Welcome to Alwoodley
An introduction to the Original MacKenzie and the good doctor’s timeless golf course design principles
Introduction
Thank you for booking your visit to Alwoodley. We are very proud of our course and we look forward to sharing it with you.
Ahead of your visit, we wanted to introduce you to some of Alwoodley’s architectural calling-cards and shine a light on Dr Alister MacKenzie’s work to give you an idea of the course he created over a century ago.
To a large degree, MacKenzie would still recognise the course that stands today – and which you will shortly get to play for yourself.
Dr MacKenzie would go on to design Augusta National, Cypress Point and Royal Melbourne, among many others, in a career that took him all around the world. He is regarded by many to this day as the greatest architect in the game's history.
In recent years, we have stepped up our efforts to improve the experience of playing Alwoodley, largely by restoring the course and being faithful to what the good doctor bequeathed to us when he made this prime piece of golfing heathland and moorland to the north of Leeds his first design.
The aim of this guide, then, is to enhance the enjoyment of your visit.
And you never know, it might even save you a shot or two on your way around as well.
“MacKenzie would still recognise the course that stands today – and which you will shortly get to play for yourself”
Foreword
By Clyde Johnson, consulting architect
As the first design of arguably golf’s greatest course designer, Alwoodley holds a special place in the history of the game. That MacKenzie’s work here is so well preserved brings an extra level of responsibility.
Alwoodley really is a sum of its parts, a fine collection of varied holes which test, entice and always entertain. Key to the routing are the crossing short holes – the 7th and 14th – which allows play to take on a figure-of-eight configuration across the heath. The 17th isn’t a hole that we might expect from MacKenzie, but the blind, chasing approach brings a different challenge to some of the quieter contours within the course.
MacKenzie’s work is perhaps most recognisable for its bold, undulating greens – see the 11th – and its artistic bunkering and composition. Tying that together is a free-flowing journey across the landscape which makes clever use of the ground’s natural cant.
MacKenzie asks the golfer to work with the ground to open up preferred angles or shot types to the green – perhaps most beautifully at the 5th, where a draw holding into the slope opens up the heavily guarded green.
Where the pin is located really dictates the best way to play any given a hole. Where a pin is tucked into one of the green’s wings, such as behind the recently restored left-hand-side bunker on the 12th, you will want to come in from the right (and vice versa with the pin to the right.) MacKenzie's strategy is often perfectly simple, but timelessly engaging.
Our remit at Alwoodley is to preserve (and restore) MacKenzie’s work as closely as historical evidence allows us, using MacKenzie’s original plan and notes, historical aerial and ground imagery and the contours on the ground. Alongside this, working closely with Course Manager Matt Brighton, we aim to show off the course by ensuring the greens and fairways are maintained to their original scale, and that the golf sits at ease within its heathland environment.
Enjoy your game,
Clyde
• Click here to learn more about Clyde Johnson’s architecture business, Cunnin’ Golf Design
“MacKenzie’s work is perhaps most recognisable for its bold, undulating greens – see Alwoodley’s 11th! – and its artistic bunkering and composition”
Mackenzie’s design principles
MacKenzie’s “13 Principles of Golf Course Design” are famous and have been published in numerous places, including his books Golf Architecture and The Spirit of St. Andrews. We encourage you to read them in full, but for the purposes of this guide, we have looked at five of them in detail – and how they apply to Alwoodley.
Rule 2: There should be a large proportion of good two-shot holes, and at least four one-shot holes
Alwoodley enjoys an enviable reputation for the quality of its testing par 4s, particularly during the stretch towards home that begins in earnest with the 13th. This comprises five testing par 4s, four of them played into the prevailing wind, and perhaps the most testing of the short holes, the 14th. In isolation, each of these holes may be safely negotiated with a combination of skill and sound judgment. In succession, they represent the most stringent of golfing examinations.
How it applies to your game
You may expect to use different clubs at each of Alwoodley’s par 3s. This is due to the changes in elevation and the fact that only the 7th and 14th play in a similar direction – with the latter around 50 yards longer.
