Phil,
Understood and completely agreed.
All,
In re-reading David's IMO piece last night, one piece struck me because I realized that I had recently heard similar language.
David wrote;
"The (Merion) Board of Governors also announced to the members that “experts are now at work preparing plans for the course which will rank in length, soil, and variety of hazards with the best in the country,” and the Inquirer reported the same. Unfortunately, neither the Board nor the Inquirer identified just who these “experts” were.
David then goes on to contend that they couldn't be talking about Hugh Wilson and Committee because in Wilson's writing, he claimed they were all novices.
But let's look again at what Wilson actually said, and remember also the reason M&W were recommended by Griscom in the first place...construction and agronomy.
"The members of the committee had played golf for many years, but the experience of each in construction and greenkeeping was only that of the average club member. "
Let's also recall that Robert W. Lesley, the most prominent man in Philadelphia golf for decades was the President of Merion, as well as the President of the Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP) at the time. He is the man who would have assigned the members of the Committee.
What hit me in re-reading what David wrote, and what the Merion governing board reported, is the particular language of "golf experts". I knew I had seen it before.
In early 1913, acting as President of GAP, Lesley assigned a team of Golf Experts to search Fairmount Park in Philadelphia and recommend a suitable site for a public golf course. He named to that Committee;
Hugh Irvine Wilson – Merion Cricket Club, whose design of the Merion East golf course had just opened the prior September.
George Arthur Crump – Philadelphia Country Club, who had just bought 184 acres of rolling, sandy pinelands in southern New Jersey and was in the process of laying out a golf course.
Albert Haseltine Smith (aka Ab Smith and A.H. Smith) – Huntingdon Valley Country Club, a top-notch competitor who was an early and vocal advocate for a public golf course in Philadelphia and who had just won the Philadelphia Amateur tournament for the second time in 1911.
Joseph A. Slattery – Whitemarsh Valley Country Club, a member of the Executive Committee of GAP and another fine local player.
A local paper, reporting on one of the site visits, stated; "In commenting on the project afterwards, Hugh I. Wilson of the Merion Cricket Club, who was one of the two expert golfers" present (Ab Smith being the other), declared that he believed Plot C would be the first one turned into a golf course. He stated that it was admirable soil, which would only need a little fertilizer to be put into condition. All of the work which would be required around the the approaches to the greens, and to the holes could be performed within thirty days in his opinion."
Later in the year, in an article where Ellis Gimbel is trying to get the Fairmount Park Commission to open a nine holer, it states;
"This statement by Mr. Gimbel followed a tour of inspection yesterday by members of the Associated Golf Clubs committee, accompanied by the Committee on Superintendence and Police of the Park Commission, Superintendent Vogdes of the park, and expert golfers.
Later in the year this Committee of experts found and recommended the Cobb's Creek site;
"The proposed golf course in Cobb's Creek Park is a tract of land in the northern end, and is described by the committee as an ideal site. It consists of a plateau with an undulating slope, dropping down to the bank of the creek. The tract comprises about ninety-one acres, which has been in grass for a number of years and can be put in order for golf with little expenditure. The accessories will cost about $30,000 it is estiimated. It was pointed out by the committee that the site is easy of access. the cost of maintenance of the course, should it be constructed, would be about $10,000 a year it was estimated."
Finally, in June 1914, progress started to be made;
"Work will soon be started on the first of three public courses which will be constructed in Fairmount Park. Experts who have seen the layout say the first course will be the best planned municipal links in this country and that it will compare favorably with some of the best courses in the country."
More to come...