![I](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/I._Mackie%2C_J._Hobens%2C_A._Ross%2C_G._Thomson_at_1904_US_Open.PNG)
Isaac S. Mackie (23 September 1880 – 22 June 1963) was a Scottish-American professional
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 ...
er who played in the late 19th and early 20th century. He apprenticed as a club maker under George Forrester. Following his brother Jack—who had emigrated to the United States in 1899—Mackie also made the trans-
Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
journey in 1901. He took a job as professional at Fox Hills Golf Club on
Staten Island
Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...
soon after his arrival and remained in that post until 1914. In 1916, he was appointed the head professional at
Canoe Brook Country Club
Canoe Brook Country Club is a private, member-owned 36-hole country club founded in 1901 and located in the New Jersey towns of Summit and Short Hills. Both of Canoe Brook's courses have been extensively renovated by Rees Jones, whom the club cred ...
, replacing
Louis Tellier
Louis Tellier (December 24, 1842 – June 17, 1935) was a Canadian lawyer, politician, and judge.
Biography
Born in Berthier-en-Haut, Canada East, the son of Zephirin and Luce (Ferland) Tellier, Tellier completed his classical education at ...
. In 1953 he was the head professional at Netherwood Golf Club in North Plainfield, New Jersey.
He was a frequent competitor in the
U.S. Open, with at least 12 starts between 1901 and his final appearance in 1921. He won the 1914
Shawnee Open The Shawnee Open is a golf tournament that was first held in 1912. It is played at The Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort in Smithfield Township, Monroe County, Pennsylvania. The couse was completed in 1911, the first ever design by renowned architect A. ...
.
Early life and family
Mackie was born on 23 September 1880 in
Earlsferry
Elie and Earlsferry is a coastal town and former royal burgh in Fife, and parish, Scotland, situated within the East Neuk beside Chapel Ness on the north coast of the Firth of Forth, eight miles east of Leven. The burgh comprised the linked v ...
,
Fife
Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
.
He emigrated to the United States in 1901, following his brother Jack who had moved to the United States in 1899.
He grew to be a tall man of stout build.
While in his early 20s he married Annie Schacht, a
native-born New Yorker. His brother, Jack Mackie, was one of the early pioneers in American golf being one of the founders of the
PGA of America
The Professional Golfers' Association of America (PGA of America) is an American organization of golf professionals that was founded in 1916. Consisting of nearly 29,000 men and women members, the PGA of America's undertaking is to establish ...
.
Golf career
He accepted a job as professional at the Fox Hills Golf Club on
Staten Island
Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...
soon after his arrival and remained in that post until 1914.
He played a match against Walter Clark in 1905,
the result of which is unknown. On 13 July 1905 he won an Open Tournament at the
Van Cortlandt Park
Van Cortlandt Park is a park located in the borough of the Bronx in New York City. Owned by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, it is managed with assistance from the Van Cortlandt Park Alliance. The park, the city's third-lar ...
links by shooting 152 on a course that had been soaked with rain. He held off joint second-place finishers
Willie Anderson and
Bernard Nicholls
Frank Bernard "Ben" Nicholls (19 April 1877 – 3 November 1924) was an American professional golfer and golf course designer of English birth. He compiled an outstanding record in a golf career that included five top-10 finishes in the U.S. ...
who finished at 157. It was the first ever professional tournament held on a public links golf course in the United States.
In a $500
four-ball match held on 26 August 1905 at Hollywood Golf Club in
Deal, New Jersey
Deal is a borough in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, settled by Europeans in the mid-1660s and named after an English carpenter from Deal, Kent. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 900, an increas ...
, Mackie partnered with Willie Anderson of the
Apawamis Club
The Apawamis Club is a private country club located in Rye, New York, Westchester County, long known for its 18-hole golf course and prominence in the sport of squash. The 1911 U.S. Amateur Championship was contested here, resulting in a playoff ...
to defeat
George Low
George Michael Low (born Georg Michael Löw, June 10, 1926 – July 17, 1984) was an administrator at NASA and the 14th president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Low was one of the senior NASA officials who made numerous decisions as m ...
and Bernard Nicholls. The winners were described as being "at the top of their game" as they played before a large gallery. The play was described by a writer for the ''
New York Tribune
The ''New-York Tribune'' was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s through the 1860s it was the domi ...
'' as "the finest exhibition of golf that has ever been seen upon the course, and the match was greatly enjoyed".
Mackie was runner-up to
George Low Sr. in the 1906
Metropolitan Open
The Metropolitan Open is a golf tournament organized by the Metropolitan Golf Association. In the early 20th century it was one of the top events in the country and was retroactively given PGA Tour-level status.
