This club is famous for… being Alister MacKenzie’s first design
Think Dr Alister MacKenzie and a former nursery in Georgia, a club that hands out a green jacket every April, springs to mind.
Augusta National was the crowning achievement of the ex-surgeon, who carved out an international career as a course architect.
Cypress Point, Pasatiempo and Royal Melbourne are among his most celebrated achievements but it is in Leeds where his design brief first began.
MacKenzie was one of the founder members of The Alwoodley in 1907 and was made honorary secretary.
He laid out a course in quick time but it was not without incident that his innovative views would become commonplace.
MacKenzie had learned lessons of camouflage during a stint in the Boer War and transferred these to golf – using artificial features to blend in with hollows and mounds already in the natural setting.
It was a golfing illusion. Bunkers looked more fearsome than they were, blind shots altered your perspective. These were visual tricks that put doubt in the mind of the player.
MacKenzie admitted the ‘worry’ his ideas caused among the new Alwoodley fraternity – writing in The Spirit of St Andrews that: “every committee meeting was a dog fight, and on many occasions we nearly came to blows”.
The first medals had already been played when Harry Colt, the most famous designer of the day, came to visit the course at the end of July 1907.
It seems his chief task was to soothe concerns and, given how closely aligned his views on design were with the Dr, the latter’s fledgling career received a timely boost as alterations were implemented over the following couple of years.
What remains now is a remarkable testament to MacKenzie’s talents, when you consider it was effectively his first go.
The 10th, a sweeping dogleg with a green sitting at the bottom, was an early model for Augusta’s famous 13th.
The subsequent par 3 encapsulates everything that is great about MacKenzie in around 150 glorious yards.
And while he became a prolific designer, and travelled all over the world, his link with Alwoodley remained.
He was club captain and also stayed on the green committee until relocating to the United States.
There, he would firmly establish his legacy. But it was in a corner of Leeds where the master of Augusta took his first steps.
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Steve Carroll
A journalist for 25 years, Steve has been immersed in club golf for almost as long. A former club captain, he has passed the Level 3 Rules of Golf exam with distinction having attended the R&A's prestigious Tournament Administrators and Referees Seminar.
Steve has officiated at a host of high-profile tournaments, including Open Regional Qualifying, PGA Fourball Championship, English Men's Senior Amateur, and the North of England Amateur Championship. In 2023, he made his international debut as part of the team that refereed England vs Switzerland U16 girls.
A part of NCG's Top 100s panel, Steve has a particular love of links golf and is frantically trying to restore his single-figure handicap. He currently floats at around 11.
Steve plays at Close House, in Newcastle, and York GC, where he is a member of the club's matches and competitions committee and referees the annual 36-hole scratch York Rose Bowl.
Having studied history at Newcastle University, he became a journalist having passed his NTCJ exams at Darlington College of Technology.
What's in Steve's bag: TaylorMade Stealth 2 driver, 3-wood, and hybrids; Caley 01T irons 4-PW; TaylorMade Hi-Toe wedges, Ping ChipR, Sik Putter.
