I've put a good dent in Mike's book over the past two days.
Indeed. There's a lot of great information within assisting with Mike's ambition to elevate Mr. Macan's legacy, which is more than warranted. Like Mike, I believe Mr. Macan's talents, abilities, knowledge and passion were on par with his more famous contemporaries. And, Mike's book only confirms how sad it truly is that so little of Mr. Macan's original work remains intact – a definite reason he hasn’t been more heralded.
Most disappointing, in my view, is Shaugnessy. Now, don't get me wrong. Shaughnessy remains a fine club, with a good course. But, at the end of his life, Mr. Macan was so dedicated to making Shaughnessy his crowning achievement. And, apparently, budget was not an issue on the project.
Despite the fact that some Tour pros complained about some of the greens during the 1966 Canadian Open, the course design there, at Shaughnessy (when it opened for play during the early 1960s) represented the culmination of Mr. Macan's philosophy on golf and course design over a career that began in 1913 and lasted until his death in 1964.
According to Mike’s research, Geoff Cornish was hired very shortly after Mr. Macan’s death to remodel the course. But, nothing was done until after Shaughnessy hosted the ’66 Canadian Open, under the direction of Norman Woods. Funny, Mike Riste writes: "(Macan) detested Woods, never considering him a golf course architect, but merely a construction foreman for Stanley Thompson."
Mr. Macan’s routing hasn’t changed; but, apparently, in 1970, Woods rebuilt 13 greens at Shaughnessy, amongst other things including removing a number of centre fairway bunkers.
The following excerpt, written by Mr. Macan, provides some sense of his personality, knowledge, and passion. It’s part of a detailed account of his course design, sent to the club’s Board shortly before Shaughnessy opened for play.
“I have always admired this setting and believe that anything in the nature of a sand trap would destroy it. Since an elusive quality - the difficulty of judging the length of the shot - may prove its outstanding characteristic. I have often referred to the hollow in front of the eighteenth green at St. Andrews known as the Valley of Sin. There is no trap to guide you, which so often results in players failing to hit their pitches firm enough and finishing in the valley. The feature of this 17th is the natural draw in the ground towards the deep grass slope on the right of the green... Many, of course, will play left from the tee to avoid peril. From this position, with the slope of the green from left to right, I'm hoping it will prove difficult to lay the second shot near the hole, a difficulty accentuated by mounds on the left of the green... If you wish to simplify the hole, add sand traps and destroy it.”
I could go on about Shaughnessy, but those of you interested should order a copy of Mike’s book
