The recent thread by Bart Bradley on Alwoodley raised an interesting discussion on the 10 and 11th holes. Back in January 1925, MacKenzie was asked by Golf Illustrated to write an article on what changes he would now make to Alwoodley. In the article MacKenzie addresses his original intent for those holes. I've transcribed the article as the copy I have is not great but hopefully of interest.
How I Would Alter Alwoodley by Dr MacKenzie
Golf Illustrated 9th January 1925
When the Editor of Golf Illustrated requested me to write an article on “How I Would Alter Alwoodley” I thought he had chosen an individual whose natural predilections were to leave the course alone, and this to a very great extent is the case. When the existing course was designed some years ago it consisted of fourteen ragged fields surrounded by hedges, a sub-soil surrounded by heavy boulder clay, and most of the ground such a bog that it was not unusual for hunting men who ventured over it to have to drag their horses pout with ropes. With the exception of some gorse and patches of heather, there were few natural features, and opinions had been expressed by golfers of national reputation that it would not make a golf course in twenty years.
Alwoodley has been entirely artificially created; the hedges were completely removed, and the whole of the ground was drained. The draining was done at a comparatively small cost because, as far as I know, it was the first golf course, where a system of mole draining was employed, and it speaks well for this form of drainage that after over sixteen years there is little sign, if any, of the mole drains being blocked up, and the course is almost as good in winter as it is in the summer months. When the formation of the Alwoodley Golf Club was first proposed it was the opinion of the members of the two existing clubs that the City could not possibly support a third, as neither of the existing ones was well off, either from the point of view of membership or financially. Alwoodley became a brilliant success in every respect. It was entirely different from anything seen in the North before, and perhaps more closely approached the old idea of golf as exemplified by the Old Course at St Andrews than any inland course constructed before or since.
The influence of Alwoodley was so great that the two existing clubs in Leeds had their courses reconstructed, and they in turn became far more popular and prosperous in every respect. Since then nine additional new courses have been constructed in Leeds under the supervision of the writer. All these courses show signs of becoming increasingly popular and the clubs more and more prosperous. Alwoodley is not as famous as it might have become had it not originated as a semi-private club with a restricted membership of a hundred and seventy five members. The Committee also has never sought competitions there, although the qualifying rounds of the Daily Mail and News of the World tournaments have both been held at Alwoodley.
Alwoodley is so interesting that it does not appear to be a long course, although it is about six thousand three hundred yards in length and could easily be stretched an additional two or three hundred yards if required. The long holes are full of character and interest, and the four short holes are all entirely different, visible from the tee, and giving good variety of play according to the position of the flag, direction of wind, etc. The characteristic of all the long holes is that the tee shot has to be played with extreme accuracy for the approach to become an easy one and par figures to be obtained. The average score at Alwoodley is a high one, but owing to the visibility of the greens, the trueness of the approaches, and the almost complete absence of blindness perfect golf receives its true reward, as is evidenced by the fact that J. W. Gaudin the clubs professional, has done successive rounds of sixty-six, sixty-seven, and sixty-eight in one day.
Alwoodley having been constructed under the writers supervision, the work has been carried out in according to his ideas. Every hole, although interesting and exciting, is absolutely fair, and there is a complete absence of freak greens, a danger which is often likely to arise when the work is carried out by the clubs own ground staff without sufficient supervision by the architect. A course like Alwoodley not only provides an interesting and pleasurable test of golf to all classes of players, but it caters for such a high standard of play that it has a great effect in improving one’s game. As an example, the professional at Alwoodley although verging on the age of fifty, improved his game out of all recognition since he came there a few years ago. Since he came to Alwoodley he has been Northern Professional Champion, Yorkshire Champion (three or four times), winner of the Leeds Cup, and runner up in the News of the World tournament, and French Open championship.
second part to follow