After 20 pages of a thread devoted to whetting out what possible involvement or influence Charles Blair MacDonald had on the design and construction of Merion's East course, I am convinced that it was two things...educational during Hugh Wilson's two day visit to NGLA in 1910(?)...and minimal upon his return to the states during the building process.
The construction site visits reveal no evidence of an imposition into the process which to me says he approved of everything going on.
This indicates a certain style that might unfortunately not exist today. Moriarty and MacWood are so hell-bent on proving his contributions that they overlook the fact that he may very well have been on-site but kept to himself to let the Merion committee work out their problems themselves. Surely if they were to lean on CBM for answers they would have recognized that assistance. Do Moriarty and MacWood think the Merion committee were such self-important a**holes that they would take help from a man (THE MAN, in fact) and not acknowledge it?
I think Wilson and his committee were very thankful for CBM taking the time to lend some insight into his approach prior to Wilson's trip overseas, and I think CBM must have been a perfect gentleman upon his visit(s) to the Merion Golf Club construction site. Something that just might be lacking in this day and age if it cannot even be considered a possibility.