[Jay Flemma]

I'm writing a piece about the Pacific NW and heard about an archie named Arthur Vernon Macan.

What do you all know about him, beside that he was a scratch golfer, had a leg amputated and then went back to being a scratch golfer again?  What about "Honolulu Golf Club"?  How about his other public or private designs?

Tx.

[Craig Van Egmond]

Jay,

       Jeff Mingay has gathered a lot of info on Mr. Macan and his courses.

       

[Paul Stephenson]

Link to Nanaimo Golf Club's site with some information.

http://www.nanaimogolfclub.ca/macan.htm

[Jay Flemma]

That's good stuff...but what do we think about the architecture of the courses he built.  What's worth a look-see?

I did hear something interesting - he's credited with inventing a drainage system called the "herringbone."  My GUESS...and its jjust a guess here is that they mean the fish skeleton, not the clothing style.  Any archies wanna comment?

[Michael Dugger]

Jay

The "Herringbone" is the staple of all green drainage.

Yes, it looks like a fish skeleton.                                    

[Doug Wright]

Jay,

If you can plug Macan into the GCA.com Advanced Search feature you'll get a lot of hits on Macan. IM me if you need help with this.

As mentioned, Jeff Mingay is an authority on Macan. Below is a link to an article Jeff Mingay wrote on him that appeared in LINKS magazine.

http://www.mingaygolf.com/vernon_macan.html

Here is a thread on Macan:

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forums2/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=19185;start=msg350749#msg350749

Perusing the archives it looks like he was a very good GCA. One apparent quirk is that he did clay models of his courses--has anyone else done that? I particularly liked these Macan quotes.

"Today, the uninformed believe a green should be constructed with the slope from back to front, so that it will retain the ball," he said. "In brief, this suggests the shot should be a mechanical operation and the result a mathematical certainty. This is not the game of golf. Golf was not conceived as a mechanical operation but rather full of fun and adventure. Many things could happen to the ball after it pitched on the green. The ill-happenings were not regarded as ill-fortune or ill-luck, but part of the adventure, and the more skilled found methods to overcome the risks of ill-fortune."

"I personally could ask for no better compliment than for a course I have designed to be criticized as calling for a maximum of golfing brain power," he vehemently added.

 

[Jay Flemma]

nice!  That was beautiful!  Thanks doug.

[David Stamm]

Perusing the archives it looks like he was a very good GCA. One apparent quirk is that he did clay models of his courses--has anyone else done that?  
 

 

Doug, Thomas shows a photo of one in his book of the 11th at TOC. It was to be used for the Fox Hills CC (NLE). I seem to remember others. I'll check and see.

[Patrick Schultheis]

He designed both Inglewood and Broadmoor in the Seattle area.  Both are fine courses, with terrific green complexes.

[Sean_Tully]

Mingay has some info on Macan, but he owes some of that to a very nice man up in Vancouver that is writing a book on Macan at this very moment. Last time I talked to him he was working hardf and was coming close to finishing it.

Macan is one of those forgotten guys from the Golden age. He may have been one of the longest running architects having started in 1913-4 and ending in 1965. He liked front to back slope on some of his greens to foster a ground game. There is more, but I don't want to get anything too wrong.

Tully

[Rich Goodale]

san GERONIMO!!!!!

[Bob Jenkins]

I do not have my books with me at work but Macan designed a lot of courses in this part of the world, ie Pacific Northwest and southwestern B.C.

Those included Marine Drive Golf Club and (if I am correct) the current Shaughnessy site, both in Vancouver, Royal Colwood in Victoria, Broadmoor in Seattle and others in the Tacoma area. All of those clubs remain stalwarts, all are built out of heavily treed areas which are common in this part of the world. Shaughnessy is probably the best known and would have been one of his later efforts. It hosted the 1966 and 2005 Canadian Opens and stood up well. It is difficult to point out distinguishing features but it is not target golf at all. You can run the ball up and onto most of the greens as I recall. The other feature would be that there are few "severe" features, ie no drastic elevation changes, nothing that could be considered unconventional.

Who is writing the book on Macan?

[Wayne_Kozun]

This summer I played two Macan courses in Victoria BC - Victoria Golf Club and Royal Colwood.  Both were very good golf courses.  Victoria Golf Club is very tight and quirky but it has some fantastic holes along the ocean.

[Mike Wagner]

Jay:

He designed my former club, Inglewood.  It's a fantastic golf course and someone recently published a book on it's history.  There is information about AV in there, and, if you're intersted, I can put you in touch with the writer.

Mike

[Bob Jenkins]

Wayne,

I had always thought that Macan designed or at least contributed to changes at the Victoria Golf Club but as I recall from the club history I picked up, he was not involved. I will check it tonight. He certainly did a great job at Royal Colwood over there and I gather there have been few if any changes of significance since it opened.

On another matter locally, Doug Carrick has been retained to design the new nine at Predator Ridge near Vernon and to modify some holes on the Peregrine nine. The new nine will go into the hills to the west and look down towards Lake Okanagan. This will leave the resort with 36. To date, all 27 had been designed by Les Furber but the new owners of the resort went with Carrick.

[Jeff_Mingay]

Tully's right. I have quite a bit of info. on Macan, most of which is attributable to the research of Mike Riste, a volunteer at the British Columbia Golf Museum, Vancouver. Mike has a great interest in Macan and has collected a lot of material about his life and works.

