Northern Michigan's Masters Connection

When the 82nd edition of the Masters Tournament tees off tomorrow (April 5), the golf world’s attention will be focused on the stunning Augusta National Golf Course, the masterpiece of legendary course designer Dr. Alister MacKenzie's career. 

But what most don’t know is that MacKenzie also designed Crystal Downs, a celebrated yet private course right here in northern Michigan's Benzie County.  

The par 70, 6518-yard course is currently ranked as the #13 course in the nation, according to Golf Digest. Nestled in Lake Township just a long tee shot from Frankfort, the private club features eye-catching views of both Crystal Lake and Lake Michigan. 

“Few golf experiences can compare,” writes Golf Digest. “That low-key charm is retained by the club as they continue to make upgrades to the golf house, clubhouse and the golf course…It seems MacKenzie is challenging players to take the riskier shot. In most cases it doesn't pay off.” 

Born in 1870, MacKenzie was serving as a civilian doctor for the British Army during the Boer War when he first learned the importance of camouflage. He later used some of those camo techniques while designing several golf courses, including three that rank in the top ten in the world — Augusta National Golf Club, Cypress Point Club in California, and the Royal Melbourne Golf Course in Australia.

So how did it come about that the noted Mackenzie designed a course in remote northern Michigan? Tom Doak, a member of Crystal Downs, tells the story in his book "The Life and Work of Dr. Alister Mackenzie."

According to Doak, Frankfort area locals who wanted to build a course wrote to Robert Hunter, who had just written a book about golf course architecture. Hunter did design work with Mackenzie and recommended him for the job. In a stroke of luck, it turns out Mackenzie was completing his design of Cypress Point in California and had to make the journey across the U.S. to make his way back to England. He met up with Perry Maxwell en route and they made the trip up to Benzie County.  

Mackenzie had met Maxwell earlier in 1923 during a tour of the British Isles and Maxwell told him to look him up if he ever came over to the U.S. Again, the stars seemed to align for the creation of the great golf course. Upon seeing the land, Mackenzie commented that in England they would call this type of land "downs.” And considering the course overlooks Crystal Lake, the course was named Crystal Downs.

Mackenzie apparently designed the front nine in 1927, then left Maxwell in charge of the construction and design of the back nine. Golfers generally consider the front nine the harder of the two nines with more difficult greens. Maxwell built the back nine two years later and the course opened in 1929. 

In addition to Crystal Downs, in 1931 MacKenzie designed both the University of Michigan course in Ann Arbor and the Scarlet Course at Ohio State University in Columbus. 

A Crystal Downs spokesperson declined to comment for this article, noting that all media responses must be approved by the private club’s board of directors, which doesn’t meet until June.