"How COUNTRY LIFE Changed the Face of Golf"

[David_Tepper]

The April 2 issue of Country Life magazine has a nice article, as titled above, about how Dr. A. Mackenzie's winning of a contest, sponsored by the magazine, in 1914 to design a golf hole was the springboard for his career as a GCA. The article talks a bit about his design philosophy and has a nice picture of his contest winning design. 

I am not sure if the article is available on the Country Life website. I will check on that.

[Jim Nugent]

The article is on online, at http://www.countrylife.co.uk/countryside/article/532296/How-Country-Life-changed-the-face-of-golf.html#kgUrEkuLB8Lw0gDv.99

Most interesting part for me is where Mackenzie says, "‘My ideas on golf course construction have been mercilessly criticised and condemned and it has taken me nearly 10 years to persuade the public that there is anything in my views... The whole secret of successful course construction and concealment in trench making consists in making artificial features indistinguishable from Natural ones and I have daily been attempting to imitate Nature.'

[Niall C]

David

Many thanks for the link, it makes interesting reading. I'd like to reread the camouflage article again to see the context for the above mentioned quote. In the meantime a couple of comments;

MacKenzie had a solid body of work before he entered the Country Life comp and was well known to anyone reading the golf press in the UK where he was more often than not referred to as "Dr MacKenzie of Leeds". Bear in mind also that at that time he was swimming in a much smaller pool in that there wasn't many "amateur" gca's, that's to say gca's who weren't professional golfers. There was MacKenzie, Colt, Fowler and Simpson who were doing anything other than designing their own courses. That's undoubtedly an exageration on my part, but I suspect not by much. Either way he was certainly not plucked from obscurity by winning the CL comp.

It should also be noted that Fowler was one of the judges and that because of this Simpson declined to enter the comp due to his professional relationship with Fowler. He did however design his own hole anyway which was published alongside MacKenzies design and the other top losing entries.

I dare say that MacKenzie got a bit more renown on the back of the comp, particularly overseas, but given that WW1 was just around the corner it's debatable whether he got any material advantage out of it. All in all, not quite the game changer that the article suggests IMHO.

Niall
 

[David_Tepper]

Jim N. -

Thanks for finding the link to the article.

DT

[Neil_Crafter]

As Niall indicated Mackenzie was one of the top UK architects prior to WW1 so he was not plucked from obscurity by this contest although it must have given him a boost. How they let a practising architect win such a contest is another matter !

[Duncan Cheslett]

How they let a practising architect win such a contest is another matter !

Probably because by the standards of the time MacKenzie was consiidered an amateur golf course designer, his profession being a medical doctor. He would thus be considered a considerable cut above a lowly professional such as Braid.

Do we know when Dr Mac actually started getting paid for his work? Presumably at Alwoodley and Moortown he worked for no fee as a founder member of both clubs, and there is no suggestion that Reddish Vale paid him anything either other than possibly travel expenses. He was asked to advise here in his capacity as Captain of Alwoodley - and I am sure that even a Yorkshire-born Scot in 1912 would have baulked at compromiising his position as a 'gentleman' by invoicing for advice given.

He doesn't seem to have really got the bit between his teeth as a jobbing architect until 1913 at the very earliest.

[Tom_Doak]

Do we know when Dr Mac actually started getting paid for his work? Presumably at Alwoodley and Moortown he worked for no fee as a founder member of both clubs, and there is no suggestion that Reddish Vale paid him anything either other than possibly travel expenses. He was asked to advise here in his capacity as Captain of Alwoodley - and I am sure that even a Yorkshire-born Scot in 1912 would have baulked at compromiising his position as a 'gentleman' by invoicing for advice given.

He doesn't seem to have really got the bit between his teeth as a jobbing architect until 1913 at the very earliest.

Duncan:

That's a good question, to which I don't know the answer.

Certainly on all his work before W.W. I [and for a while after], Dr. MacKenzie's work was limited to "consulting".  He would make a visit of one or two days, and prepare a report and possibly a routing or greens plans.  In fact, that is how he worked for most of his career; but I don't know when he started getting paid for it, and then later exactly when he started getting paid SUBSTANTIALLY for it, instead of just for a day or two of his time.

[Niall C]

Duncan/Tom

I'd take a guess and say that MacKenzie got paid from quite early on.

