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Scotsman Charles Macdonald Creates The National Golf Links Here

By T.J. Clemente

The Hamptons have a history rich in tradition, etiquette and style. Besides the potato farmers and the old founding families, the very wealthy headed out to the South Fork to summer. Before the automobile, private train cars and massive yachts that were used to transport the very wealthy's massive trunks of possessions -- a ritual performed to insure that the wealthy spent their summers in the appropriate high feather their rank in society demanded. Charles Blair Macdonald was born in Niagara Falls, Ontario, in 1857 of Scottish descent, but grew up in Chicago. He was to eventually become the unofficial chief of protocol to the very wealthy in the Hamptons from 1908 until 1937.

Macdonald was the founder, builder, and President (30 years) of the National Golf Links of America in Southampton. At sixteen, sent by his dad to finish his schooling in the Village of St. Andrews in Scotland, Macdonald was introduced to golf at a course many believe to be the sport's Mecca, The Royal and Ancient Golf Club. At first, he thought the game "silly and stupid." But as time went by, Macdonald played the "silly and stupid game" with the goal of improving at it. Soon, his passion for golf became the greatest passion of his life.

In 1892, Charles was requested by his friend to build a course on the grounds of his friend's father-in-law, Senator Charles B. Farwell's, estate. "Fairlawn" was the name of the estate and today, it is the name of the golf course. Fairlawn is located in Lake Forest, Illinois. Charles Blair Macdonald ran in the highest social circles, which made it easy for him to sell seventy $1,000 memberships to his wealthy friends in order to raise the money to purchase the land and build the National Golf Links in Southampton. In 1906, Charles paid $40,000.00 to the Peconic Bay Realty Company for 200 acres on the Sebonac Neck. Seth Raynor, a civil engineer and Southampton local, and Mortimer Payne, the foreman at Shinnecock Hills, were instrumental in creating Macdonald's masterpiece. By recreating the holes that he was fondest of while learning the game in Scotland, Macdonald brought the tradition of St. Andrews to Southampton golfers. Macdonald appointed Mike Tureski, a Southampton native, to be superintendent. Tureski served Macdonald loyally until they were both replaced in 1937.

While playing the second hole at National with another member, one shot went off to the side, hitting a water barrel. The member told Charles how nice it would be to have a windmill where the barrel was. Later, when Charles was in Europe, he purchased a windmill and had it shipped to the National. It was reconstructed in the exact spot where the water barrel was. It is still there today. When the windmill was completed, the member was sent the bill, which he paid. Each hole at the National has a name. For example, the third hole is named "Alps," the fifth hole "Hog's Back." The sixteenth hole is named "Punchbowl" and the beautiful seventh is named "St. Andrews." Charles built himself a Georgian mansion right on the grounds.

Many members felt like guests at Charles' golf course, and assessments were doled out and paid without fanfare. The names of the members and guests who played there over the years read like a list of American royalty. The original members' roster included families such as the Harrimans and the Hunts, Harry Payne Whitney, William K. Vanderbilt II, J.P. Grace, Clarence McKay and even Abraham Lincoln's son, Robert Lincoln. The Duke of Windsor played the course annually in the forties, during the war. Other notables, such as Henry Ford II, Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Howard Hughes, Paul Shields, and Katherine Hepburn could be found on the National Links.

The stock market crash of 1929 and the introduction of income taxes had an eroding effect on Charles and his powers. But before he left his post as President of the National, Charles Macdonald and Seth Raynor designed about two dozen courses. A characteristic of almost all Macdonald-Raynor courses are Cape style par fours (also at the National) and versions of the two par threes at St. Andrews -- named "Short" and "Eden," as at the National. All of his courses were designed very wide, for links-style golf. Links-style golf is played on a course near an ocean, usually on gently undulating, sandy ground with few water hazards and trees, as in Scotland. Not too long ago, the National cut down six hundred trees that had grown over the years, as they had not been intended for the original course.

Two years after stepping down as President of the National, Charles Blair Macdonald died in Southampton, New York on April 23, 1939. He was laid to rest in Southampton Cemetery. Brian Tureski of Southampton, the grandson of Mike Tureski, the former superintendent under Macdonald at the National, recalls his grandfather telling him that, "even after Macdonald retired, he checked every change to the course. If he said 'no,' it wasn't done."