The Mackenzie Part 1. 

95 years later Dr. Alister Mackenzie’s ode to the Old Course is finally being built. 

The Story of Mackenzie & El Boqueron 

At the height of his creative powers, Dr. Alister MacKenzie, the legendary golf course architect behind Augusta National and Cypress Point, had envisioned a course that would redefine the boundaries of golf course design. But just as plans began to take shape, the global economic collapse swept them away in 1929, leaving behind only whispers of what might have been.

95 years later Wes Farrell and the 21 Golf Club have committed to bring Mackenzie’s lost design to life. 

A Very Short History of El Boqueron 

One could argue that El Boquerón wasn’t just Dr. Alister MacKenzie’s most ambitious design — it was conceived at the very height of his creative powers. Drafted between 1929 and 1930, El Boquerón sits squarely in a golden era of MacKenzie’s career, flanked by masterworks like Royal Melbourne, Crystal Downs, Cypress Point, the renovation of Palmetto Golf Club, the innovative bunkerless layout at Bayside in New York, and of course, Augusta National. Planned for the El Boquerón region of Argentina, MacKenzie envisioned a bold and utilitarian routing: 18 holes with 9 shared greens, echoing the efficient brilliance of the Old Course at St Andrews. Yet despite its promise, El Boquerón was never built — a visionary course lost to history.

Mackenzie’s Utilitarian Era

I would argue that El Boquerón was a golf course designed nearly a century ahead of its time. This brief but pivotal period in Dr. Alister MacKenzie’s career — shaped in part by the economic turmoil following Black Friday in October 1929 — seemed to ignite a new level of creative ingenuity. MacKenzie was no longer just designing courses; he was imagining the future of golf. His vision centered on efficiency — fewer bunkers, more reliance on the contours of the land to dictate strategy. Most golfers know that the original design of Augusta National featured just 22 bunkers. But fewer realize that El Boquerón was planned with only 15, and Bayside in New York was designed without a single one. MacKenzie was evolving, and El Boquerón was one of the purest expressions of that evolution — a minimalist masterpiece that never saw the light of day.

Mackenzie was also thinking about the footprint of the game of golf. Both El Boqueron and Bayside were designed to play within small footprints, with El Boqueron encompassing around only 100 acres of land. 

Crazy enough that was not even Mackenzie’s most daring idea- he also envisioned private estate courses having championship 18 hole golf courses sitting on only 10-13 acres. 

Unfortunately for all of us, Mackenzie didn’t get the chance to explore this new period of his design career. On January 6, 1934 he passed away at his home on Pasiatempo Golf Course in Santa Cruz, California. 

While El Boqueron never materialized in Argentina, Wes Farrell searched the United States for a sandy site with a topography that could match the original site of El Boqueron. In our next newsletter we will dive into Farrell’s dream and the construction of the 21 Golf Club’s Mackenzie course. Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter. If you enjoyed it, please share with your friends and family. If you have ideas for future newsletters or podcasts please let me know. Until then…

Thank you for taking the time to read our golf history newsletter. If you enjoyed it, please consider recommending it to your friends and family. If you want to reach out, please email me at [email protected].

Yours in Golf History,

Connor T. Lewis