S cotland’s Prestwick Golf Club, birthplace of the Open Championship, was also the site of the first Alps Hole. Old Tom Morris introduced the concept at Prestwick’s original second hole, now the seventeenth, and his mentee C. B. MacDonald brought the template to the United States.
The template is called an Alps because a large hill or mountain blocks the player’s approach and view of the green on his or her second shot.
Many of the best Alps holes have punchbowl greens because of the blind nature of the shot, making it less penal. The green often sits in the hollow of the mountain (like the original) and has a bit of a bank behind to help with long shots.
The first Alps Macdonald built, this one features a diagonal left-to-right fairway, adding interest from the tee. Of the hole, Tom Doak said, “Macdonald’s third hole at National Golf Links was not just an homage to the Alps at Prestwick, but an improvement on the hole.” It takes a true golf genius to improve on anything from Prestwick.
Our Sir Nick Faldo-designed golf course is rated the #1 golf course in Montana by Golf Weekly and #42 ranked golf course in the nation by Golf Digest.
architect C.B. MacdonaldThis is where golf architect Seth Raynor got his start. A civil engineer by training, he surveyed holes for architect C.B. Macdonald, who scientifically designed National Golf Links as a fusion of his favorite features from grand old British golf holes.
Who is the person above who designed the original Redan hole at North Berwick? The above hole is the 15th at Camargo Club in Cincinnati, Ohio which was designed by Seth Raynor.
The Victoria Golf Club, founded in 1893, is the oldest 18-hole golf course in Canada in its original location, and second oldest in North America. The course began as 14 holes but quickly expanded to 18 in 1895.
1908The National was founded in 1908 under the leadership of Charles B. Macdonald. The golf course was constructed with the assistance of Southampton engineer, Seth Raynor.
GOLF Link is the Australian national computerised handicapping service provided by Golf Australia (GA). GOLF Link commenced operation in 1999 and it calculates all official Australian handicaps. The system centralises handicaps nationally.
A hole with a severe dogleg (up to 90° from tee to green) around a large water hazard or similar obstacle; the golfer must decide how much of the hazard to carry with his tee shot – more carry means more risk, but results in a shorter approach to the green if executed properly.
Specifically, a Redan hole has a green which slopes downwards and away from the point of entrance, typically the front right portion of the green. Links golf is played on the ground as much as in the air and, consequently, the green slopes away from the golfer playing to the green from the tee or fairway.
A punchbowl green is what name indicates — a massive bowl or hollow that funnels shots towards the center. The edges of the green corral shots a little off-line and bring them back to the putting surface. They vary in size, shape, and distance, but they also provide a unique playing experience to a golf course.
the Montreal Golf ClubThe first golf club in Canada was the Montreal Golf Club, founded in Nov 1873 by Scotsman Alexander Dennistoun; he was also the first president and the captain of the club.
Niagara Golf Club circa 1875 This is the oldest surviving golf course in North America.
300 golf coursesBritish Columbia is home to more than 300 golf courses, from city-based beauties and wave-lashed gems on Vancouver Island to Okanagan desert greens and mountain-high tees in the Kootenay Rockies.
S cotland’s Prestwick Golf Club, birthplace of the Open Championship, was also the site of the first Alps Hole. Old Tom Morris introduced the concept at Prestwick’s original second hole, now the seventeenth, and his mentee C. B. MacDonald brought the template to the United States.
The most famous of the Alps template in America is National Golf Links’s 3rd hole. From the start, a player is thrown off with the diagonal fairway that is heavily bunkered short and long, making a precise tee shot a must. A tee shot to the left will shorten the hole but makes the approach even more uphill. Tee shots down the right side will leave a less severe approach over the Alps hill and a peek at the green. The subtle punchbowl green is guarded by deep bunkering short of the putting surface.
The first demand the Alps hole requires the player is to find the fairway. The blind approach is a difficult one so it pays to play with full control of your shot. A good tee shot will leave a mid-iron approach where long is better than short. The punchbowl green will funnel a slightly long shots back to the green, while one that comes up short will find the treacherous front Sahara bunkering.
