Thanks very much for the article Bryan and Niall. This should clear up some confusion regarding some of the courses Wilson visited. Niall, what newspaper? Thanks again!
A few comments and a clarification . . .
- Notably, the apparent source of the information was Hugh Wilson himself. Who else there would have been able to speak to what happened at Merion? The article provides similar information from others in the Philadelphia press; many (or most) of the holes were based on famous holes abroad. And this again raises the obvious question as to how Wilson could have designed holes modeled after the famous holes abroad when he had never even seen those holes?
- The phrase "green architects" is interesting and apparently applied to the green keeper(s) and/or perhaps the green committee.
- I've read elsewhere that Hugh Wilson was an avid photographer. It sure would be nice to find his photographs. I imagine there might be one or two of interest.
- One clarification, Bryan. You wrote that "the writer thought Wilson had already built "exactly similar" template holes." While we may have concluded that Wilson was in charge of building the holes, the writer might not have. Rather than crediting Wilson with building the holes, the writer noted that Wilson "belongs to the club where the holes are constructed exactly similar to the most famous holes in this country." So the question of who built the holes was not addressed.
It may seem to be nitpicking, but I think the distinction is worth noting. It seems as if Wilson was focused what to do next, and this fits well with the theory that Wilson's predominate design contribution occurred after his trip abroad.
David
The article is from the Golf Notes column of the Evening Times as I mentioned in a previous post. The writer is Bulger, which I think is a pen name for William Stuart, who was a long standing member of the Glasgow Golf Club. Stuart joined Glasgow GC in 1893 and was Captain in 1909 and remained a member until his death in 1926. The Bulger column starts round about the early 1890's and continue until at least 1924. I say at least 1924 as I haven't gone beyond that point yet.
What is clear from his writings is that he knew or had met many of the leading figures of the day, eg Willie Fernie, Willie Campbell, Willie Park, Old Tom etc and reported what they were upto. He also wrote about what was going on abroad, hence comment on Willie Campbell and Willie Parks trips abroad for example.
Template Holes - what I think is quite interesting when you look at some of these early designs is the prevalence of template/model holes. MacDonald might have been the first to come up with the idea of a whole course with them but he certainly wasn't the first to use them. I was playing at Killermont (Old Tom course from 1903) earlier this year when it struck me for the first time that the fourth hole is a Redan. No one at the club ever refers to it as a Redan, as frankly most members are blissfully unaware of the concept of model holes. That certainly wasn't the case back then, model holes were quite widley used and I believe were discussed in the golfing press, so even though Wilson hadn't seen the originals he surely would have been aware of their principle features even if he hadn't visited NGLA.
If Wilson did write to Troon prior to his visit it would be fascinating to see a copy of that letter, it might be fairly revealing. Unfortunately, the club historian seems to be blissfully unaware even that Mackenzie was involved in remodelling the Portland course so I wouldn't hold your breath on him finding a single letter from Wilson from 1912. I also wouldn't read too much into the exact wording of the artilce as I think the writer is providing a second hand report and therefore Wilsons involvement at Merion (assuming he provided an explanation of it, and again a look at his letter of introduction would be good to see) could easily have been misinterpreted.
Niall
Bryan - once again, thanks for posting this article for me. I really should get upto speed with this technology thing.