From memory, around about the time of Alwoodley and Moortown, there was a stooshie in the golfing press following an article by Harry Fulford who was a professional golfer. The gist of Fulfords article was that "amateur" architects were taking the livelihood from professional golfers by taking on work in golf course design, and secondly that by being paid these non-golf professional architects should no longer be considered amateurs. From memory he didn’t name names but alluded to a couple of prominent amateurs which I take to be Fowler and Colt.

Clearly Colt thought that he was being referred to and wrote a letter in response refuting Fulfords suggestions and making a case for why he should be paid for his endeavours, why he was still an amateur golfer and why golf course design shouldn’t be restricted to just professional golfers. I don’t recall Fowler responding but interestingly there was a letter signed from Hon. Sec of Yorkshire club, or something like that, that was in support of Colt. I’d be very surprised if this letter wasn’t from MacKenzie.

It seems likely therefore, to me at any rate, that MacKenzie would have taken his lead from Colt (and Fowler) and taken payment for his efforts. Later on when MacKenzie and his brother set up the golf construction company, MacKenzie would often pitch on the basis that best results would be obtained by the architect working with the contractor and would put forward his brothers company and suggest rolling the fees into the construction contract (Duff House Royal and Hazelhead are two examples, both after WW1).

I suspect Neil might have some examples of fees paid for work prior to WW1.

Niall

[Duncan Cheslett]

Certainly on all his work before W.W. I [and for a while after], Dr. MacKenzie's work was limited to "consulting".  He would make a visit of one or two days, and prepare a report and possibly a routing or greens plans.  In fact, that is how he worked for most of his career

Most of his contemporaries appear to have worked in much the same way, and many of the courses produced in this era are clearly none the worse for such a light touch.

By the 1920s however, things had clearly changed. Dr Mackenzie was a regular visitor to Cavendish throughout its construction from 1923 to 1925. Was this simply because his client was the Duke of Devonshire, or had the role of course designer morphed into that of project manager following the war? Was it no more than a way of a designer maximisiing his earning potential?

Were better courses produced as a result?

The 'Course in a Day' idea intrigues me. Have you ever had the opportunity to work in this way, Tom?

[Niall C]

Duncan

See my answer above.

From what I’ve seen it was largely a two stage process whereby MacKenzie made an initial visit and reported back with ideas and proposal that included further site visits to supervise work. He got paid separately for further visits. As mentioned previously where he got his brothers construction company the gig to build the course he sometimes rolled his fees into the construction contract. Consequently on quite a few of his designs he made a number of visits.

I think this was similar to other gca’s of the time, with the exception that others might not have a tie up with a particular contractor.

Niall

[Bill_McBride]

Certainly on all his work before W.W. I [and for a while after], Dr. MacKenzie's work was limited to "consulting".  He would make a visit of one or two days, and prepare a report and possibly a routing or greens plans.  In fact, that is how he worked for most of his career

Most of his contemporaries appear to have worked in much the same way, and many of the courses produced in this era are clearly none the worse for such a light touch.

By the 1920s however, things had clearly changed. Dr Mackenzie was a regular visitor to Cavendish throughout its construction from 1923 to 1925. Was this simply because his client was the Duke of Devonshire, or had the role of course designer morphed into that of project manager following the war? Was it no more than a way of a designer maximisiing his earning potential?

Were better courses produced as a result?

The 'Course in a Day' idea intrigues me. Have you ever had the opportunity to work in this way, Tom?

Duncan, are Mackenzie's visits to Cavendish based on club minutes or other original source material?   I just looked at the timeline of Mackenzie's travels found in the "In My Opinion" section.   I'm sure the authors would love to add those visits to the timeline. 

[Niall C]

Bill

Thanks for thinking of the MacKenzie research group. Not sure which version of the Timeline you looked at but I'm pretty sure the timeline is up to date with Cavendish, unless of course Duncan knows better.

Niall

[Bill_McBride]

Bill

Thanks for thinking of the MacKenzie research group. Not sure which version of the Timeline you looked at but I'm pretty sure the timeline is up to date with Cavendish, unless of course Duncan knows better.

Niall

Niall, I was looking at the article in the "In My Opinion" section here.  Not much in that 1923-1925 period and no mention of Cavendish.  Perhaps you can post a link to the updated version.  

[Adam Lawrence]

Richard Atherton, the Cavendish historian, is one of the key members of the MacKenzie research group.

[Niall C]

Bill

I'm sure Neil Crafter or Sean Tully started a thread with a link to the latest version of the Tiumelinbe however if you can't find that then simply google MacKenzie Timeline and that should get you there.