No. 4 at Fishers Island is arguably the greatest hole on Seth Raynor’s masterpiece. Favoring the right side of the fairway yields the best approach but also brings the risk of the shore into play. On the blind approach, players must judge the pin position off of the flagpole in the distance. The punchbowl green is one of the largest in the Raynor/Macdonald portfolio. It features a subtle spine on the back half, which makes almost every pin a bit more challenging.
The Raynor design in Cincinnati has a great uphill Alps hole in its 427 yard seventh hole. The blind second shot at Camargo to a punchbowl green still has the original hidden Sahara bunkers to snag any poorly struck mid-iron approach shots. A look at the sahara bunkers that guard the front of Camargo's 7th green.
A modern twist on the Alps template lies at Applebrook Golf Club, a Gil Hanse design in Malvern, PA. The 3rd hole at Applebrook is a drivable par-4 that features a blind shot from the tee. If a player lays up, they will be faced with another blind approach to the green. For those who attempt to drive the green, the goal is to carry the Sahara bunker that sits about 265 yards from the tee. If executed, a good shot will then funnel into the giant punchbowl complex. Chips from around the green are very challenging due to the severity of the depressed punchbowl.
Dubbed “Big Ben,” the seventh is the signature hole at Seth Raynor’s great layout at Morris County. The club recently restored the hole to its original glory by bringing back its great punchbowl green complex, and the bunkering behind the green makes players wary of going long.
Macdonald enlisted Henry Wigham (1896 and 1897 US Amateur Champion) and a number of other aids, including Devereux Emmet (another pioneering US golf course architect), to implement Raynor’s maps and Macdonald’s drawings.
Macdonald coined the phrase “Golf Architecture” in 1901 and proclaims himself the “Father of American Golf Architecture”. The following year, Macdonald made his first of several trips to Europe, studying and sketching Britain’s best golf holes.
Upon returning to the USA in 1907, Macdonald enlisted 70 members, who each paid $1,000, and he set about purchasing a suitable site for his ideal course.
The “Father of Golf Architecture”, Charles Blair Macdonald and his associate, Seth Raynor, originally laid out the Mid Ocean Club course and it opened for play in 1924 adjacent to the Atlantic. Read More >>. Average Reviewers Score:
At this point, Macdonald was 68 years old and his co-design with Raynor had already started in 1923 at the Mid Ocean Club in Bermuda. In 1924, Charles Banks visited Bermuda and assisted Raynor with course construction. It is thought that Mid Ocean is the only course where the three collaborated.
Charles Blair Macdonald designed Piping Rock in 1911 and right from the off, he was up against fierce competition because polo was the sport of the day here at Locust Valley on Long Island.
From The Story of American Golf by Herbert Warren Wind: “Early golf in Chicago is the story of one man, Charles Blair Macdonald, who was recognized by all who knew him, and by Charles Blair Macdonald, as a most remarkable personality. There were only two ways to take Macdonald.
The Alps is an Old Tom Morris original design (possibly altered imperceptibly by James Braid) and is the oldest single golf hole in Open Championship Golf. Identifiable characteristics include a blind approach over hidden bunkers to a punchbowl green. The approach must be carried rather than ran in.
The design principle, or identifiable characteristic, is a golfer is rewarded for successfully carrying an immense bunker after which the ball can run to the green. At Sandwich, the carry is not over a bunker but a waste area.
(Possible alterations by James Braid in 1918 and 1930) However, the bunker of the same name is what has gained notoriety. Identifiable characteristics include a double dogleg and severe hazards.
After the split, James Braid redesigned the course and the Leven hole became the 16th on Lundin Links known as Trows. Leven (Trows) is an Old Tom Morris original. Identifiable characteristics include a diagonal hazard across the fairway and a green obscured from view from the tee.
The original from 1887 was completely blind over the largest dune in Championship golf. The original tee was located on the left side of the current 5th fairway. By 1910, the tee placement was moved so the shot needed to carry a smaller dune.
