35 design through his warning not to “seek an original idea in designing a golf course”. Instead, seek out the natural ground and find inspiration in what has worked in the past while also making each site its own. Through adapting sound golf architecture principles found in such famous holes such as Sahara, Alps, Redan, The Road Hole, and Eden, Macdonald showed the world how fun golf can be and how important it is to derive strategy from the ground. Ironically, though, it was his original holes (composed of bits and pieces elsewhere) such as Short and his Cape hole which were the more successful and long-lasting. In fact, MacDonald’s Cape was the precursor to Robert Trent Jones’ heroic school of design long before RTJ made the idea his own. Before NGLA, most golf designers in America simply placed rudimentary features on the ground with little regard for the natural features of a property. The result was less than exciting. Frankly, it was mostly penal and dull. MacDonald’s goal was to take the art of golf architecture in America out from what Tom Simpson referred to as the Dark Ages of golf architecture and into something else – the Golden Age. Golf architects the world over have responded ever since. He hit a nerve for us all that lasted more than a century. Is it any surprise we all think so highly of the place? Thanks Mr. MacDonald for the everlasting lesson in golf course design known as the National Golf Links of America. 6-4 Augusta National Georgia, USA Alister MacKenzie, Bobby Jones, 1933 Eric Iverson of Renaissance Golf Design says: “At its core is a brilliantly routed course that uses topography, in large scale as well as contours in and around greens, to drive the strategy of the course, with very few bunkers, particularly in its earlier iterations. Ignore the azaleas, dogwoods, perfect turf, all of which have had a questionable impact on golf. What I see is the rare golf course that can reward superior ball striking from the likes of Nicklaus and the creativity and swashbuckling recovery style of Seve in equal measure – all the while providing a thoroughly enjoyable experience for the members immediately before and after the event. Any 18 handicappers care to have a go at Muirfield or Oakmont two weeks before those Opens? Although unspoken, the idea of Augusta remains among the strongest inspirations for our work: finding and playing one’s ball from nearly anywhere, contour rather than hazards the primary driver of strategy, and abundant short grass from which to craft creative shots for recovery play.” Photo: Evan Schiller - www.golfshots.com ARCHITECTS’ CHOICE #4 Placed in top ten by 40% of architects Placed at No.1 by 6% of architects Royal County Down County Down, Northern Ireland George Baillie, Tom Morris, 1889 Mike Wood says: “Its quirks, including the blind drives, are all the result of the original dune landscape, not from the hand of the architect. The golfing landscape works at every level: in detail – the distinctive bunker style with fringes of dune grasses and heather (the template for mostly inferior imitations throughout the world), on a larger scale – the almost total visual isolation of each hole, each within its own topographic setting, and at the largest scale – some of the most inspiring offcourse views imaginable, perhaps uniquely combining coastline with immediately adjacent and impressive mountains.” Graham Cooke adds: “Royal County Down is a wondrous course, each new hole greatly anticipated by the golfer. At any time the scenery of deep wind-blown vegetation, startling, powerful dunes or the quiet procession of gentle waves reaching the Irish coast are there for the golfer to absorb.”
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