Niall

[Duncan Cheslett]

Bill

Thanks for thinking of the MacKenzie research group. Not sure which version of the Timeline you looked at but I'm pretty sure the timeline is up to date with Cavendish, unless of course Duncan knows better.

Niall

Niall, I was looking at the article in the "In My Opinion" section here.  Not much in that 1923-1925 period and no mention of Cavendish.  Perhaps you can post a link to the updated version.  

Bill,

I checked with the Timeline before making my post. Dr Mac made regular - almost monthly at times - visits to Cavendish during 1923 -1925.

The Timeline can be downloaded here;

http://www.alistermackenzie.co.uk/history

Now don't get me wrong - I love Cavendish - but I don't think it is a "better" course than certain others at which MacKenzie spent only a fraction of the time.

Given what we know of the good doctor's predilictions would it be cynical of me to suspect that there might have been other reasons why he wanted to visit Buxton quite so often? It's not the easiest journey from Leeds and would no doubt have neccesitated an overnight stay...

 

[Bill_McBride]

He was a bit of a philanderer, eh?

[Neil_Crafter]

Mackenzie's design career started with Alwoodley where he was the Hon. Secretary, and then developed when he was asked to lay out the nearby Moortown course - where he was a Vice-president of the new club. I do not believe he charged these two clubs a fee. But after that his services came in demand more through 1911 and 1912. By 1913 he was starting to get quite busy, and here we see the first evidence of his fees, which were typically 10 guineas including expenses for a day visit and 5 guineas per day thereafter, we see this for his courses at Silloth, City of Newcastle, Darlington and Headingley. At the latter he charged them 50 pounds to superintend their work, with 25 pounds upfront and 25 upon completion.

In 1913 alone we have recorded around 12 projects he was undertaking that year, with a similar number in 1914. So he was far more than a part-timer in the period prior to WW1 and sometime prior to the war he must have made a decision to significantly wind back his medical commitments, if I had to guess I'd say around 1912.

yes we are well up to date with Cavendish thanks to visit to the Chatsworth Archives by Richard Atherton. These are the archives of the Duke of Devonshire's various estates. A very detailed record of correspondence to and from Mackenzie (and his brother Charles who built the course) about the design and construction of this course, which makes it, along with Bury and Hazlehead, one of the best documented Mac courses anywhere.

Hope this helps. Neil.

[Niall C]

Thanks Neil but I think what Bill wants to know is how much philandering did MacKenzie do in 1912 and did he charge ?

Niall

[Ronald Montesano]

I'd like to know "How Country Life Faced The Change Of Golf."

[Bill_McBride]

Thanks Neil but I think what Bill wants to know is how much philandering did MacKenzie do in 1912 and did he charge ?

Niall

 

[Niall C]

Ronald

Although I don't think they spell it out in the article, Country Life are blowing there own trumpet regarding the hole design comp that MacKenzie won and insuating that changed the face of golf in so much as it helped to launch MacKenzie. As I said in an earlier post, I think they overstate the impact on MacKenzies career as well as over estimating the impact of the comp.

Niall

[DMoriarty]

Niall,  

If the article overstates the importance of winning the contest to Dr. Mac's design career, it is following Dr. Mac's lead on the matter. From Spirit of St. Andrews, the caption underneath the award-winning drawing:

"The ideal two shot hole that launched my golf architecture career.  C.B. Macdonald and Bernard Darwin awarded this design first place in Country Life magazine.  July 25, 1914."

[Niall C]

David

Assuming that quote is from MacKenzie then I do find it a bit surprising however I stand by my comments earlier that he was already up and running by 1914 and that the advent of WW1 would have dampened the impact of the comp. I can imagine it might have been a significant calling card in somewhere like the US given the use of the hole design at Lido, however MacKenzie didn't get there until over a decade later.

The other thing I would say with regards the article headline, is that while it may or may not have boosted MacKenzie's career, the suggestion that this was a pivotal groundbreaking point in golf course design is perhaps overstating it also. There was a lot more architectural stuff in the mags back then so I doubt the idea of strategic golf holes was new. That's just my opinion.

Niall

[Sean_A]

I don't know; Dr Mac was only just breaking out of small time northern projects in 1914.  Winning this contest would likely have been a feather in his cap and make it possible to charge mo dough.  WWI cuts Dr Mac off at the pass, but he lands on his feet with a Colt partnership when all is said and done.  I am not saying Dr Mac wasn't going to make it, but surely the contest helped quite a bit.

Ciao