Harold Hilton wrote: “No hole in existence has been the innocent cause of so many opprobrious epithets and language of so lurid a hue as the Road Hole.” Why the sentiments? The identifiable characteristics include a dogleg and hazard which needs to be carried at the apex. The original now features a hotel and replica drying sheds. Modern templates have used trees, bunkers or waste areas in lieu of a hotel at the apex. Near the green is usually a severe single bunker and road-hugging one side. CB Macdonald used a bunker on the rear of his Road template to simulate the original road.
The identifiable characteristic for CB Macdonald was a dogleg left. Playing along the dogleg it would be a three-shot hole. Played directly to an alternate fairway would allow a player to cut the corner and get home in two shots.
Returning to America in 1906, CB Macdonald had with him 30 or so sketches of ideal holes. CB Macdonald had identified the following 18 holes – 17 of which existed in England or Scotland. After gaining 70 subscribers and $1000 from each, CBM began setting out his National Golf Course of America (NGLA) on March 11, 1908.
Curiously, not all holes are reflected at NGLA but most elements are, some composite in nature. Template Holes are not synonymous with replicas nor are they copies. Both CB Macdonald and Alister MacKenzie at Augusta National explained they were using elements in order to produce classic holes.
What most golfers remember about 17 at St. Andrews — arguably the most famous hole in golf—are its extremes: the drive over a wing of the Old Course Hotel (originally railway sheds), followed by the road and stone wall beyond the green.
3rd hole, Prestwick (Photo by Kevin Murray) CARDINAL (Original: 3, Prestwick, Scotland) Although named after the massive bunker about halfway along the par-five 3rd hole at Prestwick, the true definition of a Cardinal hole is double-dogleg.
17th hole, Prestwick (Photo by Kevin Murray) ALPS (Original: 17, Prestwick, Scotland) Today, almost any par-four or -five hole with a big hill or mound between tee and green is likely to be called an Alps, but the key element is that the approach shot is blind and, therefore, that much scarier.
Intended as a test of one’s long game, the hole is usually more than 200 yards; crucially, the shot must finish on the correct side of the swale or else leave a long, tricky putt. Furthermore, the large, geometrically precise green is usually guarded by long, narrow bunkers.
Macdonald’s Redan, the 4th hole at National, is usually called an improvement on the original because the features are visible from the tee, while at Berwick much is hidden.
A Redan is a military fortification formed by ramparts shaped like a V, angled toward the enemy and open in back.
In the “agreement” Macdonald prepared for the investors in the club he envisioned on New York’s Long Island—The National Golf Links of America, which opened in 1909 —he wrote, “…it is well known that certain holes on certain links abroad are famous as being the best, considering their various lengths.
Tom Doak and Jim Urbina were commissioned to design a course that honored Macdonald’s work where renditions of Biarritz, Redan, Eden, Short, Long, Hog’s Back, Alps, and Punchbowl are featured.
Signature Hole: 7th (Ocean) Hole – 363 Yard Par 4 – Interestingly, the hole that gets signature status at Old Macdonald is an original design rather than one of the C.B. Macdonald template holes that stands as the inspiration behind the design. Ocean, as the 7th hole is referred to, gives players a dramatic introduction to the Pacific when approach shots are launched to the elevated green. Once arriving at the putting surface you quickly see where the hole gets its name as panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean consume your eyes. The team of Tom Doak and Jim Urbina did a good job by making the dogleg left short enough to give everyone a chance to reach this green in two and hit a high lofted club that will sit softly enough to hold the putting surface while climbing in elevation from the fairway. It is a visually stunning hole that also represents the latest introduction to the ocean of all the courses at Bandon.
Best Par 4: 3rd (Sahara) Hole – 375 Yards – Sahara has quickly become the most recognizable and story laden hole at Old Macdonald. A large, iconic dead tree is located in the middle of a 30 foot tall dune that players must sail over before their ball tumbles down the fairway and to the left towards the green.