Dr. Alister Mackenzie was one of the godfathers of golf architecture during the game’s earliest stages. A surgeon for the British Army during the Boer War, Mackenzie was intrigued by the Boer soldiers’ ability to hide among the treeless veldts during battle. Somehow, they were able to camouflage themselves among the lower areas to avoid detection.
Mackenzie returned to England, reestablished his practice and along the way became an armchair golf architect, entering golf hole design contests. Ultimately he started working with H.S. Colt who designed hundreds of courses throughout the British Isles and Europe. Mackenzie returned to his medical practice during World War I but then somehow found a way to get transferred to the Royal Engineers, serving as a camouflage expert. He began incorporating these concepts into golf design. Mackenzie came to America in the early 1920s and began a prolific career as a golf course architect. While he lived in Santa Cruz, he somehow found a way in the days prior to airline travel to design golf courses in places such as Michigan, Ohio, Georgia, Manitoba, Argentina, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, and England.
From the Northern California perspective, Mackenzie was the architect for the Meadow Club in Marin County, Green Hills in Millbrae, Claremont in Oakland, Sharp Park in Pacifica, Haggin Oaks in Sacramento, Stockton Country Club, and, his most noted accomplishment, Cypress Point in Pebble Beach. I have had the fortune of playing all of those courses as well as perhaps my favorite Mackenzie design, Crystal Downs in northern Michigan. I got to play Crystal Downs with Mike DeVries, who has been called the most underrated golf course architect in America by none other than the Golf Channel, and good friend Jim Hegarty, perhaps the top senior amateur in the state of Michigan.
Yet I am not here to tell you about the career exploits of Alister Mackenzie. Instead, I need to right a wrong that I have perpetuated since I first moved to California in 1975. Up until last Wednesday, there was one Mackenzie course in the area I had never played. Now I have righted that personal wrong.
Alongside the banks of the Russian River near the town of Monte Rio is the nine-hole Northwood Golf Course. In 1925, Jack Neville, a member of the nearby Bohemian Club, suggested that the club build a golf course in the area. Neville knew his golf, having been a five-time champion of the California State Amateur, a member of the first Walker Cup team in 1923, and more lasting, as the golf course architect of the Pebble Beach Golf Links. Adjacent to the Bohemain Club was a 70-acre parcel of redwoods that was owned by Claude Milleresch, a son-in-law of the Korbels.
Neville pushed the hiring of Mackenzie, who had just completed projects at Pasatiempo and Cypress Point, and along with his collaborator, Robert Hunter, the course at Northwood was carved out of the redwoods. By the way, Hunter was a sociology professor at UC Berkeley and was regarded as a conceptualist in golf, a true links visionary. He is also the person who talked Mackenzie into relocating to California from England.
Northwood has had an up-and-down history and plenty of financial problems, especially in the 1960s. Ultimately, Dr. Charles Schaap and a core group of local golfers bought Northwood in 1970 and the course has been in family hands ever since.
Playing Northwood this past Wednesday during a Kelseyville-El Molino high school match was the most relevant round of golf I’ve played on a course that was new to me since I played Midlothian in Chicago last summer. Those are pretty strong words since I was in Bandon in January and on the Robert Trent Jones Trail in February. The place smacks of a bygone era with a great collection of short par-4 holes, most notably the first, fourth and sixth holes. All of them are just about 300 yards, all of them are doglegs, and position off the tee is paramount. The par-5 holes are not long but they are quite narrow, and the two par-3 holes are one-shot gems. And then there are the Mackenzie greens. Visually they were reminiscent of the Meadow Club with the way they flowed counter to the lay of the land with multiple tiers and deceptive breaks.
Northwood also was one of the friendliest settings I’ve been to in a long time. The El Molino High School coaching staff rolled out the red carpet and the kids on the team were quietly classy. The general manager is Gaylord Schaap who has run the course since the mid-1980s. He welcomed us with open arms. He went from a teaching career to management and found this aspect of the family business to be to his liking. You could tell that the Northwood Golf Club has been his baby for the past three decades and he took great pride in the course. The PGA golf professional was the affable Vern Ayres who had served as professional at Carmel Valley Ranch. His Lake County connection is that he is great friends with Andy Gonzales, the former head professional at Hidden Valley Lake who now works at Langtry Golf. Andy’s father was Ayres’ high school golf coach at Carmel.
While I am touting the virtues of Northwood Golf Club, I find that I am not alone. Traveling Joe of Golf Magazine has written that Northwood is among his “top five Mackenzie courses in the world,” pretty heady stuff from a guy who has played just about everywhere on the planet. Prior to its publication demise, Golf World Magazine used to rate the top nine-hole golf courses in America and oftentimes Northwood was listed prominently among its top 25.
Northwood is about a 90-minute drive from Lakeport and is located on River Road, west of Santa Rosa and about 10 miles east of Jenner on the Pacific Ocean. Yes, it is not a power player’s paradise. You can’t bomb your drive in the trees and gouge your wedge over them onto the greens. The giant redwoods don’t give you that option. In fact, I told the gang at the golf course the following day that it was a John Berry-type golf course with strategic angles, testy greens and a limited emphasis upon power golf.
Northwood is a true gem. It is extremely affordable, it is a most beautiful walk and I just can’t believe the stupidity I exhibited by living in Northern California for 40 years while failing to play there. I sense that a road trip is in the near future to tee it up at Northwood once again.
