Hello Tom,
Thank you for the kind words. There will be a leather-bound Limited Edition in a slip-case cover available starting sometime in September (just waiting for printer to deliver it for binding). The Classics of Golf web-site will be taking advance orders for it in about a week or two. The trade edition is scheduled for just after the beginning of November.
I also, once again, want to thank you for the lively debates we've had on all things Tilly. At times you've been taken to task and had some very hearty duels with a few on the board (including me) and yet They resulted in uncovering some previously unknown facts and observations that ended up playing a role in my bio. So, don't ever put down your sword!
His father died in May. The family supplied me with the records and confirmed all dates involving births, deaths and in-betweens, by either documents or confirmed family history.
As far as George Low being "Tilly's psuedo arcitectural partner at the time?" consider this. During the time frame of 1917 onward, Low had become so busy with outside interests that by late 1919 he considered resigning his position with the club. They convinced him to stay by granting him a six-month leave of abscens from May to November 1920. He went to Scotland to pursue his business interests there. When he finally left baltusrol in 1925, he pursued work as a course architect full-time.
Yet he wasn't just interested in architecture. For example, he had a thriving club-making business that was so successful he opened a second shop, doing work for golfers throughout the U.S. In addition he was very interested in inventing practicle tools. It was his furrowed rake that was used at Oakmont and other courses.
At Baltusrol, he was very involved in refining and improving the old course, and held it in high regard, almost as being "his."
On the other hand, Tilly gave his plans to the Board for approval in December 1918. They showed his routings of the two courses, meaning that Low's beloved old course would be destroyed, something he would not have been wanting to see happen. Tilly was a man with a very large ego, yet his ethics motivated him to giving credit to thers wherever he could. His advertisements of himself always read "the creator of Baltusrol" and he firmly believed it to be a creation rather than a design. It was his from start to finish.
An interesting side note is that the story written by Herb Graffis where he wrote, "The laborer and the mule would occasionally get a sniff of Tilly's richly-flavored exhaust and knew they were working for a man of great power and artistry..." turns out to have been from the mouth of George Low Jr.
According to the late and very great sports writer, Red Hoffman, confirmed to me in his own words in a telephone conversation the year before he died, George Jr. had told him that he made this story up about Tilly and his sitting under the tree with the flask in hand! He also said this to Rick Wolffe on another occasion. I have been following-up on some leads for a while now to confirm the veracity of this statement.
If true, which I believe it to be, it is highly ironic when you consider how 2 of Tilly's great works, Baltusrol & Bethpage, have found his genius under attack by the "memories" of little children brought to light when adults. In both cases, they appear to be finally discredited.