Mike,
That is apparently an oblique reference to their clay soils (vs the ideal of sand) and all the advice CBM gave them on agronomy, not to mention, it apparently was a struggle to grow the grass in.
Patrick,
I have always gotten the fact that Barker probably stumbled on some good hole corridors, particularly south of Ardmore where the basic land was the same, save the later addition of the Dallas Estate. I mean, its basically 4 holes wide, so in some areas, how different might it be? Reversed perhaps, shortened to the final perhaps because of no Dallas Estate land, etc.
If you want me to concede that IF we found the Barker plan that it MIGHT have at least one hole that we WOULD recognize, then I will do that. IF that is all you were trying to say, then no problem. We MIGHT.
If you want me to concede that the Barker Plan WAS included in the report to MCC, I wiill. If you want me to concede that a plan could be brilliantly thought out and crudely drawn, I will concede that. (I may be working on one right now, but in the computer age......)
If you want me to relay from Ron Whitten and Geoff Cornish that their book isn't totally infallible, they admit that. At some point, unlike these threads, they had to put it to bed for printing. They made corrections in subsequent editions. Actually, I think Mike and I are informally proposing something similar in the net age - wrap this up and make a best conclusion we can for now, let TePaul and Wayne find and share some more documents and reconvene just before the 2013 US Open to see if we HAVE learned anything new since today that would alter opinions.
I still maintain that you are arguing that "just because there is no proof, it doesn't mean something didn't happen" when in reality, it usually does mean exactly that. I also maintain that Barker hitting upon a few holes in a routing probably doesn't amount to "substance.'
More importantly, and having given it more thought that it deserves, I believe that your bluster about Barker perhaps having some of his holes make the final, after the committee produced many plans, took them to CBM, refined them to 5 plans, swapped land, added the Dallas Estate, etc., just really doesn't matter. As I have stated somewhere that no one can probably find anymore, I have built courses where other gca's have submitted routings. Yes, if there are some good holes, more than one gca found those. No one credits other gca's who put in proposals just because of that, and it would be going against convention to make a special case for including Barker in MCC's credits, based on conventional standards.
Oh, and by the way, like my ex wife, I still want a separation and divorce from you! The rest of both our lives is too short to be fighting over a woman named Merion on the coulda, woulda, shoulda and WhyIoughtas.