C. K. Hutchison
Hutchison served as assistant to James Braid during the construction of Gleneagles and the reconstruction of Carnoustie. In the mid-1920s he formed a firm with Colonel S.V. Hotchkin.
Cecil Hutchison was educated at Eton College, Windsor, where he excelled at a number of sports. He played cricket for the school then went on to represent the Household Brigade and turn out occasionally for Marylebone Cricket Club between 1898 and 1904.
Hutchison was commissioned into the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Scots in 1896, transferring to the Regular Army as Second Lieutenant in the 1st.Battalion of the Coldstream Guards in 1898.
His first active service was in South Africa during the Boer War, taking part in the advance on Kimberley and the Battle of Magersfontein. He was also involved in military operations that took place during battles at Poplar Grove and Driefontein.
On his return to England, he turned from cricket to golf, becoming one of the greatest players of his day, and he represented Scotland in nine consecutive annual matches against England from 1904 to 1912.
During that time he also reached the final of the Amateur Championship while a member of Tantallon Golf Club in North Berwick, losing to Robert Maxwell by a single hole at Muirfield in 1909.
Hutchison retired from the Army but was recalled for service in World War One and was in action at Givenchy in December of 1914. The following month, his Battalion trenches were over-run and he was taken prisoner of war.
He was held in various prisoner of war camps in Germany until November 1917, when he was transferred to Switzerland for internment until he was repatriated to England at the end of the following year.
He resigned his Commission on 12 June 1920 and was granted the honorary rank of Major.
It’s not known what brought about the partnership of C.K. Hutchison and James Braid at Gleneagles but they were both involved in the development of the King’s and Queen’s courses before Hutchison re-enrolled for the Army in 1914.
According to the book James Braid and his Four Hundred Golf Courses, they were “invited to submit plans for two golf courses and paid their first site visit on 29th December 1913.” In April of the following year, “the appointment of Braid and Hutchison to design and supervise the construction of the [King’s] course was confirmed for a fee of £120 plus expenses.”
Authors John F. Moreton and Iain Cumming continue: “Braid and Hutchison produced detailed plans of each hole, including longitudinal sections, which were almost certainly Hutchison’s work. He remained as construction supervisor during the building of the course and the neighbouring Queen’s course.”
As both 18-hole layouts didn’t officially open until 1919, it can safely be assumed that there was a rather extended grow-in period at Gleneagles whilst war raged in Europe, with Hutchison spending much of this time ensconced in a variety of German detention centres.
He’s credited with designing Tadmarton Heath and Kington during the early 1920s before joining up with S.V. Hotchkin and Guy Campbell – a family friend who had assisted him in the reconstruction of Wimereux in France – to form the Links and Courses company in 1926, taking on projects in the south of England at Ashridge, Leeds Castle and West Sussex.
The design practice didn’t last long, however, and after a few years Hutchison was back out on his own, renovating courses such as Harewood Downs (1938) and the Ailsa at Turnberry (1939) before the start of the Second World War.
Hutchison was a founding member of the International Society of Golf Architects, along with architects such as John Abercromby, C.H. Alison, Harry Colt, Herbert Fowler, Alister MacKenzie, Philip Mackenzie Ross and Tom Simpson. Formed in 1929, the society operated from secretary Tom Simpson’s office at his home in England.
He died in a private nursing home at Horsell in Woking, Surrey on 25 March 1941, at the age of 64.
Notable Courses
