Tom Mackenzie and Martin Ebert

West Scotland native Tom Mackenzie first learned the game of golf at the Gleddoch House golf course west of Glasgow. Teaming up with his brother, he convinced his family to move north to the great Highlands golfing town of Dornoch. Tom became heavily involved with Royal Dornoch Golf Club, working as a caddie and a greenkeeper, and even receiving the honor of caddying for the great Seve Ballesteros during an exhibition match. Already interested in pursuing golf course design, Mackenzie attended Edinburgh College of Art, then Heriot-Watt University, graduating with a degree in Landscape Architecture in 1989. While at university, Mackenzie took a year off to caddie on the European Tour and get to know the continent’s great golf courses. This proved useful when he began working for renowned British architect Donald Steel out of college.

Martin Ebert was introduced to golf at a driving range near Heathrow Airport, before becoming a junior member at Ashford Manor soon after. He read Engineering at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, and played golf on the university first team his final year. To get a second year on the “Blues” playing the United Kingdom’s greatest courses, Ebert pursued a fourth-year Engineering Masters, graduating from Cambridge the same year as Mackenzie. It was Mackenzie’s brother who introduced Ebert to Tom and Donald Steel, and Ebert joined the firm at the start of the new decade.

Mackenzie and Ebert immediately became key associates to Steel, who had already established a reputation as a lead modifier of the UK’s great links courses and a new-build architect on both sides of the pond. Mackenzie was given primary associate responsibilities with original builds at Redtail Golf Club (1992), the Carnegie Club at Skibo Castle (1995), the Aquidneck Club (2000), and the Abaco Club at Winding Bay (2004), while Ebert helped design Victoria Golf Resort (1999) and the Highland Course at Primland Resort (2006). They also helped Steel with renovations of various links courses, including the Balgove Course at St. Andrews Links (1993, while creating the Strathtyrum), Enniscrone Golf Club (2001), and Tralee Golf Club (2003).

Before the Primland project was finished, Steel announced his retirement from golf course design to become President of the English Golf Union. Subsequently, Mackenzie and Ebert formed a partnership in late 2005. Out of the gate, M&E hired engineer Chris Huggett and quickly designed another Canadian original at Goodwood Golf Club (2007). After recovering the ancient links at Askernish Golf Club (2008), the British duo followed in the footsteps of Steel to become the go-to renovators of Great Britain and Ireland’s classic courses by the mid-2010s.

Mackenzie and Ebert typically work on projects separately, but the firm gets the official credit. Together they have compiled a striking résumé, consulting at nine of the 10 active Open Championship venues, from minor tweaks at Carnoustie Golf Links and Royal Troon Golf Club to new holes and more significant alterations at Trump Turnberry (2016-present), Royal Portrush Golf Club (2017), Royal Liverpool Golf Club (2023), and Royal Birkdale Golf Club (2025). Some of their more ambitious projects, involving dramatic changes, have come at Royal County Down Golf Club’s Annesley Links (2015), Trevose Golf and Country Club (2019), Prince’s Golf Club (2020), and The Island Golf Club (2020). The firm has also worked prolifically for British inland clubs, most substantially at Liphook Golf Club (2020) and Aldeburgh Golf Club (2025).

In recent years, M&E have expanded their influence globally, completing large-scale projects at Golden Age classics like Hirono Golf Club in Japan (2019), Hamilton Golf and Country Club in Canada (2022), and New South Wales Golf Club in Australia (2025). In the process, the firm has also grown by hiring architects Mike Howard and Greg Smeaton. Mackenzie & Ebert have undoubtedly become leaders in contemporary golf architecture. The question is not whether they will continue to be entrusted with altering some of the world’s greatest courses, but which clubs will hire them next.