There were some questions about who it was who initially bought the Merion Ardmore Ave land in Merion's move from Bryn Mawr to Ardmore Ave around 1911 and 1912.
I have no real idea if the way they did it back then was much different from how things work today but nevertheless the record does show how some of these great courses initially began.
Merion, PVGC, Lido, The Creek, Women's National, GMGC et al, how did they get off an idea?
In all those cases it seems to have been a group of guys who got together for whatever reason, had an idea, an inspiration etc, put up their own money, sometimes incoporated off the bat (if they were real businessmen like Merion and The Creek), sometimes didn't incorporate, put it altogether, got the designers and builders even it was just themselves, bought the land, laid out and built the course and then thought about a membership.
I wonder if this was an unusual modus operandi back then or if it is just the way it goes in golf? Do clubs tend to try to raise most of the seed money up front before getting going today? Were those guys who put their own money at long term risk back then unusual and "of an era"?