C.B. Macdonald is known as the father of golf course architecture in the United States and has many designs still considered among the best in the world. His only design outside the U.S. lies in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean: Mid Ocean Club.

Built in the early 1920s, Mid Ocean Club was commissioned by the Withy Steamship Company as an attraction for when they brought clients to Bermuda. The island was originally used solely as a port for transatlantic shipments. In the 1900s, as transportation became safer and more readily available, Bermuda developed into a vacation destination as it is easily accessible from the East Coast.

Macdonald scoured Bermuda in search of the right piece of land and ultimately settled on a plot perfectly situated for golf on the northeast end of the island. The clubhouse resides on a bluff overlooking the ocean, and the course was routed between the Atlantic Ocean and the Harrington Sound. Built with longtime partner Seth Raynor, Macdonald’s design takes full advantage of its location, highlighting the local environment throughout. Mid Ocean Club’s historian, David Woodcock, told Fried Egg Golf that “seeing the course in person makes for a visual feast.”

As with many of his designs, Macdonald employed a series of his “ideal holes” at Mid Ocean Club, including the Short, Biarritz, Punchbowl, Road, Redan, and Cape. Together, they work with the remainder of Macdonald and Raynor’s holes to create one of the most visually stunning places to play golf in the world.

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