Customer Reviews

The Good Doctor Returns: Alister MacKenzie Comes Back to Golf

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Geoff Schackelford has done a wonderful job of bringing Dr Alister Mackenzie and his work back to life. I could feel the presence of the Good Doctor as if he were sitting and talking with me. I enjoyed walking Pendleton Golf Links as much as Doc's biting humor. Ever read anything and felt like you knew the person? Take a walk or find a good chair and enjoy yourself and learn about golf course architecture from a master architect and master writer!

Craig Lock

This is a lot of fun to read and an interesting story. The ending is a suprise, but I'm not sure if I liked it, but it did not spoil the rest of the book and the creative way Mackenzie is brought back to life. Bringing the Doctor back to Augusta was great fun, and it makes you think about how much he might not like it, especially with all the changes made to the course this year.

Shackelford, through his young hero and his hero's 'reincarnated' mentor, bring the theory and practise of course architecture back to one of its basic tenents - when completed, the course should be a compliment to its beginnings, not a tricked-up monument to a designers ego. Not overly long, it can easily be consumed in one setting. But be prepared to laugh, cry, and be angry, sometimes all at once. If you're a golfer, serious or otherwise, you will enjoy MacKenzie's subtle dressing down of the popular gimmicks and signature styles of many of the popular designers. Enjoy, enjoy.

This is a great book that you can really get into.This 160 page book is a great short book to read. If you like golf or acrhetechure you sould read this book. But you don't have to take my word for it.

Geoff Shackelford, an expert on course architecture and particularly Alister MacKenzie, isn't above having fun with his favorite subject. His new novel, The Good Doctor Returns, answers the question, "What would happen if Dr. MacKenzie were around today?" It seems the old Scot - designer of Cypress Point, Augusta National, etc. - didn't die in 1934, but took some time off and has now returned, hoping to do one last course that will feature his naturalist style while showing up the modern, bulldozer happy architects.

More than a fun read, the book offers clear explanations of design theory then and now, obviously coming down on the side of "then." Whether or not you agree, you'll spend a pleasurable few hours and learn, the easy way, about the man and his methods.

Four and 1/2 stars April 1998 issue

"HERE'S A NEW NOVEL that will likely become a classic for devout fans of golf course architecture -- just as Golf in the Kingdom has done for the general mystique of understanding the game. The Good Doctor Returns, by golf writer Geoff Shackelford, is a serious story, about a young, bright, and disillusioned course architect of today (fictional) being inspired from beyond the grave by that master designer, Alister MacKenzie who died (or did he?) in 1934. The story is tender, haunting, and sounds a wake-up call for a return to basic values in designing more courses that are genuinely interesting and fun to play.

Publisher of this little (only 160 pages) gem is Sleeping Bear Press of Chelsea, Michigan." -Lee Tyler, Golfweb

If you love old golf courses but don't know why, this will explain it all and more. The best golf novel since Legend of Bagger Vance.

I read this in one sitting - if you like golf and want to know more about course design and the evolution of golf, you will love this book. A classic!

I hate golf fiction but read this in one sitting. Lots of fun hearing what Mackenzie thinks of the game today. The building of the fictional course is fun too.

I enjoy the game of golf as much as anyone. I enjoy great golf architecture, and I enjoy well written novels. Mr. Shackelford may enjoy golf, and may appreciate good golf arcitecture, but he should leave novel writing to creative writers. He is not a bad writer, but fiction is not his fortay. Don't waste your time reading this one.