St Andrews and the Development of Strategic Golf Course Design - by Ross McMurray

St Andrews, circa 1900, with the Swilken Bridge in the background

In his book Golf Architecture, published in 1920, Alister Mackenzie, explained why he rated the Old Course at St. Andrews so highly;

"…the real reason St. Andrews Old Course is infinitely superior to anything else is owing to the fact that it was constructed when no-one knew anything about the subject at all, and since then it has been considered too sacred to be touched."

Since the earliest days of the profession, golf course architects have travelled to St. Andrews from far and wide to study the Old Course and to copy its style, strategy and features. No other land has had so much influence on the development of the game and the attitudes of course designers.

Yet the first greens and fairways at St. Andrews were formed not by men but by sheep grazing amongst the sand dunes while bunkers were created by these same animals wearing out sandy hollows as they nestled for shelter from the wind. This land was called 'links' as it was the area that linked the land to the sea and in The Art of Golf (1887) Sir Walter Simpson aptly described the typical landscape upon which seaside golf was played;

"The grounds….are called links, being the barren sandy soil from which the sea has retired in recent geological times. In their natural state links are covered with long, rank bent grass and gorse. Links are too barren for cultivation: but sheep, rabbits, geese and professionals pick up a precarious livelihood on them."

So what is the enduring fascination with the Old Course and why is it still considered, as MacKenzie wrote, "…superior to anything else..."? For an answer we must look at the origins of the golf course design profession and the writings of the pioneering golf course architects. In 1848 Allan Robertson, who was the 'Keeper of the Green' at St. Andrews, was asked to make improvements to the Old Course. His first task was to lengthen the course, reducing the number of holes from 22 to 18, a historic event which was to impact directly on the development of the game as we know it.

But Robertson also widened the double fairways, from 40 yards to over 100 yards, and thereby created changes to the strategy of the course. Previously play across hazards had been mandatory but now golfers had a choice of options from the tee. Wider fairways offered longer but safer alternatives, while the direct line rewarded success for the more daring player.

This would lay the foundations for the movement away from penal golf course design to a strategic style. The change would not be universal or indeed swift. It would take another 60 years before strategic design would finally be accepted as the favoured style amongst the first professional golf course architects.

Before 1900, many of the first golf course designers, men like Allan Robertson, Willie Dunn and Tom Morris all came from St. Andrews, or from an area close enough to be influenced by it. They all had great respect for the existing topography of a site, and would often lay out a golf course in as little as a day, simply marking out natural green and tee locations and using existing landscape features as hazards. Seldom was any earth movement required or demanded.

Despite their origins many of the courses laid out by these men were disappointing, particularly as golf began to move inland from its coastal beginnings and the sites became less ideal.

"..the real reason St. Andrews Old Course is infinitely superior to anything else is owing to the fact that it was constructed when no-one knew anything about the subject at all, and since then it has been considered too sacred to be touched"

It was when golf reached the sandy heathlands of Surrey and Berkshire, at the turn of the 19th Century, that the first true golf course architects began to manufacture the terrain they were given in order to build golf courses that were strategically and aesthetically pleasing. Blind shots began to be eliminated from the designers' repertoire. Bunkers were no longer hidden and were constructed so that they were partially visible from playing areas. Clearly the design of these features is far removed from that found at St. Andrews where so many hazards lie hidden, waiting to gather stray shots.

But despite this fundamental change in thinking those who designed these heathland courses, like Willie Park Jnr, Harry Colt and Herbert Fowler, all emphasised the influence that the Old Course had on their design philosophies. And its influence lay not in the shape or visibility of its hazards but in their location and the strategy required to avoid them as well as the variety of shot making which the naturally undulating contours of the ground promoted. It was only after 1900 that this new breed of golf course architect began to move towards a strategic style of design, emboldened by their studies of the Old Course.

Harry Colt first visited St. Andrews in 1887 and later wrote that the pleasure of playing the Old Course "…is not gained by successfully carrying gigantic hazards, but in avoiding comparatively small ones, and the difficulties consist not only of sand bunkers, but also of undulations, small plateaux and slightly swinging ground." He noticed how the contours of the ground affected approaches into the green and also how important it was to select the correct type of shot, and play it properly, to attain the best result. Although he felt that 'wild driving' may not have been sufficiently punished Colt recognised that on the Old Course "…there is always an advantage to placing the tee shot in a desired area, so as to minimise the difficulties of the next stroke."

