The Ghost Tree at Old Macdonald. If you've ever been out to play at Old Macdonald, among a number of iconic design features, one of them truly sticks like none other.
Little is documented on the various blog and writings that be, which seems so strange since it has such a spiritual presence when you play the hole. We proceeded to converse with our early supporter, friend in links golf, and walking golfer: Jeff Brinegar. This legendary golfer who has traversed this section of the property hundreds of times had the following to say:
Commonly referred to as the 'Ghost Tree', this iconic Old Macdonald centerpiece truly sets the tone for your round as it can be seen from every hole on the course. This grand Port Orford Cedar, located on the third hole, aptly named 'Sahara', has been photographed, drawn and talked about by countless visitors since the course opening. Upon closer inspection, it is obvious that the stout old tree was involved in fires, lightening storms, and decades of coastal weather that rendered it's iconic character and established its legend. Originally there were two trees that flanked the hillside on #3 but the one to the right was removed during a test play round before the completion of construction.
Inspired by Jeff's comments on artistic renditions and interpretations, we decided to play around with two mediums we love: wool (ofcourse), and wood.
Our dear friend and design guru Steven Davison, came over one night and we conversed our love of the solo tree over a series of potent Northwest Strong Ales (Jubleale, to be precise).
First, we decided that it would be great to begin tracing the tree, and making some small changes so we could try to apply it to different materials. We first tried with Walnut, but learned that there were too many branches to scale down to just a 12 inch height, so some design changes were required. Being such a dense wood, it was difficult to cut and shape the limbs correctly, so instead of spending more time with Walnut, we moved on to softer variations.
We tried again with Mahogany, the shape started coming in, so we were pretty excited. It would require a larger base if it were to really begin to stand on its own, though.
To make it have that 'SEAMUS' touch, we took some scrap Gordon tartan and applied it to one side of the mock-up.
Our last attempt that evening included a houndstooth mated to Mahogany, probably our finest piece. The physical dexterity of our fingertips became compromised by the beer, and we moved on just sitting and marveling at our little piece.
All that work and what do we have? Desk Ornament? We don't really know what it is. But it was a lot of fun and gets us very excited for our upcoming trip to the mecca of US LINKS GOLF: BANDON DUNES.