Discovering Alex Russell

Alex Russell is regarded as perhaps Australia's finest ever home-grown golf course architect. He served as the Australian partner of the famed Scottish architect Dr Alister MacKenzie in the design and construction of the West Course at Royal Melbourne Golf Club, and was solely responsible for the design of Yarra Yarra, Royal Melbourne's East Course, Lake Karrinyup in Perth and Paraparaumu Beach in New Zealand, all highly rated courses. However, he is important to the story of Australian golf for much more than just golf course design as he was a champion golfer, winning the 1924 Australian Open as an amateur, amongst numerous other national and state titles.

Discovering Alex Russell: The Man and his Legacy by Neil Crafter and John Green uses detailed text, period archival photographs, maps and plans to bring together the many threads of Russell's life from his birth as the son of a wealthy Victorian grazier, to his education at Geelong Grammar and Cambridge, and his distinguished service as an artillery officer in the British Army in World War I, finishing the war as a Major in charge of his own battery after recovering from significant injuries caused by an incoming German shell. The book examines Russell's political life and his subsequent service in World War II where he was in charge of repatriating prisoners of war for the Australian Red Cross, together with his family life and the grazing property 'Mawallok' in Victoria's Western District. 

Discovering Alex Russell is a handsomely illustrated and detailed biography of a man who did so much for golf in Australia. It is a fascinating way to discover more about Alex Russell the man, his life and his golf courses.