Paul, thank you. I think it is wonderful you made this effort. It is a good start, IMHO. I must say, as to you wondering how this fits into the big picture, that it would be significant to fix Mr Hugh Wilson at any of these historic locales, at any time, no matter what the date or place. If the date fits most comfortably with those that believe HIW did in deed go and spend time studying these course as a precursor to then applying his new studies to Merion, that is great. If it shows that HIW spent time at courses that are somewhat escew of the dates hoped for, it still means he was there. The only downside, is if we find NO evidence that HIW was anywhere in GB and Scotland, ever.... Then we are back to square one, with no proof he was there, and nothing to totally refute that he was not.
I really think the other types of supporting documents as supporting evidence to fix HIW's attendence at critical times, hasn't even been scratched.
One side note about all this; we and most specifically the contestants in this controversy have elevated the whereabouts of HIW, and chronicalling his movements and activities to create or oversee the creation of Merion golf course to almost the status of researching an historical review of the circumstances that influenced a President. I would think that 99.9% of the population out there might find this whole laborious process and calling these questions as.... odd.
Yes, we old obscure GCA afficianados would like to know the true origins of these stories. But, it really should never have risen to the level of emotion that has been displayed. Humor, collegeal friendly competitions over sources and theories, and collaborative effort should have been made use of in these inquiries and debates. But, the emotional aspects were really unnecessary, IMHO. Efforts such as Paul has just made are really the way to go, I believe.