Inspection of Melbourne Courses Jan. 1928

[Mark_Huxford]

Thought some of our Australian friends might enjoy this. Mr. Bruce appears to be Acting Superintendant from the Parks & Gardens Branch in Canberra or A.C.T. (not Stanley Bruce the Prime Minister) and this Mr. Irving is the greenkeeper about to construct this course at "Red Hill" in Canberra. Alex Russell has invited them to Melbourne to look at good examples of construction. Victoria not very impressive Mike Clayton?

My thanks to Hedley Ham for uncovering this and a whole dossier on Red Hill recently.

[Mike_Clayton]

Mark

John Lindsay, the current Captain at Victoria recently discovered this letter and set about researching the old green committee minutes.What he found was interesting.
Mackenzie did visit the course in 1926 and was disappointed with the bunkering and suggested an entirely new bunkering scheme in much the same way he did at Kingston Heath.
Frank Lennox, the superintendent, was responsible for the implementation of the new plan.No doubt,he was in constant contact with Mick Morcom across the road at Royal Melbourne and the assumption must be there was a deal of collaboration.
Clearly,from the evidence of the old photo of the mid-thirties the results were phenomonal.
Until now no one had ever been certain what ,if any, influence Mackenzie had at Victoria.
At some point early on the 4th was a par four playing from a  tee close to the current one but down over the current 6th green. The 6th was a much shorter par four.The 5th was a par five with a green down by the 12th.My assumption is Mackenzie must have suggested the alterations which on the evidence of the current 4th and 6th was an excellent idea.
For a long time after that however it was all downhill - albeit slowly - as they planted trees and rounded off all the bunkers until they were,mostly,featureless pits.

[Mark_Huxford]

Mike Clayton,
That seems consistent with Mackenzie's Morcom quote:

"I managed to persuade most of the clubs in Australia to secure his services for the purposes of helping them with their construction work."

So the only difference was the Soutar course at Kingston Heath was un-bunkered then. That and AM's 15th hole maybe.

---

That this "Red Hill" file survived is quite fortunate, though I suppose the federal connection in Canberra made it more likely that it would. Still it was interesting to see the development of a course from the 1920s documented all the way through, and to see more Russell letters and a full set of his green sketches. I had a chuckle at the bean counter writing letter after letter to Russell trying to get their £10 back after they overpaid him. Let it go

I will assume the waterway they had to relocate the original Canberra links for was Lake Burley Griffen. Did the course at Red Hill become this course Federal GC we know today Mike?

I see its a par 73 but Russell only has plans for 9 holes. Did they manage to save some holes from the first course or did another architect come in and design more holes after AR?

[Chris Kane]

Mike,
I recall Ian Todd - Victoria's greenkeeper - commenting that this discovery suggests Mackenzie's involvement at Victoria was of the same extent to his work at Kingston Heath.  Would you consider this a fair conclusion?  

[Mike_Clayton]

Chris

It seems like much the same sort of work went on although 4 at Vic isn't quite 15 at Kingston Heath - not bad though.

Mark
The original Royal Canberra course did go under the lake. I assume Federal was Red Hill. I havn't been there for years but my memories are of red soil and hills!

[Mark_Huxford]

[Tommy_Naccarato]

This is the type of stuff that just makes my head explode!

What a find!!!!!!

Mike & Neil,
Is it me, or when building that green complex and bunkers, would it be hard to screw-up exactly what they mean with that most simplistic drawing?

[Tommy_Naccarato]

One other question--Exactly what do you think the measurement of height is for each of lines of the side views?

[Mike_Clayton]

I haven't played Federal for years but I always thought it a better course than the more highly rated Royal Canberra.
Alex Russell's involvement explains why there are so many good holes there.
It also solidifies my belief that the further one got from the centre of golf in Australia - Melbourne - the poorer the courses as Mackenzie's influence was less direct, more open to interpretation and less well supervised.
One wonders what would have happened if he had based himself in Perth - the other side of the country for you Americans in need of a geography lesson !

Tommy
I have no answer to your question- only a guess.

[Mark_Huxford]

Tommy, here's Russell explaining the vertical scale to Lake Karrinyup earlier that year. I think he left it off his plans quite regularly so the work wouldn't tighten up in the field.