In the prevailing wind that reaches Alwoodley fresh from the Yorkshire Dales to the west, the most difficult part of the course is the last six holes. No score is worth counting on until our famous clubhouse is in clear view.
Rule 6: There should be a minimum of blindness for the approach shot
One of MacKenzie’s favourite techniques was to emulate the way he saw camouflage being used over his time in the military during the Boer War. At Alwoodley, that manifests itself in several semi-blind tee shots. The player is able to see only some of the fairway, and perhaps the flag in the distance. Slight changes in elevation, natural contours and bunkers are all used to create this affect. However, on only one hole at Alwoodley is it not possible to see the green on your approach shot.
How it applies to your game
The 17th is the exception that proves the rule. Only the longest and bravest of tee shots, favouring the left side of the hole and skirting the course boundary, will be rewarded with a sight of the green. For those less able – or foolhardy – the long second shot is perhaps best played short and to the left, from where the contours will help your ball to sweep towards the sunken and concealed green.
Rule 7: The course should have beautiful surroundings, and all the artificial features should have so natural an appearance that a stranger is unable to distinguish them from nature itself
MacKenzie’s love of camouflage extended to the creation of bunkers built into the faces of mounds and hillocks and greens effectively defended by ramparts. Sometimes they provide targets to hit towards and elsewhere warn the golfer away. But only the keenest of eyes would ever suspect they were anything other than natural features.
How it applies to your game
At the par-4 12th, the humps and bumps in front of the tee were created to make the tee shot a little more intimidating. Trust that the fairway is generous and we suggest taking aim at the bunker in the distance.
Rule 9: There should be infinite variety in the strokes required to play the various holes—that is, interesting brassie shots, iron shots, pitch and run-up shots
Alwoodley’s firm, freely draining turf encourages crisp iron play and rewards those who look to use the contours to their advantage. Wigton Moor can be a breezy spot so keeping the ball close to the ground is to be encouraged at all times. Around the greens, Alwoodley will give you every opportunity to use a repertoire of shots with a variety of clubs.
How it applies to your game
At the par-5 3rd it is possible to run an approach shot into the green from a long way back. What’s more, the green tilts subtly from front to back so a shot creeping on to the putting surface will often wind its way towards the back. Even more satisfying, when the pin is on the lower level, is to allow your approach to release on to the green and then topple down to the left.
Rule 12: The course should so be arranged that the long-handicap player or even the absolute beginner should be able to enjoy his round in spite of the fact that he is piling up a big score
While it may be – irresistibly – tempting to play heroically, the thoughtful golfer fares well at Alwoodley. Fairways often pinch in as you approach the green yet further back they are generously wide. Given the size of the greens, and that almost without exception they are set up to receive a running shot, there is much to be said for playing within oneself from the tee, and accepting both longer approaches and also treating some of the more testing par-4s as three-shotters.
How it applies to your game
Alwoodley’s 8th is the most dramatic of the par 5s, with the fairway sweeping elegantly left towards a distant but inviting green that sits towards the approaching golfer. From a tee shot drawn around the corner, the green is in range but with the cavernous cross bunker to carry with the second shot it is often prudent to lay up and enjoy the approach to the green with your third shot.
Alwoodley’s ongoing restoration
Alwoodley is currently working with the architect Clyde Johnson on an ongoing project to restore the course, wherever possible to what was left by Dr Alister MacKenzie. This typically involves studying archive photography and course plans from over the past century and more to look at: bunkers that have either been added, changed shape or disappeared over the years; how greens have changed shape, size and contours; and how grasses, whins and trees have gradually encroached towards – and even started to occupy in places – the playing corridors.
Last winter, the club removed woodland to the left of the 12th fairway, re-discovered a hollow to the left of the green and restored a bunker behind the green.
Recently, we have also worked extensively on the bunkering of the 5th, 7th and 14th holes.
“Our aim is to restore the course, wherever possible to what was left by Dr Alister MacKenzie”
Enjoy your visit
“How frequently have I, with great difficulty, persuaded patients who were never off my doorstep to take up golf, and how rarely, if ever, have I seen them in my consulting rooms again!”
How was it for you?
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