The Golfdom Files: Dr. Alister Mackenzie on Bunker Design at Augusta National

By Dr. Alister Mackenzie 

For the golf community in the northern portion of the United States, the Masters feels like the official start of spring. Here, Golfdom revisits classic insights on golf course maintenance from one of our most famous contributing editors, legendary architect Dr. Alister MacKenzie.

An excerpt from “Twenty years of greenkeeping have taught me plenty.”

There is a certain amount of truth in this. If we never had a bad lie we are not likely to appreciate a good one, and moreover the ability to play from a bad lie differentiates between a good player and a bad one. I might incidentally remark that bad lies also differentiate between good and bad sportsmen.  

In the old days in Scotland the best golf courses were kept by the rabbits. When these courses became popular and attracted English and American visitors, they sometimes deteriorated in proportion to the additional amount of money expended on them.  

One of the first principles in greenkeeping is never to expend a penny on a golf course unless you are absolutely certain that the money expended is going to do good and not harm to the course.  

Similar principles apply to any new construction work on a golf course. No new hazards should ever be added to a golf course unless you are satisfied that they are going to make the course more interesting and more exciting.  

In my lectures of 20 years ago I pointed out that on most golf courses there are far too many bunkers and that the only object of bunkers is to make golf courses more interesting, in other words, more popular. Since then, I am more convinced than ever that no bunker should be constructed unless one is convinced it will make a course more pleasurable. 

For example, on Bobby Jones’ new course, the Augusta National, I had originally planned 36 bunkers. I took my map to Bobby, who thoroughly agrees with my ideas, and I suggested to him that some of the bunkers had no meaning and might be eliminated. We reduced them to 22 and yet Bobby Jones thinks we have made the most interesting test of golf in America.* 

In this respect, the treatment of golf courses is similar to that of human beings. The best physicians are those who only prescribe poisonous drugs after the most careful consideration. 

*Editors note: There are now 44 bunkers at Augusta National. One could only imagine Dr. MacKenzie’s thoughts on the equipment-proofing the course has seen this century.