Geoff Shackelford

Before I found this hard-to-find book devoted to what is considered Dr. Alister MacKenzie's masterpiece, I though of Cypress Point Club as "the best seventeen-hole course in the world." This expression came from The World Atlas of Golf (and before that golfer Jimmy Demaret), a reference that admittedly looks at courses from the points of view of professionals and tournaments. The 18th hole, at 360 yards, is just too short a closer for the authors of that book, but for Shackelford it is "a short but stern closing hole ... [without] subtle or intricate strategic interest like others on the course." Reading through Shackelford's book, which is half a history about the people behind the course and its realization and half a hole-by-hole tour with period photos, the last hole is the outcome of a brilliant routing, where MacKenzie takes golfers from the woods to the dunes to the ocean; he fit the last hole in what little room he had left. Unfortunately, Shackelford's brilliant book lacks a decent routing plan (it has a preliminary one that doesn't reflect what was built and diagrammatic plans on the endpapers that are partial and therefore not much help) so I consulted Google Maps while reading along. A decent plan to orient readers is the only thing lacking in a book that gives a great sense of the place, its inherent qualities, and the people who made it happen.… (more)