to Mackenzie, or that Mackenzie designed the layout and Dentone executed a crude 9 hole.  Jaime, said he did not know, and there is no information to this date that would suggest the course already existed?  Henry Cotton's wife was from a well to do Argentine family, so he would spend many winters in Argentina.  Mar del Plata was the summer spot in Dec to March so it would make sense that he was in the area.  It could also be that a nine hole Dentone existed and Mackenzie created an 18 routing based off the 9 hole Dentone plan?   If you have an article that suggusted that Cotton played El Boqueron in 1927 that would be of interest to me.

My guess is that Cotton and Boomer visited the Estancia as guest to rub elbows with a very important Argentine family?

David

[Neil_Crafter]

Hi David
Thanks for that, I do not have a copy of the article personally, one of our research team has seen it and I am endeavouring to get a copy. I'm looking forward to seeing it and will post it when I do.

[Neil_Crafter]

Hi David
Niall Carlton's research in the old UK issues of Golf Illustrated has unearthed a series of articles on Henry Cotton's and Aubrey Boomer's tour of South America in 1929 - the articles ran in early 1930. They visited Brazil and Argentina. Niall has kindly allowed me to post this particular Cotton article of March 28th 1930, that also includes a photograph of Boomer driving from the 2nd tee.

It is clear from the article that:

1. A nine hole course existed on El Boqueron in 1929 as Boomer and Cotton played it.

2. It was designed by Aubrey Boomer's brother Percy, "about three years ago" according to Cotton, so around 1927.

3. It had no bunkers and the greens were very tricky.

4. Juan Dentone was planning to remodel some of the greens for Mr Anchorena.

David, hope this helps with the history of the course at El Boqueron. Do you have the exact date Cotton and Boomer signed the guestbook? Was it in December 1929? Then a month later would be Mackenzie in January 1930. I have a number of the other articles by Cotton (not all) that Niall has sent if you are interested.

Neil

[Tom Dunne]

Well, that advances the plot. Great find, Niall! I have to say I found it enormously pleasing to see that Mr. Cotton chose to begin with an account of the beautiful madness of driving in Argentina, just as I would some eighty years later.

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

Now that is cool stuff..thisproject fascinates me, so much so that I am going to Argentina for Christmas to visit The Jockey Club and ask around for more info...
this Cotton playing at El B just intensifies the project interest..we have got to get this done...

[Tom MacWood]

What was Henry Cotton's claim to fame in 1929?

[Neil_Crafter]

Tom, I'm not sure he was all that famous in 1929/30. He was still young, only 22 - 23 years of age, but a pro since he was 17. Clearly talented and up and coming, probably marked by the golf mags of the day for bigger and better things, which were to come when he won the Open in 1934. Guess GI thought an account of his tour to Brazil and Argentina would be of interest to readers. Think he and Boomer went there primarily for teaching, from what I have read of the articles, with matches and events as a bit of a sideline.

[Tom MacWood]

Do you know if Mackenzie used his Lido hole on any of his other designs. 

If I was a betting man I'd bet there was one at Sharp Park, but I don't know that for a fact. Mackenzie compared that project to Lido because it involved some major land reclamation. The schematic in Daniel Wexler's book shows a couple of holes with dual routes.

[David Edel]

Guys,

This is outstanding information.  As I posted earlier the family was unsure that the course was there prior to Mackenzie coming, but it all there in the article.  As a PGA professional who studied the work of Percy Boomer from a teaching perspective, this is really cool to have him as the architect.   It makes sense since Aubrey and Percy were involved with Miramar, and also consulted to El Nautico. 

It now makes sense why the routing looks the way it did on Mackenzie's plan, and why up until the fifties the course looked like the front nine routing on his plan.  The family had sufficient land to build an addition 9 with more land, but my guess this was a great experiment of Mackenzie to use the existing routing and incorparate an anditional nine fairways with double greens.  It appears that the double green idea was something that he was experimenting with as el Nautico has one and  the Jockey had two.

I am sure Jaime Zuberbuhler will find this of great interest as he was not sure himself.  He stated that he played the course in the late 40's with his grandfather, but never knew of the original date.  His uncle who had the plans died several years ago, so we did not have anyone to ask.  We have a alot of picture slides of golfers hitting shots, but there are no dates. 

This is what this forum is all about.  One mans research would find it difficult to find gems like the Golf Illustrated article. I really appreciate the interest, and this all helps fill in the gaps with Mackenzie's trip to Argentina.

The ledger from El Boqueron shows him signing in on March 4, 1930.  Henry Cotton signed in with the date of 1930, and Aubery signed in with Feb, 3 1930.  Mackenzie was accompained by Alex Nicholson who was the first President of the Argentine Golf Asscociation.  Many of the photos of Mackenzie at the Jockey Club have Nicholson in the picture.  I wonder if Luther Koontz was there also. 

