"I suppose its possible that Ross didn’t build any golf course with atypical bunkers or features – like Seminole, Oyster Harbors, Crestmont, Palm Beach, Minikahda, Rhode Island, Broadmoor (similar clusters) and Aronimink."
Tom:
The first thing I'd say to you is to try not to think in such black and white terms about architecture or an architect such as Donald Ross when you make a statement like that. Nobody but you seems to be saying that ANYONE on here is saying or implying Donald Ross DIDN'T build any courses with atypical bunkering. Of course he did. Ross, was a busy man, a busy architect--he had over 3,000 people at one point working for him on numerous projects in some years, particularly the 1920s.
In one year Ross had 26 courses under construction. That's a lot of courses, a lot more holes and many more bunkers than that.
A restoration architect such as Prichard has made a study of Ross's career, of his foreman and their particular unique nuances and styles at various courses Ross may have had little to do with the some of the details of such as bunkering or particular green features. Read Brad Klein's book carefully for some of those details from a foreman such as Hatch. Ross couldn't be everywhere at the same time and so he obviously couldn't possibly oversee everything going on with some of his courses.
That makes something like the odd two to three sets of bunkers at Aronimink or Jeffersonville being McGovern more than plausible in Ron Prichard's mind and mine too. There's nothing wrong with that really, and I do understand that you think that's neat or orginal or whatever.
However, Aronimink G.C. was particularly interested in restoring their course and their bunkers to what they actually knew to be Ross--eg those excellent (according to Prichard) "field" drawing of bunkering at Aronimink by Ross himself. Despite how much you may think that bunkering that's possibly McGovern may have been unique and cool, Aronimink and Prichard wanted confirmed Ross bunkers on their course and they had them in those drawings. If McGovern actually did take liberties with the bunker style at Aronimink that in no manner or means indicates Aronimink G.C was a McGovern design---of course it was Ross's design! A whole lot more goes into a golf course and its design than just an altered style of bunkering by a foreman, my friend!
"I tend to give him the benefit of the doubt. I’ve not discovered evidence Ross ever took credit for golf courses he did not design, nor any evidence he disowned any courses his associates built, or any evidence his associates were guilty of over-zealous or unauthorized redesign."
See, the above again. Nobody but you is saying or implying that anyone on here is saying Ross took credit for a course he didn't design or saying he disowned anything his associates built. Some say, probably correctly, that Ross may not have even seen or set foot on a number of courses under his name so of course his associates must have done the work or even some of the design on those courses.
But those courses aren't being restored that I know of as Aronimink was and those courses don't have some of the best bunker drawings for that particular course either in Ross's own hand that Aronimink had!
There's little question in my mind and now apparently almost everyone's that Aronimink made the right decision.
You seem to be implying that there were so many sand flashed faced bunkers in and around Philadelphia or anywhere so-called "Philly School" architects worked (what you're erroneously now calling the "classic Philly School" bunker style), to be honest with you I think I'm damn glad that Aronimink did restore to that grassed down bunker face style in Ross's hand at Aronimink!