Mackenzie's prescription in Paul Daley's book

[Jeff_Lewis]

After throughly enjoying Ernie Els' victory at a magnificent Royal Melbourne this morning, I was leafing through Paul Daley's new book and found Neil Crafter's article on Mackenzie's thirteen point prescription for an ideal course:\

1. The course, where possible, should be arranged in two loops of nine holes.

2. There should be a good proportion of good two-shot holes, two or three drive-and-pitch holes, and at least four one-shot holes.

3. There should be little walking between the greens and tees, and the course should be arranged so that in the first instance there is always a slight walk forwards from the green to the next tee; then the holes are sufficiently elastice to be lengthened in the future when necessary.

4. The greens and fairways should be sufficiently undulating, but there should be no hill climbing.

5. Every hole should have a different character.

6. There should be a minimum of blindness for the approach shots.

7. The course should have beautiful surroundings, and the artificial features should have so natural an appearance that a stranger is unable to distinguish them from nature itself.

8. There should be a sufficient number of heroic carries from the tee, but the course should be arranged so that the weaker player...shall always have an alternative route open to him.

9. There should be an infinite variety in the strokes required to play the various holes - viz., interesting brassy shots, iron shots, pitch and run-up shots.

10. There should be a complete absence of the annoyance and irritation caused by the necessity of searching for lost balls.

11. The course should be so interesting that even the plus man is constantly stimulated to improve his game in attempting shots that he has hitherto been unable to play.

12. The course should be so arranged that the long handicap player, or even the absolute beginner, should be able to enjoy his round...

13. The course should be equally good during winter and summer. THe texture of the greens and fairways should be perfect, and the approaches should have the same consistency of the greens.


How does your favorite course fare on this score?

[Jeff_Lewis (Guest)]

Guys, I must confess some disappointment that this list elicited no responses. Let's try looking at each item each day. Number 1 talks about two loops of nine holes. Mackenzie broke this rule himself a few times. Is this really important?

I would actually prefer to see courses that go Out and In because it discourages players from going off on the back nine, which, to my eye is like playing side two of an album first. Oh yeah, there are no albums anymore.

Does number one matter?

[Loopy]

Jeff, yes it matters in a practical kind of way. But, as always there are exceptions. A good routing should allow the golfers to end up at the clubhouse at the turn for convenience. Nobody who is walking only nine holes wants to trek back in from the far northern edge of the south side of the middle of nowhere. Except maybe the exercise buffs out there.

[corey miller]

I prefer the out and back routing as the two loops seems to break up the round too much especially if 10 tee is on the other side of the clubhouse from 9 green.  On public courses it means waiting fifteen minutes before teeing again.  

I wonder if the returning loops also leads to more standardization on holes 9,10 whereby the archie may be less inclined to have a 3 par on these holes?

[frank_D]

on item NO 1 -
having been to Sleepy Hollow in aug for the USGA womens amateur this c b mcdonald tract is an example of the ninth to the tenth hole being the fartherest point from the clubhouse whereby it actually enhances the total experience - especially with the headless horseman lurking - where you are going deeper into the woods at the 9nt to the 10th with the dramatic return by the 15th and 16th (par three overlooking the hudson river from a huge drop-off behind the hole) - i challenge anyone to come up with a more breathtaking transition by going further OUT until 15 rather than IN on 9

however

also on item NO 1 -
the utopia of my current thinking would include three returning sides of six holes each (or an incoming 6th, 12th and 18th) with twelve holes being the complete round

maybe

it just like wanting one car that gets great mileage with high performance that seats all the kids and fits in a compact parking spot in the city and is a convertibile on sunny days and four wheel drive on snowy days - impossible ?

PS  - to Bill Murray fans - he warmed up (was funny be trying to be totally serious) for this years pebble beach at sleepy hollow (he's a member) by caddying for one of the contestants in the USGA women's amateur

[Michael Dugger]

in defense of out and backs......look at how many of them are the top courses.

St. Andrews
Cypress Point
Pacific Dunes
Pinehurst #2
Pine Valley
Merion
Pebble Beach

I may be mistaken on a couple of these, I don't have my golf club atlas in front of me right now, but I think this impressive lists points to the obvious.  In the overall picture of Dr. Mac's list of 13, having two loops of 9, or LACKING two loops of 9 can be easily made up for in other ways.  

High ranking two-loopers
Augusta
Shinnecock
Riviera
Prairie Dunes
Friar's Head

I haven't seen an aerial of Sand Hills?  Who knows what it is?

[Robert Kimball]

I was reading Tom Doak, et al's book on MacKenzie this morning as a matter of fact, and I thought Doak made some interestingcomments.  Here are some that I can remember off the top of my head (forgive me for paraphrasing):

 
"The course, where possible, should be arranged in two loops of nine holes."  Augusta, Pasa are good examples, CP, I believe does not/.

"There should be a good proportion of good two-shot holes, two or three drive-and-pitch holes, and at least four one-shot holes." Notice how he doesn't mention par at all.  This might have something to do with the abundance of match play during his time.  

"The greens and fairways should be sufficiently undulating, but there should be no hill climbing."  Severe greens are a Mac trademark, and ANGC is considered the toughest walk of them all.  

"Every hole should have a different character." Notice how he discerns each individual hole, not the course as a whole. A MacKenzie course usually has 18 very individual holes.

"There should be a minimum of blindness for the approach shots."  Hole #4 at Royal Melbourne is a great example of an exception.  The bunkers that face the player on the tee add a thrilling aspect to the hole.

"There should be a complete absence of the annoyance and irritation caused by the necessity of searching for lost balls." Again, it is almost impossible to loose a ball on a MacKenzie course (unless you hit it in the water).
 I kept the same ball at Pasatiempo until the last hole. I got kinda choked up at where I was and all those who have played the course before me, etc that I cold chili-dipped my 4-iron into the ditch!!

[THuckaby2]

I haven't seen an aerial of Sand Hills?  Who knows what it is?

Sand Hills is most definitely two loops of 9.

TH

[Jeff_Lewis (Guest)]

I think number 2 speaks for itself. How about #3? Is the proximity of holes to each other still critical? Is leaving room to grow even possible any more?