Thanks for info, and if anyone has the same magazine I would love to buy it from you so I can add this to our story.

David

[Neil_Crafter]

David
Glad you enjoyed the article and the fact that it now determines there was a nine hole course there prior to Mackenzie's visit. From the date that Aubrey Boomer (and Cotton, although he only put down the year it seems) signed the guest book - February 4 1930, it would seem that Mack was in South America, and likely Argentina at the same time. It would seem that Cotton's articles were likely mailed back from Argentina, as they appear to be written at the time - the use of "this morning" gives that away, and seemingly not written as a recollection upon his return to England. It would be nice to determine the dates of Cotton's trip. We know Cotton sailed over in the "Alcantera", which was the same ship Mackenzie returned to England on.

We are using the same research philosophy with our Mackenzie research team, and we have five or six people working on Mac stuff. His 1930 South American visit has been a fair sized black hole in our research but we have made some progress of late and hope you can continue to be of help to us and vice versa.

[David Edel]

Neil,

I think the primer to the hole is Luther Koontz.   Imagine all he information that lies with him?  I have several magazine articles that show he had a design firm in Buenos Aires.  I would imagine as with all the people with Mackenzie much was done via mail.  If this was the case, this material is either sitting in a chest or has been thrown away with the rest of history.

If you can find the heirs to Luther Koontz then you can put the puzzle together.  I have tried but I do not have your beat cop investigative skills to accomplish the task it seems.  I can only imagine the chest of Luther Koontz showing up on Antiques Roadshow, and seeing the ledgers, drawings, and dialouge of Mackenzie?  Could be cool stuff. 

I thought man this Crafter guy is kinda a pain in the ass, but I realize that without guys like you plucking away every day we would no very little about anyone.  Thanks for all the hard work and passion for the truth about who Alister Mackenzie was and means to golf.

Thanks for keeping us all looking for the truth, and all the other cool stuff.

David

Just for the record, Boomer and Cotton seem to have signed in a month before Mackenzie.

[Neil_Crafter]

Thanks David
I am sure the Koontz archives, if they still exist somewhere, would be a fascinating trove. I think you flatter me with your description of beat cop investigative skills, a lot more people are more dedicated investigators than me. Being out here in Australia is a bit of a disadvantage to tracking down Koontz family in the US and Argentina I'm afraid.

I hope I haven't been too much of a pain in the ass  - and if I have I apologise, but it's in the interest of learning as much as possible about Mackenzie!

I will send you an IM about a couple of other things I think you will find of interest.
Neil

[Bill_McBride]

Neil, thanks for being a pain in the ass - although nobody would call you one. Your Mackenzie research is fascinating. I hope you get to the finished Texas El Boqueron one of these days.

[Pat Burke]

I have watched the EL B story, and am now fascinated by all of this.
Thanks for posting this information for the junkies like myself to soak up!

[Neil_Crafter]

Bill
A relief to hear I am not a pain in the ass! Although David did suggest I might be one! But he did it very nicely. Love to visit the completed EB course one day.

Pat
Yes it is a fascinating story and fingers crossed that David and Mike can pull it off.

[Tom MacWood]

If you can find the heirs to Luther Koontz then you can put the puzzle together.  I have tried but I do not have your beat cop investigative skills to accomplish the task it seems.  I can only imagine the chest of Luther Koontz showing up on Antiques Roadshow, and seeing the ledgers, drawings, and dialouge of Mackenzie?  Could be cool stuff.  

Koontz was from Ohio, if I recall correctly it was somewhere around Urbana. Many of Wendell Miller's associates were from Ohio. I know Koontz spent many years in S.America, but I don't remember if he came back to the States or not, or where he died.

[Neil_Crafter]

Tom
Koontz was indeed from Ohio and I have just started to search into his life. He died in Argentina in 1970, having been born in 1898 so he had a decent innings. I might start a thread on him and see what people can turn up to add to the story. Have never seen a photograph of him though. Perhaps David Edel has one from his Argentine Golfer magazines.

[Niall C]

What was Henry Cotton's claim to fame in 1929?

Tom

Henry Cotton was the up and coming man in British golf at the time although not altogether popular in some parts of the country for some reason which got a bit of press coverage at the time. He was also left out of one of the early Ryder Cups which also caused a stir as he was the best player at the time. Aubrey Boomer was also one of the top young brits. I would suggest that their tour as a money making venture was largely based on exhibition matches against the top Argentinian golfers of the day.

Much of his articles are taken up with the social side and the travelling, mores the pity.

As for Percy Bloomer, I had never heard of him until reading these series of articles and then just yesterday I walk into Waterstones and find a new edition of his book in the golf section.

Niall