Cliff's notes version of the Merion designer debate? If that is what it is.

[Tom Walsh]

I must confess that I write this request with some trepidation.

Can someone give me the crux of the question? Not necessarily the answer, just what is it that these long threads are about?

Dipping my toe into the water, Tom

[Tom Walsh]

I guess I don't get it, three long threads on the first page alone. What is the unifying theory here, the thesis?

OT- Molina just broke up Lee's no no

[Ed Oden]

http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,39893.0/

[Tom Walsh]

thanks

[John Moore II]

Yes, Tom this is a sticky subject to get involved with. There are currently several threads on the front page that are terribly long, and if you sort the threads by highest number of posts, you'll get 4 or 5 more on that first page. This time last year that discussion has disintegrated into some pretty harsh name calling and real crappy stuff going back and forth between a few of the parties. One of the names that sticks in my mind was one of them was referred to as a 'self-impressed gnat.' And for all these hours of research and debate, I'm still not sure there has been anything resembling a conclusion reached; almost certainly not one that can be condensed into something short. 95% of us on the site have really given up trying to keep track of it.

[John_Cullum]

The Cliff's note version.
For decades Hugh Wilson got credit for designing Merion, but Charles McDonald's name has popped up in some old articles regarding the earliest stages of Merion's creation. We now know the following:

Some guys got together to develop some real estate with a golf course as the attraction. None of them knew anything about building golf courses, they just knew how to make money. A large tract of land was acquired. They talked to C.B. McDonald about how to build a really good golf course, not the pedestrian stuff that was being built at the time. At some point it was figured out where the golf course would go.

Wilson was on the committee of guys building the course and some old guy named Frances (who was one of the guys involved early on) says Wilson should get the credit for the design. He's really the only person on record describing the early stages of the construction of Merion who was directly involved.

 It appears McDonald gave some pretty credible and specific advice.

The debate is about how much credit McDonald (and Whigaham or Barker or otherss) should get as opposed to Wilson.

A few guys sitting around computers today want to dissect every moment of every day of the life of everyone involved down to the surveyors and lawyers who documented the transaction. They have invested a tremendous amount of time and energy into this debate. It has been entertaining at times, and sad at times