Wayne:
I pretty much deciphered Ross's hand writing in those construction instructions. He does have pretty lousy writing. No wonder W.I. Johnson typed Ross's construction instructions on plans, if he didn't foreman and crews would've probably taken forever trying to figure out what he wrote.
Here's an interesting question. Which of Ross's golf courses have bunker drawings by Ross himself that were departed from in construction as comprehensively as Aronimink?
I bet it would be hard to find one of his courses with drawings as detailed by Ross himself as Aronimink's are that was not done. And if so it just makes this question of why the change from Ross's drawings to what was constructed at Aronimink that much more interesting and mysterious. Also, since Ross mentioned that he intended Aronimink to be his masterpiece (assuming that remark wasn't blatant hyperole) why weren't there W.I. Johnson hole by hole drawings with Ross's construction instructions typed on the hole by holes as there were for Seminole and others? Maybe they're gone and maybe they were never done for some reason.
I have Ross's original hole by hole plans for Seminole and if I could find an early aerial I could compare them as to any differences between Ross plans and "as built".
There really do seem to be some interesting parallels between Jeffersonville and Aronimink. In an ad in that tournament program the unusual bunkering at Jeffersonville is mentioned. Who is it that's assumed to have done Jeffersonville? J.B. McGovern. Even McGovern's daughter mentioned in an article recently that she thinks architectural attribution should be given to her father and perhaps not Ross. The owners of the course who did so much research to prove they were a Ross course have pretty much concluded Ross was probably never there.
The ad in the tournament program also mentions how beautifully tree-lined Jeffersonville is. One can see in those early Dallin aerials of Aronimink that it was not originally tree-lined at all. But one can see in the 1939 aerial the planting of hundreds of little trees between the holes basically beginning the tree-lining of Aronimink (another project (tree removal) that was thankfully completed during the recent restoration). Who was responsible for that? Apparently J. B. McGovern was on some of Aronimink's committees---that tournament program states that too.
How often did Ross have a construction foreman who was also a member of the golf club under construction? I'd bet Aronimink and McGovern may've been the only one.
But what would be the point of considering any of that, particularly if you're Tom MacWood and it doesn't jibe with your opinion, point and criticism of what was done 75 years later?