Perhaps the stoutest upholder of the enduring greatness of the Old Course was Alister MacKenzie. Mackenzie was an associate of Harry Colt and probably the most influential golf course architect of the pre- 1939 era. Many of today's greatest golf courses like Royal Melbourne, Cypress Point and Augusta National are the results of his work.

MacKenzie studied the Old Course religiously and rated the 11th, 14th, 16th and 17th as holes without equal anywhere in the world. What he especially liked about the Old Course was the way that it could provide a stern test for the best golfers but was still playable for those with lesser ability.

He opined that there were always routes available to players of different skill levels and he often illustrated three, four or even five ways to play different holes. He was forthright in his opinion that these sorts of strategic golf holes could be recreated on any new course. The concept of strategic design is to reward the golfer who succeeds in taking the greatest risks, penalise him if he fails, but offer alternative routes for the less accomplished player. This makes golf a game not just of skill, but importantly, of judgement.

It also creates variety and interest which are fundamental to the enjoyment of the game. Ideally each golf hole could be played in different ways depending on the ability of the player, location of the tee, pin position, wind conditions and so on. As MacKenzie once wrote; "…there should be at least one, if not more, broad roads that lead to destruction and a narrow and hazardous road that leads to salvation." The aim of the GCA is to design each hole in such a way as to make the golfer think every time he stands on a tee 'how should I play this hole, what are my alternatives?'

Perhaps the pioneer of strategic golf course design was Tom Simpson, a brilliant if eccentric golf course architect who became a partner of Herbert Fowler. Simpson believed that every golf hole should present a definite problem and courses should provide "…as much opportunity for mental agility as …for physical effort." He felt that the really great golf holes possessed "…the (same) qualities one finds in the man who 'lives by his wits,' who 'sails near the wind' in the conduct of his business."

He listed the 16th and 17th on the Old Course as two of the "mad masterpieces that live in the memory and make the game of golf worth while." Interestingly he also felt that, when designing a hole, the architect "…must, so far as is possible, disguise his purpose. Suggestio falsi is never permissible, but suppressio veri all the world recognises as justifiable. “Any feature that acts as a lighthouse to define a channel or one that lends assistance in judging distance, is definitely to be deplored." One wonders what Simpson would have made of the yardage books and distance markers we all rely on today!

Simpson also had strong views on the subject of bunkering, He thought that for a fairway bunker to be well placed it had to fulfil two objectives. Firstly it had to govern the play of the hole, and secondly it should catch the scratch golfer's good shot which was not quite good enough. As he wrote "It is a popular delusion to suppose that the function of a fairway bunker is to catch a bad shot. It is nothing of the kind."

Along with MacKenzie the other dominant designer of this time was Donald Ross who, like Mackenzie, was heavily influenced by his knowledge of St. Andrews and particularly his home club at Dornoch. Ross designed hundreds of golf courses, including Pinehurst No. 2 and was also a dedicated exponent of strategic golf course design. Writing on the subject Ross outlined his design philosophy; "My aim is to bring out of the player the best golf in him. It will be difficult to negotiate some holes, but that is what golf is for. It is a mental test and an eye test. The hazards and bunkers are placed so as to force a man to use judgement and to exercise mental control in making the correct shot."

Ross's design principals for golf holes will surely have been developed during the years he spent working as a greenkeeper at St. Andrews and Carnoustie. His thoughts echoed those of MacKenzie when he stated that his objective when designing was "…to lay out an alternative route on practically every hole. “That is on a two shot hole (par 4) the scratch player… has one way of getting home in two shots - he must place his drive accurately to do so - and the high handicapper or short hitter has another route to reach the green in three". None of these famous architects ever felt they could stop learning from the Old Course. Many of them would certainly have echoed the words of Bobby Jones, who stated that "The more I studied the Old Course the more I loved it: and the more I loved it the more I studied it".

The importance of the Old Course to golf course architecture today should never be underestimated. Styles may come and go but the basics of good golf course design still depend on a strong strategic approach and St. Andrews has exemplified that for the last 100 years. Hopefully the continuing technological improvements in golf equipment do not relegate this great course to the role of an irrelevant museum piece.