Dr Alister MacKenzie is one of the most famous golf architects in the history of the game and is part of the World Golf Hall of Fame. He was born in Normanton, near Leeds, and he would go on to design some of the most iconic courses in the world with his three leading creations being Augusta National, Cypress Point and Royal Melbourne.

But in among his first pieces of work came at Headingley. At the 1913 AGM the chairman claimed that the condition of the course was ‘not as it ought to be’ and that criticism which led to the calling in of MacKenzie. His belief was that a golf course should have a ‘spirit of adventure’.

Dr MacKenzie, who had already laid out nearby Alwoodley and Moortown, made certain suggestions on the general treatment of the course and also discussed the remodelling of the then 2nd and 7th greens, and the making of two new holes in place of the 16th and 17th.

Although MacKenzie charged £10 10s per day he told Headingley that he would take the alterations to the course and superintend the work for £50 – £25 to be paid at once, £25 on completion.

In October of that year the committee decided unanimously to meet the £50 fee and Dr MacKenzie went on to remodel the course, including the making of a new green for the 16th in the wood over the quarry and for the 17th across the 16th fairway to a green below the whins.

The brilliant par-3 17th

Further suggestions were approved, with slight alterations by the Greens Committee the following year, and the work was carried out by the club’s own staff.

The Yorkshire Evening Post reported in November: ‘The committee was reported as ordering ‘full steam ahead’ to their course improvements at Adel. There are to be three new holes. The second and third are to be transformed into one, the apologetic 13th is to take another form, and the 17th is to be reconstructed.

‘These, roughly, are the main projects as I understand, but there are other improvements in the scheme, including the ‘feeding’ of those portions of the course on which the herbage is now poor. The entire work is not only being done on the advice of Dr. MacKenzie; it is to be carried out under his personal supervision and control. The cost of the improvements I am told, will amount to £700.”

MacKenzie went on to display brilliant use of camouflage designs when he served in the Royal Engineers in WW1 and the skill of cunningly concealing the difficulty of holes helped to win him worldwide acclaim when, subsequently, he designed such outstanding courses which also includes Lahinch and Pasatiempo.