Hi guys. regarding the mention in SoSA, that was not in MacKenzie's manuscript but was added by Sleeping Bear Press (according to Ray Haddock) in the publishing process for some reason. There are some hints but nothing definitive as to MacKenzie's involvement pre war in the Eden's construction. But he was definitely there post war when the course was being reworked. This is my draft entry for the Eden from my manuscript for my MacKenzie Courses book which I hope to get published some day. Make of it what you will.
The Eden Course
St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland
Not listed by DSH, Hawtree. C&W list as a new course from 1913 with H.S. Colt. Not listed in MacKenzie’s 1923 Brochure.
Possible involvement 1912-14, confirmed 1919-20
New course, possible assistance to H.S. Colt; later post-war construction visits as part of Colt, MacKenzie & Alison.
The design of a fourth course at St. Andrews – a new municipal course to complement the Old, the New and the Jubilee and to ease the pressure on the first two courses - was commissioned in 1912 by the St. Andrews Town Council, with Harry Colt chosen as the architect as part of a detailed agreement between the Royal & Ancient and the Town Council. The Town Council agreed to lease land to the south-west of the Old Course owned by James Cheape of Strathtyrum for £130 per annum for 25 years. Colt’s layout was somewhat compromised by Cheape’s refusal to lease the land that would have given an ideal third hole, thus necessitating a walk of 200 yards and a bridge crossing over the railway to get from the 2nd green to the 3rd tee. A further restriction was the inisistence by the R&A to retain a large triangular section of turfed ground north of the railway as a turf nursery. This forced Colt’s holes onto rougher ground to the north.
The new course was built by Colt’s preferred contractor Claude Harris from Franks Harris Bros., who utilised local labour, with £3,000 expended on the constructional work. A further £4,000 was spent on a water supply network to provide irrigation water to all four courses, to which the R&A also contributed. The new course opened on 2 July 1914, just prior to the outbreak of World War I. Colt’s bunkering was immediately criticized as too severe, with the 14th hole being described by G.S. Meiklejohn, a St. Andrews golfer who wrote an article on the new course for ‘Golf illustrated’ in their 17 July 1914 issue, as a “nightmare of bunkering.” Meiklejohn recorded that Colt had made a total of 88 bunkers across the new Eden course. Fred Hawtree suggested that Colt decided not to charge realistic fees for the Eden “and even had to be encouraged to charge his travelling expenses.”
In their book “The Life and Work of Dr Alister MacKenzie,” authors Doak, Scott and Haddock speculate that MacKenzie spent a lot of time in St Andrews while the Eden was being constructed and may have had a hand in constructing some of the more severe greens there, noting that “Originally, all of its four short holes featured stunningly contoured, outlandish greens, just as severe as some of those on The Old Course, if not more so. (In fact they’re more like the famous “Himalayas,” the St. Andrews Ladies’ Putting Green that adjoins the second tee of The Old Course and which MacKenzie admired in ‘Golf Architecture’.) What’s puzzling about these Eden course greens – today’s first, fifth and 14th – is that they are much more severe than anything Colt ever designed, before or after, and quite out of character for him.” The book then goes on to pose the question, “So how to explain the first green on the Eden Course? If Mackenzie didn’t strongly influence its creation, it very well may be that the design of that green influenced him, because from 1913 onward he became known for undulating greens so severe that they set his work apart.”
In his first book "Golf Architecture” (1920), MacKenzie provided no hint of any direct involvement with the Eden course and notes Colt as the architect. Some further “evidence” is contained in the trade edition of MacKenzie’s lost book ‘The Spirit of St. Andrews’ on page 10 where he mentions the Eden Course and after it, in parentheses, is the notation “(designed by MacKenzie and H. S. Colt).” According to Ray Haddock, grandson of MacKenzie’s second wife Hilda and the man responsible for rediscovering the lost manuscript, the trade edition of the book was edited by the publisher Sleeping Bear Press and not by him, with this credit being added by the publisher. This edition was "considerably edited" in his words and this credit does not appear in the limited collectors edition which was printed verbatim from the original manuscript.
Ray Haddock's comment to the author was that the Eden course was a Colt design with MacKenzie as his kind of assistant and he was on site during its construction. He did not advise though how he came to this conclusion.