I have a dated manuscript that Mike wrote (it must be more than five years old now). I hadn't heard he was going ahead with modifying the manuscript for publication. The problem with a Macan book is the market. Macan's work is confined to the Pacific Northwest. Outside this geographic area, very few people will have an interest in Macan. However, it would be a great project for the PNGA to take on.

Macan is a fascinating character. Both is life and works are very interesting. However, based on my own research and travels, his golf course architecture has been erased in more places its been genuinely preserved.

[Marty Bonnar]

Jay,
'Herringbone' drainage refers to the layout of the pipes:

_/_/_/_
  \  \  \

Hope that looks the same on everyone else's screen as it does on mine!

FBD.

[Tyler Kearns]

Jeff,

My club has a reciprocal arrangement with Richmond CC, a Macan course in the Vancouver suburbs. I finally took advantage of that deal this summer, and while I do not know if it is a design trait at his other courses, I was very impressed with the false edges to his greens. Some serious contours that can really complicate recovery shots, especially when one is not willing to accept having to make a 10-15 footer for par. The greens weren't particularily large to begin with, so accuracy on the approach shots is amplified.

TK

[David_Tepper]

I played A.V. Macan's San Geronimo course (Marin County, CA) just this morning.  I have played it 4 or 5 times a years for the past 6-8 years. It was given a face-lift by Robert Muir Graves about 25 years ago, but the routing was pretty much left in tact.

I think it is a very good routing and a very well designed course. I would certainly look forward to playing other Macan courses.

[Mike Benham]

Wasn't he involved in the Cal Club?

[Jeff_Mingay]

Tyler,

I haven't been to Richmond CC in several years now, but I remember thinking the greens were kinda like mini versions of the turtlebacks at Pinehurst No. 2. They're very severe, aren't they.

I do know that Macan designed/built the Richmond course some time in the early 1950s, I think; and that he had very little money to do so... $150,000, or thereabouts, comes to mind.

As you know, the Richmond property is FLAT. My theory is, without resources required to move much earth, Macan simply created some wild greens as a simple means to make for relatively interesting golf. The course isn't great, but it's certainly memorable because of the greens.

Re Cal Club. Macan was involved there. If my memory serves correctly, he redesigned the club's original course some time during the 1920s. Shortly thereafter, Cal Club brought Mackenzie in to do more redesign work.  

[Patrick Kiser]

Rich / David,

I get out to San Geronimo often enough as well.  Buddy of mine lives in Mill Valley so we tend to play there or Foxtail.

The routing is pretty decent + very walkable, but I'm not surprised that something's been done to it ... besides throwing up homes more and more.  I don't think the greens are radical at all.  Could those have been changed?

I'm curious to know if the 10th tee box is the original location or not.  Also, the "blind" one.  There's just not much landing area for that one.  I get the feeling they let the right side of the fairway grow back in or something.  Do we know if that is also original Macan?

[Pat Howard]

while I do not know if it is a design trait at his other courses, I was very impressed with the false edges to his greens. Some serious contours that can really complicate recovery shots, especially when one is not willing to accept having to make a 10-15 footer for par.

I haven't been to Richmond CC in several years now, but I remember thinking the greens were kinda like mini versions of the turtlebacks at Pinehurst No. 2. They're very severe, aren't they.

It seems to be one of his design traits. We have nine greens here at Overlake that, while not built up, have false fronts or severe slopes off of the front that will allow the ball to roll back 10-15 yds or more into the fairway. And this is on a course that is VERY flat.

Holes 1,2,6,7,8,9,10,11 and 18 all result in a chip shot back onto the green if the approach lands on the front portion with any spin at all.

On a side note, it's nice to see Macan getting a little attention around here lately. As mentioned in another post, he's one of the Golden Age boys whose work is largely forgotten because the bulk of it is here in the NW.

[David_Tepper]

Patrick K. -

I could not say how much of San Geronimo now is "original" Macan vs. the Muir Graves face-lift of 15-20 years ago. I would bet the routing is very much as Macan did it.

The biggest (and worst) change to the course was on the 9th hole, which I think is now the weakest hole on the course in GCA terms. The 9th tee was much further forward and the hole used to play as a 90-degree dogleg right up to where the practice putting green now is located.

As I really don't know what Macan's "style" is when it comes to designing greens, I cannot say whether the current greens at San G. are of his style or not. While not radical, I think the current greens have a good amount of slope and contour. Two-putting from 20 ft. on most of the greens is rarely a given and you can wind up with many 3 & 4 foot putts that have a cup or two of break.

Even with the new homes built on the back nine, San Geronimo can offer a very tranquil & serene feeling, especially considering it is barely 20 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge.

DT    

[Bill_McBride]

Columbia-Edgewater in Portland is a very solid course designed by Macan in 1925.  The members are very appreciative of having a Golden Age course designed by a well regarded architect, but I'm not sure there's much left of old AVM but the original routing.

If the greens are his original contours, he was really good at internal contours on smaller greens.  The original aerials of the course naturally show unwooded acreage; today there are way too many trees, including over 100 giant Sequoias that were planted in the '60s.  

Today the conditions are good.  Fast greens, pretty firm fairways for Portland with a whole lot of underground drainage installed.  Most holes favor a left to right tee ball.  The LPGA plays there every fall.

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