Featured architects
Charles Blair Macdonald
The father of American golf course architecture
- Born
- 1855, Niagara Falls, Ontario
- Years active
- 1892–1928
- Works
- A small, deliberate body of work
- Era
- Founding Era
Why the name endures
Sent to St Andrews at sixteen, Macdonald returned to America convinced that the great holes of Britain could be studied, measured and adapted. The National Golf Links of America was his argument in built form, and the template holes he catalogued — Redan, Alps, Eden, Biarritz — became the vocabulary of a whole American school.
“Golf is not a mere game; it is a religion, a philosophy of life.”
Charles Blair Macdonald
Design principles
- Study and adapt the proven great holes rather than invent from nothing
- Wide fairways with strategic hazards set on the ideal line
- Bold, geometric greens that hold their shape for a century
Surviving work
Courses to see
National Golf Links of America
New York, USA
The founding statement of American strategic architecture.
Chicago Golf Club
Illinois, USA
The first 18-hole course in the United States, later rebuilt by Raynor.
The Creek Club
New York, USA
North Shore golf with Macdonald templates on Long Island Sound.