What did Perry Maxwell teach Alister Mackenzie about design, and what did Mackenzie teach Maxwell? That' a fascinating Q to me. Just as fascinating as the dichotomy of the two nines at Crystal.
Here's some of my article on Old Town that looks at that:
Recently a friend of mine went to play the University of Michigan golf course and came back shouting, “Mackenzie! Mackenzie! Mackenzie!” But another friend asked him, “Shouldn’t you be shouting ‘Maxwell! Maxwell! Maxwell?”
Another writer – a seasoned, well-decorated one, but one who’s architecture and travel knowledge is smewhat lacking dismissed Maxwell offhand by saying, “You know those Maxwell rolls? They really ought to be called Mackenzie rolls!”
“He is so wrong,” fumed Chris Clouser. “Maybe Mackenzie was a huge influence on Maxwell’s bunkering and routings, but Maxwell brought the rolls with him to the relationship.” Clouser also credits Mackenzie with teaching Maxwell about the Doctrine of Deception, where players have to carefully pick their line with no frame of reference – they get enough rope to hang himself. You start to see it at Oklahoma City Golf & Country Club and it became one of Maxwell’s strongest talents for the rest of his career.
It goes to show that Maxwell and Mackenzie are all but inextricably linked. Sure each did some courses without the other, but although Maxwell was always, as Clouser ironically notes in his book title, “The Midwest Associate,” history may have sold him short in the eyes of all but the ardent golfer and students of golf design. Moreover, Maxwell’s fame is diminished because every great course of his is private, and with the exception of Old Town, none are on the eastern seaboard or west coast.
What did Maxwell bring to the equation and where is it in evidence on the courses where they collaborated? Where was Mack most influential on Maxwell? Tom Doak, please chime in with your thoughts on Crystal...everyone else too. I'd love for us to break down this like a fraction...