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Alister Mackenzie




MacKenzie was taught at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield and trained as a doctor and served in the Second Boer War . He then left medicine and began to design golf courses in the United Kingdom in association with H.S. Colt . He was not a good golfer, and was one of the first men who had not been a leading player to become a prominent course designer. He published his book, ''Golf Architecture'' in 1920. In the 1920s he emigrated to the United States , and he carried out his most notable work there, while continuing to design courses outside the US.

MacKenzie worked in the era before large scale earth moving became a feature of golf course construction and his designs are notable for their sensitivity to the nature of the site. He is celebrated for his ability to produce holes with an ideal balance of risk and reward, and for his knack of producing courses which both challenge and accommodate golfers with differing levels of skill.

There is a biography by Tom Doak , ''The Life and Work of Dr. Alister MacKenzie.''


SELECTED COURSES

  • was MacKenzie's first design in America.




  • The Old Course at layout on a stunning oceanside site. He left in a blind par 3 just for history's sake.




  • '' in 2005.






  • chose MacKenzie ahead of Donald Ross to co-design the only course in the world which stages a Major Championship every year. Rated the second greatest course in America by '' Golf Digest '' in 2005.