Southward the great bulk of Tamalpais is reared against the sky…purple clad in the soft haze of gathering dusk.  About you the broad fairways and greens melt into the distance…surmounted by the gently rolling hills beyond.  Behind you the Clubhouse with beckoning hospitable lights…the murmur of voices…the tinkle of glasses.  The air is clean and fragrant.  It is evening on Bon Tempe Meadow.

            Eighty years ago the above words introduced Meadow Club of Tamalpais to its first prospective members.  Today, the words still ring true.  The Meadow Club of Tamalpais, as it was originally named, is a charmed course in a magical setting, and is considered one of California’s finest country clubs.  Meadow Club owes its initial prominence and its continued reputation in large part to its founders, S.B. McNear, John Forbes and others, who acquired the services of three men who were geniuses in their fields.  Dr. Alister MacKenzie designed the golf course, John White, the Clubhouse, and the firm of Fredrick Law Olmsted designed the entryway and the landscaping.

            Dr. Alister MacKenzie graduated from Cambridge with degrees in Medicine, Chemistry, and Natural Sciences.  He served as a Civil Surgeon in the Boer War where he studied and reported on the Boer’s use of camouflage.  Returning to England, he incorporated these principals into the design of Alwoodley Golf Club, his first course, completed in 1906 in partnership with H.S. Colt.  MacKenzie excelled in the using the natural features of the land to emphasize the layout of the courses, so that they flowed in harmony with what nature provided.  Meadow Club was MacKenzie’s first design in the United States.  In the next six years, before his death in 1934, he gained international acclaim with his designs of Cypress Point Club, Augusta National, Royal Melbourne, Crystal Downs, Valley Club, and Pasatiempo.

            The Law Olmsted firm designed and landscaped Central Park in New York, the town of Kohler, Wisconsin, the Lincoln monument, as well as over twenty state capitals.  The original plans of the golf course, as well as much of the original correspondence concerning the inception of the Club, can be found in Olmsted’s section of our country’s National Archives in Washington, D.C.

            Architect John White designed the main clubhouse. A student of the arts & crafts design movement, White’s use of wood is reminiscent of an English hunting lodge.  On the oak mantle that adorns the brick fireplace in the Ballroom is carved 1927, the year Meadow Club was dedicated.  In 1995 the new Golf House replaced the original locker facilities and pro shop. 

            Originally the Club, with the help of Frank Howard Allen Jr., purchased 7 acres of land, on which was built the Clubhouse and the guest cottages.  Later, stables, swimming pool, men’s and ladies locker facilities, and a pro shop were added.  The course was situated on 162 acres of land leased from the Marin Municipal Water District.  In 1977, with the lease due to expire in March of 2000, the Club, under the leadership of President Dr. Louis Geissberger, purchased 2,200 acres of watershed land surrounding Kent Lake which it traded to the Water District in exchange for the 162 acres of golf course property.  This land swap gave the Club the ability to finally control its own destiny.

            In 1987 Meadow Club invited other clubs designed by Dr. MacKenzie in California to a two-day gathering of golf and discussions of items of mutual concern.  From this meeting the Alister MacKenzie Society was founded.  The Society has quickly become one of Golf’s most exclusive groups, awarding yearly scholarships in golf course design, and providing historical information for the restoration of MacKenzie’s storied courses worldwide.  The MacKenzie Signature Program – the restoration of Meadow Club to MacKenzie’s original playing characteristics – was started in 1999.

            Today, eighty years after our inception, thanks to the foresight and efforts of our founders, and the diligence of those that have followed, one can still stand under the great bulk of Tamalpais, taking in the clear and fragrant air, listening to the tinkle of glasses in the Clubhouse behind, experiencing the magic of Meadow Club.

Dr. Gary R. Nelson