Dr. Mackenzie in South America, Punta Carretas, Montevideo

I’ve spent the last two months living and working in Punta del Este, Uruguay and took some time to visit 3 courses where Dr. Mackenzie worked way back when.  Club de Golf del Uruguay, Campo de Golf de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, and Jockey Club.  I’ve been lucky and dogged enough in the last few years to visit his courses in Michigan, California, Australia/New Zealand, and now Uruguay and Argentina.

First Stop:  
Club de Golf del Uruguay (renovated/re-routed by Mackenzie, 1930)
Punta Carretas, Montevideo, Uruguay

Hoyo 4--Par 4
349y/332/314

A sporty track with several short par 4's (from the tips…322y, 349, 325, 304, 338), average length par 3’s  and 5’s.  All the greens are boldly elevated, back to front and well guarded by interesting/arty bunker horizons.  Some of the par 5’s are reachable but not all have a way to run a ball up the front.     The course sits on a promontory above the harbor and gently slopes towards the water.  The routing takes the golfer in all directions up,down, and side to side exploiting ocean views all around.

I found the drainage ditches in front of several of the lower lying greens to be one of the interesting elements found in the context of golden age design and construction.  These drainage swales created some strategic choices on the reachable par 5’s and 4's, risking a tricky chip opposed to laying back with a full wedge….The bunkers were all fairly shallow with convex outside edges (to shed water above the heavy clay soils, no doubt)

Hoyo 8--Par 4
325y/311/301
Drainage path in front of green site

An interesting fact about the club is that the local government requires the grounds to be open to the public at 2pm on Sundays.  No golf but I did see some children romping in the sand traps, runners and picknickers.  Probably a horror at most private clubs in the US, everything seems a little more relaxed down here.  On Monday morning the golf course is open for play to the public all day for no charge!  I walked the whole course Sunday afternoon, but played holes 9-18 (x2) on Monday as the front nine was closed for maintanence.  


For more pictures check out the slideshow!

Punta Carretas

Paramount Country Club-- A Restoration, Before and After

Its always a thrill to return to a project and see your finished work.  With new construction this can mean waiting an entire year for the grow-in process to be complete.  In the case of our restoration work at Paramount CC we have gone from 2011 to 1921 in a matter of days.

Paramount CC 7th, before restoration

 Two bunkers were deleted, one from the right and left.  The grassing lines were also adjusted to match the squared off edges of the green with the fairway.  A great look, straight from golf's golden age.

7th hole--in-progress

The transformation happened so quickly in part due to the decision to re-sod all of the disturbed areas instead of re-seeding.  By transplanting sod locally from the nursery and other rough areas out of play, we were able to achieve a finished look very quickly.  

After restoration

Some might ask why not have new sod delivered to the areas of disturbance and the answer lies in the photo illustration below.  Bringing in "new" sod  from off site often leads to a mismatch in color and a look that might take years to blend in.

This was found at a top 100 golf course located in Westchester County.   Clearly the sod surrounding this new sand trap was transplanted from another  location, not a good look.