Maybe I can shed some light on this, especially as there are several points that have been raised and are intertwined causing confusion. The best way to approach this is by separating and approaching them one at a time.
The first question is WHY does the Tillinghast Association list the course in the "Examinations" section of his work?
Tilly separated his work into THREE main areas; "Original Designs," "Reconstructed and Extended Courses" and "Examinations and Reports." We know this because he produced an advertising brochure that listed MOST but not all of his work in these three areas in 1925. That year is a key part of understanding this riddle. The Tillinghast Association has decided to break it out just a bit further and so lists FOUR separate areas by differentiating between "Reconstructions" and "Additions." This helps the student of Tilly to get a better sense of the actual work done at specific courses.
Jaeger noted that, "The Tillinghast Association lists Seaviwe Golf Club, Bay Course under the heading "Original designs, reconstruction, expansions and additions"... Pine Valley is also listed because he likes to take credit for original designs on 2 of the holes, so I dont know how much credibility you want to give them."
Yse, Pine Valley is listed, but NOT for the reason that Jaeger has stated. Note that Pine Valley is listed under the "Examinations and Reports" section. The reason for this is because Tilly himself listed them that way in the 1925 brochure. We believe that after Crump's death that, like a number of others, he was asked to examine the unfinished course and submit his ideas as to how to go about finishing it. As in the others listed that way in his brochure, he didn't get the job. He did, however, make very specific recommendations about several holes during their design phase to his friend, George Crump. He even included drawings of these during the time they were being constructed and did claim that the finished product were his ideas.
By the way, there was also a distinct difference between "examining" a course and providing a "Report" about one in Tilly's mind. Tilly looked at many hundreds of golf courses and gave bids to the prospective and actual owners to provide architectural and design services to them. A good portion of these were simply in letter form stating that for X dollars he would provide the following services without any specifics. These are separate and distinct from the idea of an "examination" and/or "report" about a golf course.
Many of his "Examinations" were done with the principals alongside him. They would hear what he had to say as they went hole-by-hole and no official written "Report" would be given them. In other cases, AFTER Tilly made his examinations, he would put his suggestions down on paper and send them to the club &/or Green Committee which he was dealing with. Some of these included drawings and sketches for either a new routing or individual hole changes.
Why is the 1925 date of this brochure important? Because Tilly DIDN'T list the course among those that he had either designed, worked on, examined or reported on. Yet the reference in Thomas' book implies shows that whatever Tilly did had to occur BEFORE it was published in 1927.
In the fall of 1925, Jess Sweetser recommended to Clarence geist that a charity golf tournament might be organized and held in just a few short months prior to the Christmas holidays. It was held on December 7, 8 & 9, and was to benefit the Christmas Seals charity. Everyone was stunned when 130 players "reported to the first tee" for play. In fact, it was estimated that 250 would have teed it up if it hadn't been for "the greatest snowstorm since 1886" which covered "the Eastern seaboard of the country." Findlay Douglas, Bobby Jones, George Von Elm, Harry Cooper, J.Wood Platt and other notables supported the event.
The man who organized and ran this tournament at Geist's request in just over six weeks? A.W. Tillinghast.
The tournament was so successful that immediate plans began being made with a committee formed in January 1926 to create and oversee the making of a tournament that would become an "annual fixture and national event." It was to be officially called the "Jess Sweetser Christmas Seal" tournament. Geist stated at a dinner that he believed the event would be able to raise over a million dollars for the charity. Unfortunately the Great Depression began in November 1929 with the stock market crash and the tournament was no longer held.
As part of the planning though, an examination of the course and recommendations for needed changes would have probably occurred, and with Tilly's involvement as the first one's organizer and his being part of the tournament committee, naturally he would be involved with this aspect.
Cornish and Whitten list the Seaview Bay Course as being "remodeled" by Tilly without giving a date for the work. Like many others I have been unable to ascertain that Tilly did anything more than look at the course for Geist, though I wouldn't be surprised if he made recommendations and that work was done, especially if it happened during this time period.
As for the Thomas' reference to a possible "Wilson-Tillinghast" collaboration, this would be highly unlikely. As shown above, any and all examinations and work that may have been done by Tilly would not have taken place BEFORE the winter of 1926. Hugh Wilson had died the year before and so could not have been involved.
What I believe it refers to, and this is speculation only, is what Wilson and Tilly wrote Thomas about as they both enjoyed ongoing correspondence with him. In these letters much information as to current events and work were included, with some of it making its way into his writings. Thomas knew the Seaview Course and all of the Jersey courses well. That Wilson and Tilly might make reference to aspects of their designs would be expected as thomas refers to information such as this being inletters that he received.
And so, I believe that whatever minor changes to Seaview that might have taken place in 1926 had already been mentioned to him as part of these ongoing correspondence by both Wilson and Tilly. That is why in refering to the Seaview changes that Thomas honored his hewly-passed friend by linking his name with Tilly's as the ones responsible for them.
Again, that is only speculation on my part.
And lest I forget, Mike, the reason it isn't mentioned in mt Tilly bio is due to a clerical error on my part. It somehow got lost from original mauscript to final version... That mistake, as well as a few others most have never even noticed, will be corrected in Volume II.
Hope that helps...