Cork Golf Club host the presitgious MacKenzie Gathering

Cork Golf Club celebrated part of their history when the club hosted the 33rd Annual Gathering of the Alister MacKenzie Society recently.

MacKenzie was the most prolific course architect and designer in the early 1900’s. 

MacKenzie is responsible for some of the most famous golf courses from the first half of the last century including Augusta National, Cypress Point and Royal Melbourne.

In 1925 he came to Cork and redeveloped the Little Island links which had been home to Cork since 1897. 

MacKenzie also had a hand in designs in Muskerry and Douglas in the 1920’s as well as designing Lahinch’s famous Old Course.

The Society bearing his name was founded in 1987 to build and retain the history of MacKenzie’s design principles. 

Four California Clubs, Green Hills CC, The Valley Club, Pasatiempo and The Meadow Club attended the first Gathering at the Meadow Club in 1987.

Clubs are represented by eight members at the Gathering, Team Director, Club Historian, Club Professional, Club Champion and four other handicap categories. 

The competition is played over two days with the 8 team members playing in a fourball competition. 

With 15 teams of four pairs, the groups play as a shotgun six-ball which gets everyone on the course at the same time and makes for a very social format.

The original Gathering consisted of two days of friendly competition, a dinner for the competitors and a meeting to discuss how the member clubs may have changed since the time Alister MacKenzie designed them. 

 Although the number of member clubs has increased the format of the Gatherings has largely stayed the same as the original one. 

The Gathering rotates from club to club on an annual basis and the timing is when the host club has their ideal weather conditions. 

 Many of the visiting clubs will play golf courses local to the host club around the Gathering, and this year would have seen the international visitors play clubs such as Lahinch, Ballybunion, Waterville, Old Head and Portmarnock.

The 2023 Gathering at Cork Golf Club in Little Island followed a very similar formula to the original Gathering. An opening ceremony was held on the opening evening of the Gathering in Cork Golf Club’s newly refurbished clubhouse. 

A practice round followed on the second day and a historical presentation on Cork Golf Club given by Cork’s historians Robin Turnbull and John Twohig. 

Following this there was the presentation of the Lido Prize for golf course architecture went to Craig Synder from San Diego.

After the first round of competition Cork hosted a gala dinner in Fota Island Hotel attended by participants and their partners. 

The final round of the competition was played on the second day with the competition was as close and exciting as ever. 

Cypress Point finished third on 304 points and the host club, Cork beating last year’s hosts Titirangi on a scorecard with both clubs scoring 306 points.

Cork were the first host club to win and they were represented by Team Director Alan McKnight, Club Historian John Twohig, Club Captain Harry Canning, Club President Norman Coleman, Jason Cahill, Padraig Dooley, John Dwyer and Killian Hurley. 

 President Norman Coleman suffered on injury on the first day and was replaced by Club Vice captain Terry Dillon for the second day.

The Society now has 15 member clubs and has a distinctive international flavour representing how well travelled Dr. Alister MacKenzie was. 

The current member clubs are Claremont, Crystal Downs, Cypress Point, Green Hills, The Meadow Club, Pasatiempo and The Valley Club from the USA, St Charles from Canada, Alwoodley and Moortown from England, Lahinch and Cork from Ireland, Titirangi from New Zealand, Royal Melbourne from Australia and The Jockey Club from Argentina. 

The 2024 gathering will be at the famed Cypress Point Club in Monterey, California.

While the MacKenzie legacy is over 100 years old, there are plenty of enduring design features that stand the test of time. 

There should be variety in the design of holes and they should be fun to play, and holes should be fair and challenging for golfers of all skill levels. 

Holes should make use of the natural features of the land and Bunkering should guide the player’s strategy for playing the course and should “frame” shots to any greens that are blind. Finally contours and multiple tiers add interest to greens. 

The green should provide an access route for weaker players and present a challenge for more skilled players.

Many of these features are easily recognisable in Cork, the course upgrades over the past 50 years have sought to retain the design principles that MacKenzie brough to Cork nearly 100 years ago.