What makes Alister MacKenzie’s Augusta National Green Sketches so special? Consider this: Alister MacKenzie is the most revered golf course architect in the history of the game. Augusta National was created without interference at the height of his powers with the help of the greatest player that has ever played. It has been said if the course is the portrait than the greens are the face. If that’s the case, these sketches represent the collective works of Van Dyck, Rembrandt, Hockney, Van Gogh, Titian, Hogarth and Picasso.
Contents
Limited to just 100 copies, the booklet is rare. On each sketch, the elevations show a + or – at the original ground surface near the front edge of the green. They are drawn to two scales: 8 yards and 10 yards per cross-section. The sand traps are enclosed in solid lines and the drainage is shown using arrows. A few holes have a sketch of the green which is initialled by Mackenzie. These include the 8th (current 17th), 10th (current 1st), 12th (current 3rd) and 13th (current 4th). some sketches include the line of play.
Origins
The original copy of the booklet was owned by Bobby Jones. A couple of facsimiles were reproduced for Alister Mackenzie and Clifford Roberts. In the 1950s, a gentleman by the name of Richard Gordin became a friend of Mr Jones. Mr Jones gifted Mr Gordin with many items. Gordin’s collection was acquired privately prior to his death and it contained one of the two greens folders known to be in existence. One is kept at the USGA golf museum and the other copy became the basis for the reproduction of 100. This means that only 102 copies of Alister MacKenzie’s Augusta National Green Sketches known to be in existence.