History
The tournament has been ...
and was victorious in the 1914
Shawnee Open The Shawnee Open is a golf tournament that was first held in 1912. It is played at The Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort in Smithfield Township, Monroe County, Pennsylvania. The couse was completed in 1911, the first ever design by renowned architect A. ...
which was contested at
The Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort
The Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort is a resort in the village of Shawnee on Delaware, located in the foothills of the Pocono Mountains in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The hotel is a Spanish colonial revival building with white-Moorish architecture and ...
in
Smithfield Township, Monroe County, Pennsylvania
Smithfield Township is a township in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 8,001 at the 2020 census.
History
"In 1746, the first action was taken for the formation of Smithfield Township, the first municipal division nor ...
.
Canoe Brook Country Club
Canoe Brook Country Club
Canoe Brook Country Club is a private, member-owned 36-hole country club founded in 1901 and located in the New Jersey towns of Summit and Short Hills. Both of Canoe Brook's courses have been extensively renovated by Rees Jones, whom the club cred ...
's original course was designed by Jack Vickery and his assistant
Alex Smith
Alexander Douglas Smith (born May 7, 1984) is an American former quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons. He played college football at Utah, where he received first-team All-American honors and won the 20 ...
. The first nine holes opened for play in 1902 and the second nine followed in 1905. In 1916, Canoe Brook hired
Walter Travis
Walter J. Travis (January 10, 1862 – July 31, 1927) was an American amateur golfer during the early 1900s. He was also a noted golf journalist and publisher, an innovator in all aspects of golf, a teacher, and golf course architect.
Golfing ca ...
to completely overhaul and extend the original course under the supervision of Mackie who was appointed as head professional to replace former French champion,
Louis Tellier
Louis Tellier (December 24, 1842 – June 17, 1935) was a Canadian lawyer, politician, and judge.
Biography
Born in Berthier-en-Haut, Canada East, the son of Zephirin and Luce (Ferland) Tellier, Tellier completed his classical education at ...
, the preceding January. By February 1953 he was the head professional at Netherwood Golf Club in North Plainfield, New Jersey.
1909 U.S. Open
In the
1909 U.S. Open, contested at the
Englewood Golf Club
Englewood Golf Club was a private golf course in the eastern United States, located in Englewood and Leonia, New Jersey, just west of New York City. Opened as a nine-hole course in 1896, a second nine was added four years later; it hosted the U. ...
in New Jersey, Mackie played very well and finished tied for fourth place. He shot rounds of 77-75-74-73=299, tying with
Jack Hobens
John Owen "Jack" Hobens (25 October 1880 – 25 March 1944) was a Scottish-American professional golfer. He was born in Dunbar, Scotland, to Thomas Hoben and Elizabeth (Annie) Owen. He learned the game of golf by starting out as a caddie. Jack ...
, and won $70.
It was his best
major championship finish in a long career that included at least 12 starts in the U.S. Open.
1920 PGA Championship
Mackie played in the
1920 PGA Championship, which was still a
match play
Match play is a scoring system for golf in which a player, or team, earns a point for each hole in which they have bested their opponents; as opposed to stroke play, in which the total number of strokes is counted over one or more rounds of 18 h ...
event at that time. In the tournament—played from August 17–21 at the
Flossmoor Country Club Flossmoor Golf Club is a private country club located in Bloom Township, Cook County, just outside the village limits of Flossmoor, Illinois. Founded in 1899 as Homewood Country Club and designed by Herbert J. Tweedie, its name was later changed t ...
outside
Flossmoor, Illinois
Flossmoor () is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 9,704 at the 2020 census. Flossmoor is approximately 25 miles south of the Chicago Loop.
Geography
Flossmoor is located at (41.541684, -87.684970).
According ...
, a suburb south of
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
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, subdivision_name ...
—he lost his match 3 & 2 to George Thompson.
Previously, Mackie had won the Eastern PGA Championship on his home course at Fox Hills in 1908, before the national PGA was founded.
WW I draft registration
Mackie registered for the
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 ...
draft on 12 September 1918.
Death and legacy
Mackie died on 22 June 1963 in
Scotch Plains, New Jersey
Scotch Plains is a township in Union County, New Jersey, United States. The township is located on a ridge in northern- central New Jersey, within the Raritan Valley and Rahway Valley regions in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 201 ...
. He was a frequent competitor in the U.S. Open in the early 20th century. He had a fine T4 U.S. Open finish in 1909 and was the winner of the 1914 Shawnee Open.
Results in major championships
''Note: Mackie never played in the
Masters Tournament
The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply The Masters, or the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week of April, the Masters is the first maj ...
.''
NYF = Tournament not yet founded
NT = No tournament
DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in PGA Championship match play
? = Unknown
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Yellow background for top-10
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mackie, Isaac
Scottish male golfers
American male golfers
People from Elie and Earlsferry
1880 births
1963 deaths