After 50 yrs of playing golf on a local common, The Worcestershire GC in Malvern, UK, purchased a farm a mile or so away and Dr Alister MacKenzie beat former local boyhood resident Harry Colt for the job of building the new course, which opened in May 1927.
MacKenzie duly produced an 18-hole routing but regrettably, during WWII, 9 of his holes were taken over by the MoD to build a hospital for anticipated D-Day and later general continental invasion casualties.
This meant that after WWII the club played over only 9 MacKenzie holes for several decades.
Although the ex-hospital land was recovered by the club in the early 1970's it remained covered in buildings and roadways and some domestic housing had also arrived. As such a return to the original MacKenzie 18-holes was impossible so Hawtree was called in and linked in a series of new holes that allowed the club to once again play over an 18-hole course.
To find out more about the history see -
http://www.theworcestershiregolfclub.co.uk/page.aspx?pid=5606However, one MacKenzie hole, or rather green, the original 16th, which is located about 400 yds from the clubhouse but well away from the others 'lost' by the building of the WWII hospital, was not effected and still exists, although somewhat overgrown, basically unused since 1939, ie 78 years. It's probably just like it was when the MacKenzie course was first opened in 1927, ie 90 yrs ago.....no sand splash, no changes by committee's, just as it was built.
Here is a montage of photos of the green in question, small and raised and angled and evil/wonderful looking, which some at the club would like to bring back to life in some capacity.
And here is the exact location of the green on a samap - hopefully this link will take you directly to the greens location, in an angle of the treeline, although the satmap data will most likely be a couple of years old -
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.0848804,-2.3285109,121m/data=!3m1!1e3 - scroll out to find the clubs general location.
The MacKenzie Society recently visited the club and were fulsome in their praise for the courses overall conditioning complementing in particular the outstanding putting surfaces.
Golf archeology
Here's a recent drone video of the current course -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iDosxMkz34 - well worth a look.
Send me a gca-pm if you fancy a look at the hole or generally wish to know more.
atb
PS - The Worcestershire GC in Malvern should not be confused with Worcester Golf & Country Club, also a MacKenzie course from the late 1920's (and itself well worth a visit). The two clubs are actually situated about 10 miles apart.