At a private club in South Carolina, he broke ground on a course inspired by Alister Mackenzie’s design that was never built.
Gracious Forbearance
It’s hard to put a golf course wrong. But golf plans? There are many opportunities to get lost. That’s what happened, however, with a sharp color by one of the greatest designers of all time.
In 1930, the British-born designer of courses such as Augusta National, Cypress Point, released his ambitions for El Boquerón, a new building that he dreamed of a rich family in Argentina.
His mind called for nine courses and nine shared vegetables, each of which was protected and clever. It was a bold idea, but the economic collapse from the depression prevented the course from being built. For decades, Mackenzie’s paintings were believed to be lost. But since then they have risen again. And now, nearly a century after it was first conceived, the course has moved beyond the planning stages. On the ground he broke the charge to El Boquerón.
Currently, the location is not South America. It’s South Carolina, and the ownership is not an Argentinian family but an Argentine club, the highest private redoubt in the Sandhills East of Aiken, where it was built this week on what the club calls the MacKie Course.
Gracious Forbearance
Unlike the Lisconsin, the painstakingly beautified, painstaking beautification of Tom DOAK of CB MacDonald design on Long Island, the Mackanzie course is not meant to be a clone of the original. It is, instead, aimed at interpretation, faithful to El Boquerón’s Routing but agreed with its surrounding sandwill and heroic footwork, so that the course is played in its golden year or today’s length, or a hybrid of both.
“We understand the responsibility that comes with doing a job like this,” said Wes Farrell, founder of 21 Club, in a release announcing the news. “Our goal is to honor Alister Mackenzie’s vision while adapting it to our site.”
To oversee this project, the club put together a committee of Alister Mackenzie experts, including the architect Briya from Zager, whose resume includes collaboration with the Mini Doctor. The work is guided by Mackenzie’s Regiped El Boquerón Plans and his writings and other ethnographic materials.
The course is listed as Completed on a date not listed in 2026. When it opens, it will be the first of two designs of 18 in the 21 club. The second will be a course called the Hammer, designed specifically for the game by Rob Collins and Thad King of King Collins Golf.
It’s all part of a recent explosion of private golf development in southeast Carolina and Georgia, including properties like Tree Farm, Barnelly, Broomsedge and Fall Line Golf Club. Along with its high-end direct market, the 21-club also has state-of-the-art facilities and cabins run by senior members, as well as a family-friendly short course.
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