GOLF.com: Smithsonian Archive Footage Guides Mid Ocean Club Restoration by Gil Hanse

A Century-Old Film Changes Everything

Mid Ocean Club in Bermuda has announced a restoration project with architects Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner — and the catalyst is a remarkable archival find: footage believed to show C.B. Macdonald, the father of American golf architecture, playing the very course he designed on the island in the early 1920s.

Club member Rick Skelly stumbled upon the film while browsing Smithsonian Institution archives. Tucked inside a longer reel of 1920s Bermuda footage, the grainy clip shows an older man swinging a hickory-shafted club from Mid Ocean's 1st tee. Skelly recognized the motion instantly. The footage is thought to be the only known moving image of Macdonald — filmed at the only course he ever designed outside the United States.

Hanse Brings Deep Macdonald Credentials

Hanse and Wagner's appointment is a natural fit. The firm has restored multiple Macdonald designs, including Sleepy Hollow, The Creek, and Yale, alongside high-profile work at Los Angeles Country Club, Seminole, and Pinehurst No. 4. The team will use the Smithsonian footage alongside other archival materials to inform every decision.

"Our goal is to be faithful to Macdonald and restore his work," Hanse said.

Restoration priorities include the celebrated par-4 Cape 5th, which wraps around Mangrove Lake and which Hanse has called "one of the greatest holes in the world of golf," and the Redan-inspired 17th.

Timeline and Access

Construction is set to begin following a separate clubhouse renovation, with the course expected to close in fall 2027. Mid Ocean, ranked among GOLF's Top 100 Courses You Can Play, reserves a portion of tee times for public play.

Macdonald himself wintered in a home overlooking the 5th hole every year until his death in 1939 — a detail that underscores how deeply he valued this layout among his own work.

Strokeslab Perspective

Restoration projects typically rely on old photographs and written records, but the use of primary moving footage of the designer himself as a reference tool is virtually unprecedented in golf course history. This raises the bar for what "faithful restoration" can mean.