"My point is that the constrained, oddly-shaped property limited how the holes could be routed, at least in terms of general direction on each side of the road. This differs considerably from, say, a 120 acre symmetric, "square" property without a public road, an existing clubhouse, a large quarry, etc."
MikeC:
That's true on a site of the configuration of Merion East---eg there's no real latitude to go sideways from the general direction of the holes but that in no way means it's totally obvious that the holes should stop and start where they do or that the par selections come where it does or that the sequencing be what it is.
Furthermore, there is one massive unanswered question to do with almost all these early so-called "amateur/sportsmen" designers of that era and the way they all went about their projects---and that is did they take the massive amounts of time they did on their projects simply because that was necessary to overcome their inexperiences along the way or did they enter into those projects both knowing and intending that they would do it that way over such extended periods of time?
There actually is a brief discussion in those agronomy letters about this very thing and this very subject. If I can find it, I'll post it.