The greens shown are very large and consequently will be more to water and cut but large greens allow large and bold undulations and will repay in pleasure more than the extra cost.

The plans of the greens are to scale but the elevations shown are meant to be a general guide only and thus no vertical scale is given.

The plans should be carried out more or less exactly with variations of only a few yards being permissible. Formation work is best done with a scoop and hazards formed in this way and left rough and unfinished as possible always look more natural.

I would advise that no green should have a final slope exceeding 1 in 14 or a local slope greater than 1 in 7 and that many practically flat places left for cutting the hole in. A good rule for this is that one should not have to aim outside the cup with a fairly hit three foot putt. All mounds however should be grassed and should be easily cut with the mower.

He was a big fan of Robert Hunter's book and I think the 3 foot putt thing comes from that. The stationary he did these types of sketches on seems to be modeled on Mackenzie's.

It is essential if the full enjoyment is to be got out of the game that all artificial hazards and formation work be made as natural as possible. Exceedingly good examples of this are to be found in "Robert Hunter's" book "The Links".

Russell in same Lake Karrinyup report as above (Mar. 27 1927).

These days with Dr. MacKenzie here, practically all our prominent golfers are discussing golf courses, golf holes and golf architecture generally. Everywhere one goes, someone is sketching what he considers to be an ideal hole, and explaining just what the Doctor does to bring about his golfing transformations. Robert Hunter's great book, with its exquisite illustrations of greens and holes and bunkers and such like, has been bought up so ravenously that it is now impossible to procure a copy, and groups pouring over it may be seen in every club house. Alex Russell, the former open champion, has been so intrigued by some of the illustrations, particularly of Pine Valley course in the USA, that he will now not be happy until he plays over some of the courses.

"Pants For Pine Valley", Melbourne Herald (Nov. 3 1926).

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Mark, I'm saving this whole thread on disk! magnificent stuff here. Thanks for the explaination!

One other thing is that when I see a description of this stuff on paper, it just looks like it would be so much more easier to produce and follow in comparison to a topo, in regards to construction.

I would assume that with the grade or slope, you can see the lines dictate the grade, with the side view 1-4 and the front & back -1 to 3, which would probably say the green is built into a hillside, from right to left, to a drop-off.

I finally understand this! (Trust me, it has been years of trying to understand it!) It also explains how Mac"K"*enzie utilized in his drawings, those same -/+'s on the green.

(*To my Aussie friends, It will always be the "Big K" for me!:)) Go ahead and let me have it!

[Tommy_Naccarato]

Mike,
Being somewhat aware of where Perth is, I was once watching a movie called, Under the lighthouse dancing starring the great Aussie actor, Jack Thompson. In reviewof the phenominal links-like location of this movie, I found that it had been taken on an island near Perth, and was totally enthralled looking for more pictures of the actually sandy and duney links that existed there. I assume this is what you are refering to, correct?

[Mike_Clayton]

Tommy
The land around Perth is probably the best land for golf in  a major Australian city. Sandy dunes covered in beautiful indigenous,low growing vegitation.
What is the pity is that so little was made of it.There is a new course - Kennedy Bay - that has quickly become the cities best and an example of what could have been achieved if Mackenzie had the time to visit.

[David_Elvins]

Mark and Mike,

I stumbled across a "History of Federal Golf Course" book today.  Apparently the story goes that the course was set out at Red Hill in 1949.  The site was going to be the home of the new Royal Canberra Golf Club when the original Royal Canberra course was taken over by the lake and Royal Canberra got Alex Russell to desing a course for the Red Hill site.  However they changed there mind and built at the current site instead.  Then Federal came along 20 years later and built their course on the Red Hill site.  I believe they it was done very cheaply with a bit of help from a guy in Sydney.  I think it can therefor be concluded that there is no Alister Mackenzie/Alex Russell link to Federal Golf Club.  

[Mark_Huxford]

Thanks David. I'll see what Hedley Ham comes up with. Things can get really confusing when you're talking about multiple clubs, multiple sites and possible name changes.

The Russell plans I have seen for Red Hill are from late 1927 and they must have either been built or snuffed out at the 11th hour because Russell got paid.



Mind you, Alex's son Philip replied to a questionnaire I sent him last year, stating that his father did do a course in Canberra but that it went under the lake!

I'll leave it to Hedley