Wayne, I have the opposite problem having seen MacRaynor's primarily in photos. The overall look is similar but I agree L/M looks more natural. Strategically, L/M on some courses have used MacDonald templates. At Lawsonia you don't see them but some have agrued 4 is a Redan (I disagree) and that 7 or 15 are shorts (well they are short). I would argue that nine presents a cape concept using long grass along the inside of the right swinging dogleg.
Dan:
I've always thought Lawsonia's par 3 4th and 7th are about as close as L/M got to using Raynor/Macdonald template holes that I've seen.
Here's George Bahto's description of a Short, from the GCA interview:
"2. Please briefly describe the matched set of par-3 holes the pair typically designed into their courses.
In the order of their length, we will start with the so-called 'Short', a fairly generic par-3 common to many courses in the British Isles long before Macdonald began his quest for the better holes in Europe. The 'Short' specifically tests the skills of the short-iron game. Macdonald always felt there was room for improvement in a golf hole, so he (and later Raynor) surrounded his versions of this genre' with a sea of sand - elevating the green to make the target more dramatic and intimidating. These Shorts were nearly always drawn as a squarish looking green with a larger surrounding enclosure indicating sand bunkering. The bunkering details would then be developed during the construction phase. Short hole putting surfaces were generally much wider than deep, containing strong undulations befitting a shorter hole. A horseshoe feature with the open end facing the tee or a rounded dished depression were mainstays of design. Two of their finest examples can be found at the wild 6th at National and 10th at Chicago Golf Club (where two depressions are separated by a ridge). The origin of the Macdonald/Raynor Short was the 5th at Brancaster. He favored this particular version over the 8th at St. Andrews because the tee-box was higher and afforded a clearer view of the green. Shorts were generally constructed 135 to 145 yards long but often clubs incorrectly added back tees in a pointless effort to gain yardage on the scorecard."
True, the 7th at Lawsonia lacks sand, and the quirky nature of the internal horseshoe (perhaps too many caveats for the purists like Pat Mucci), although the 7th does have a significant ridge bisecting the green. But my impression of a Short is that, broadly, it's a hole that requires a short iron of precision, with severe penalties for a miss. That seems to be what Raynor/Macdonald were getting at in terms of their concept for the hole, and the 7th in my mind certainly fits the bill. I think the 7th tips out at 161, but it's often played in the 140-145 range.
Here is the Redan description from the Bahto interview:
"What more accurate way to describe a 'Redan' than Macdonald's own words? 'Take a narrow tableland, tilt it a little from right to left, dig a deep bunker on the front side, approach it diagonally, and you have a Redan.' Bear in mind when Macdonald says 'tilt,' he means it. At National, hole #4 falls over five feet from front to rear. Redans are usually around 190 yards (a formidable distance in the early days of golf) with numerous strategic options depending on wind direction and course conditions: Fly it to the green if you are able, lay-up and chip on hoping to make three, hit a running shot at the banked area fronting the green or even play left of the Redan bunker hoping for a better approach angle (not recommended!). Behind the green are usually deep sand pits to catch aggressive play. To identify the best renditions, I would have to agree with this site's 'Discussion Group.' National's 4th and Piping Rock's 3rd are the most outstanding they built."
Absent the strong tilt, that certainly describes the 4th at Lawsonia. It tips at 203, plays at an angle, with the ability to hit short and chip/putt for par, and features a strong embankment-like bunker fronting left and traps back left and right for the overly aggressive shot. If not a Redan, it certainly seems Redan-esque.