Jeff,
Yes, it's strange isn't it. I think I heard something from talking with Tom Paul once about "Committee on new golf grounds", which certainly doesn't roll off the tongue.
Perhaps we can come up with a new Conspiracy Theory that Robert Lesley is the actual architect, but didn't want his wife to know the real reason that he was spending so much time away from the Lesley household.
As far as "secure" and "acquire", thankfully, the records of deeds, which Bryan has, and the lease of the railroad land should make that a moot point.
We KNOW that Merion "secured" 117 acres of HDC land in December 1910, we KNOW they purchased 120.1 acres of HDC Land in July of 1911, and we KNOW they leased 3 acres of railroad land for a total "acquisition" of 123 acres for their golf course.
In any case, even contemporaneous newspapers seem to be a less than perfect source, admittedly.
Andy,
Yes, in my 2-hour routing of the Johnson Farm the other day, which only needed to cross Ardmore Avenue ONE TIME, I already have staked claim to being a superior course router than Big Mac, Slam Bam Barker, and that novice Hugh Wilson!!
Thank you for concurring....evidently Jeff Brauer remains unconvinced, but Pine Valley, Cypress Point, ANGC and other pretenders to being the top course in the country or world are just fortunate that I wasn't around at the time Merion was being routed.
Seriously, I think you're making a mistake by trying to go back to that time with a modern mindset.
What realistically were there options?
The best courses in the country at that time were being designed, and built and modified by their amateur friends and competitors, NONE of whom has a wealth of previous experience...you had Leeds at Myopia...Emmett first at Garden City, but then vastly updated by Travis, you had Oakmont being built and evolved by Fownes, you had Shawnee just designed by their friend Tillinghast, and you had Macdonald...who had just spent four years trying to get NGLA open, which was almost at fruition.
Then you had the one-day-wonders the pros like Dunn, and Barker, and Bendelow....they had been instrumental in furthering a growing game but their courses and model for development of courses hardly reached anything close to the excellence these men wanted to achieve.