At this time there is no known documentary evidence to support the notion of a pre-war involvement in the design and construction of the Eden Course by MacKenzie, especially given how busy MacKenzie was with his own projects through 1913 and 1914. However, his post-war involvement at the Eden is most certainly documented.
MacKenzie was present in St. Andrews at a limited professional tournament of 8 players sponsored by the Town Council with a purse of £155 - including all the big names of British professional golf such as Braid, Taylor, Vardon, Ray, Herd, Mitchell and Duncan – that was held over the Eden Course on Friday 27 June 1919, the course’s first big tournament test. MacKenzie was reported by ‘The Scotsman’ as being in attendance on the day of the tournament and the article stated that:
“One interesting opinion heard on Friday, when the professional tournament was played over the course, may be quoted. Dr Mackenzie, the well-known course architect, who was on the spot, described the Eden course as the second best in Scotland. The first, in his view, it need hardly be added, is also at St Andrews. His claim for the Eden course would probably be disputed in more than one locality. The other is more likely of general acceptance – J. H. Taylor notably excepted.”
This poses two questions - was he there at the Eden simply representing his new firm of Colt, Mackenzie & Alison in Harry Colt’s absence, or was he there because he also had an involvement in its design and construction prior to the war? These questions are almost impossible to answer.
J.H. Taylor led the criticisms of the new course, suggesting that there were certain holes on the course, such as the 14th, that were absurd and simply impossible to play properly.These criticisms, coming as they were from a number of quarters, both amateurs and professionals alike, forced the Town Council to consider alterations to the course. By this time MacKenzie was in partnership with Colt, and accordingly the new firm of Colt, Mackenzie & Alison was engaged to undertake them. The firm’s favourite contractor, Franks Harris Bros., who had constructed the course originally, was called back to undertake the necessary remodeling works. Whether MacKenzie was involved in formulating with Harry Colt the make-up of the alterations to the Eden course is not known, however, given that MacKenzie was there in St. Andrews in June 1919 to see how the course played during the professional tournament, it would seem likely that Colt, at the very least, asked him for his views.
The ‘Dundee Courier’ of 8 November 1919 listed the proposed alterations to the Eden Course that had been approved by the Town Links Committee, and these included:
“Nos. 1, 3 and 4 Holes - Formation of extended teeing ground and at the fourth the thinning out of whins around the green.
No. 5 – Thinning out whins on west side of fairway and making ground available for turf.
No. 6 – Thinning whins at two sides of green.
No. 7 – Extending teeing ground and thinning whins at back of green.
No. 12 – Extending of teeing ground.
No 18 – Returfing centre of green.
It is proposed to fill in the ground between the 9th and 14th greens, so as to make one large double green; also to lower the approach to No. 13 green by two feet and lower No. 14 green by two feet and widen the approach, but before doing so it was resolved to consult the architect Mr H. S. Colt, when he visits St. Andrews shortly.”
It would appear that the Town Links Committee came up with this list on their own, and while it is not known exactly what Colt proposed, it is known that he concurred with the extensive removal and thinning of the whins around the course, while reports from 1920 indicate that the 3rd and 4th greens likely came in for some remodeling as well.
MacKenzie did undertake a number of inspection visits during the remodeling of the Eden during 1920. A report in the ‘Yorkshire Post on 3 March 1920 about MacKenzie and his design activities, stated that:
“Last week, for example, he spent on the inspection of courses as wide apart as the new Eden course at St. Andrews and the very fine links that are being made at Felixstowe, with three or four others in between. He works in co-operation with Mr H. S. Colt, and they are jointly responsible, I imagine, for the greater number of the new courses that are now being made in the country.”
On 14 April 1920, MacKenzie wrote to his client at the Bury Golf Club, Norman Duxbury, in reference to the contractors Franks Harris Bros., “who are at present doing the New and Eden Courses at St. Andrews, Felixstowe, and several other courses for us.” He wrote again to Duxbury on 19 July that year, saying “I am just off to visit Courses at Troon, Pollok, the New & Eden Courses, St Andrews & Dinsdale Spa.” These are just two of his recorded visits to the New and Eden courses that were under reconstruction by the firm at the same time, and as MacKenzie had other projects in Scotland around this time it is considered quite likely that he undertook other visits to direct work during construction on both these courses during working visits to Scotland.