Camouflage and Dr Mac

[Tommy Williamsen]

Almost every time I read something about MacKenzie, I read about his use Camouflage and that learned it while he was in the military. I'm sorry but I don't really know how that translated into his designs. I may be the only one on this site who does not understand fully.

[Bill_McBride]

Tommy, stand in the fourth fairway at Cypress Point and look at the overlapping bunkers.  They look like all part of the same group but some are 125 yards from the green and some are greenside.  It's very disruptive in terms of your thoughts about distance to the green.  Deception is the result of the camouflage.   

[Mark Bourgeois]

By far the most important concept is the imitation of nature. This manifests itself most frequently in bunker and mounding construction techniques. Where Mac's applications have to do with principles of concealment, contrary to conventional wisdom he was more interested in using the techniques to increase visibility, ie to use the techniques in reverse.

[Pete_Pittock]

May be that more than one description of camouflage causes the perception. In the Boer war the Boers used their local knowledge of the geography to hide their military and succeeded in 'ambushing' the British army. Mackenzie translated that into golf architecture.  

[Thomas Dai]

Tommy,

Here'a an attempt to explain by an example from a MacKenzie hole.

First, a question - how far do you reckon the first bunker on the right in this photo is from the front edge of the green?

Right on the edge? 5 yds? 10 yds?



According to my rangefinder, the top lip of the first bunker to the front edge of the green is actually 45 yds.

This is because first bunker has been set at the top of a hollow and the front of the green at the point where the hollow rises up again thus deceiving the eye through a bit of natural camouflage into believing the bunker is adjacent to the front edge of the green.



I hope this helps a little.

The example above is extracted from my thread on Walsall GC, a Dr MacK' lay out near Birmingham, UK - http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,56706.0.html

Anyone else car to post some other photo examples.

atb

[Ryan Taylor]

Par 3 5th hole at University of Michigan is another great example.

As you stand on the 5th tee, the greenside bunkers on the Par 4 6th hole appear to be in back of the 5th green.

This also confuses the eye and makes the shot appear longer than it actually plays.

IMO - The 6th is one of the great short par 4's in golf after a recent tree removal down the left

[Pete Lavallee]

Tommy,

The British insisted on rigid geometry in digging their trenches, although they provided protection they were very easy to spot. In one battle the Boers concealed their position behind natural undulations while digging "Fake British style trenches" further down. The British took the bait and while attacking the false trenches were gunned down by a much smaller Boer force. This apparently left a lasting impression on the Good Doctor. He lobbied hard for the British Military to adopt a more natural style of concealment, hoping to save thousands of lives in the process.

His famous saying "place the bunkers on the hillocks, not the hollows" exemplifies his philosophy. A typical Mackenzie bunker is dug into the face of a mound making it very visilble from the playing perspective but invisible from the green looking back. There was once a bunker on the 6th hole at Pasatiempo which could hide 100 men! I believe it was abandoned when the trees were planted to seperate 6 nad 7. If you've played Pasatiempo there are many bunkers there which could hide a sizeable amount of men from people walking towards the tee.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Thanks.  It's very helpful.

[BCrosby]

By far the most important concept is the imitation of nature. This manifests itself most frequently in bunker and mounding construction techniques. Where Mac's applications have to do with principles of concealment, contrary to conventional wisdom he was more interested in using the techniques to increase visibility, ie to use the techniques in reverse.

The fact that bunkers are often invisible when seen from the green end of a hole was not MacK's point. As Mark B. notes above, his goal was to make bunkers more, not less visible.  The fact that many bunkers are invisible when viewed in reverse is a by-product of making them MORE visible when viewed from the direction of play.

BTW, MacK courses are not unique in having bunkers that seem to disappear when viewed in reverse. Any bunker with a raised brow will be hard to see from the green end of a hole.

Bob

[abmack]

This is a very good thread. I now better understand Mac's camo. Thanks

[Sean_A]

Dr Mac (and some others) also use a "spread  bunker" to create an illusion of width when in fact the green is very narrow.  Below is 15 at Worcester.  After that are two pics from 1 which highlights the effect.

Boughton Park 15


Boughton Park 1




Boughton Park also has some very interesting bunkering on the 6th.  I also think the 4th is meant to have the bunkers look as though they are on top of each other. The deception is a bit lost because the club "lost the lines". 

Boughton Park 6


Ciao