Designer and historian Josh Pettit began collecting the writings of Alister MacKenzie for his new compendium of essays, “The MacKenzie Reader,” years ago, and was ready to publish in 2020 when the pandemic postponed printing until the summer of 2022. The wait was worth it–the Reader is a gorgeous volume of Pettit’s selections of the architect’s best and most important writings, presented with sketches, prints and routing maps. The volume will soon be in its third edition.

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Pettit visits the Salon to speak with hosts Derek Duncan and golf course builder Jim Urbina about a variety of topics, from his research into the archives at The Valley Club of Montecito that helped inform Urbina and Tom Doak’s greens renovation, the horse-trading that goes on with memberships when attempting to recreate what was originally designed, the romanticism of early-internet archival research and what’s still undiscovered, MacKenzie’s process for identifying local talent to construct his courses, the necessary discrepancy between the green elevations MacKenzie drew and what was originally built (and the problem that presents to preservationists), and why there isn’t a contemporary voice advocating for design ideals comparable to MacKenzie.

Get “The MacKenzie Reader” here.

Photos: Above, The Valley Club of Montecito (LC Lambrecht); Opening page, “Thirteenth at Cypress Point” (J.P. Graham Photos)

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