Charles Hugh Alison (5 March 1883 – 20 October 1952) was a British

golf course architect A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

. He worked predominantly with

Harry Colt Henry Shapland "Harry" Colt (4 August 1869 – 21 November 1951) was a golf course architect born in Highgate, England. He worked predominantly with Charles Alison, John Morrison, and Alister MacKenzie, in 1928 forming Colt, Alison & Morrison ...

, John Morrison, and

Alister MacKenzie Alister MacKenzie (30 August 1870 – 6 January 1934) was a golf course architect whose course designs span four continents. Originally trained as a surgeon, MacKenzie served as a civilian physician with the British Army during the Boer War ...

, in 1928 forming

Colt, Alison & Morrison Ltd Colt, Alison & Morrison Ltd was a British golf course architecture firm founded in 1928. The partners Harry Colt, Charles Hugh Alison, and John Stanton Fleming Morrison jointly or severally designed over 300 courses on all of the continents with t ...

Life and career

Alison was born in

Preston, Lancashire Preston () is a city on the north bank of the River Ribble in Lancashire, England. The city is the administrative centre of the county of Lancashire and the wider City of Preston local government district. Preston and its surrounding distri ...

. He attended

Malvern College Malvern College is an Independent school (United Kingdom), independent coeducational day and boarding school in Malvern, Worcestershire, Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It is a public school (United Kingdom), public school in the British sen ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

before going up to

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...

, to study history, law and divinity. He represented the

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

in 1903 and 1904, but did not finish his degree. He also played four

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

matches for

Somerset County Cricket Club Somerset County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Somerset. Founded in 1875, Somerset was initially regarded as a minor ...

between 1902 and 1905 and played

Minor Counties The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

cricket for

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

in 1911 and 1912. Alison served in both

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

decoding

ciphers In cryptography, a cipher (or cypher) is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption—a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is ''encipherment''. To encipher or encode i ...

. One of Alison's most-respected designs is

Milwaukee Country Club The Milwaukee Country Club is a golf club located in River Hills, Wisconsin. It is the home club of the late renowned teaching pro Manuel de la Torre The golf course features a 6,875 yards of golf from the longest tees for a par of 72. The course r ...

(1929), co-designed with Colt, which was ranked among the Top 50 golf courses in America by ''

Golf Digest ''Golf Digest'' is a monthly golf magazine published by Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit under its Warner Bros. Discovery Golf division. It is a generalist golf publication covering recreational golf and men's and women's competiti ...

'' in 2007. Another endearing Colt-Alison design is Century Country Club (1927) in

Purchase, New York Purchase is a hamlet in the town and village of Harrison, in Westchester County, New York, United States. One myth explains that its name is derived from Harrison's purchase, where John Harrison was to be granted as much land as he could ride in ...

. On 26 April 1922, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' announced that Colt, MacKenzie & Alison of London would be developing the new Century golf course on of pristine countryside. The course's architects are listed as Colt and Alison but MacKenzie's influence is imbued throughout the 18 holes. He was one of the founding members of the International Society of Golf Architects in 1929. On a trip to Japan in 1930 he laid down principles that guided Japanese golf course design throughout the 20th century. Alison and his wife moved to South Africa in 1947. He worked on several South African golf courses before his death in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

in 1952.

References

External links

Colt Association Official Site
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alison, Charles Hugh 1883 births 1952 deaths People educated at Malvern College Alumni of New College, Oxford Sportspeople from Preston, Lancashire Golf course architects English cricketers English male golfers Buckinghamshire cricketers Somerset cricketers British military personnel of World War I British military personnel of World War II Military personnel from Preston, Lancashire