Shiv,
No one thinks HW was involved back in June 1910. So, the two possible interpretations of "CBM spoke of you and I immediately write to you" are that immediately refers to 1) his appointment to the committee, which we know occurred January 1911, or 2) a phone call (since CBM "spoke" of Oakley) between CBM and HJ (or given protocol, between friends Lloyd and CBM, perhaps with Wilson listening in and being given an intro, given it appears Wilson was a notch down the status ladder from those two)
So, you are right, and David is probably right that there was a January phone call between CBM and Wilson/Lloyd to establish the next phase of CBM's relationship with Merion.
My problem is that he takes that letter, and the other 1999 between Wilson and Oakley/Piper, and deduces that Wilson (or Lloyd or others at MCC) had been in contact with CBM since their one day visit in June, and that somehow, CBM had routed the golf course, Francis had tweaked it, and it was in place by Nov. 1910, even though MCC had it, they chose not to show it on their maps etc, etc. etc..
That he deduced so many things from a few words in that letter makes me want to relabel his essay from the "Missing Faces of Merion" to the "Missing Sansabelt Slacks of Merion" given how much strecth there is in there.
But in all seriousness, a couple of questions for anyone who knows:
Those 2000 agronomy letters stretched over what time frame? How many a week were exchanged during the heat of planning and construction?
Do we really think Wilson would work the same way with CBM?
First, it would be harder to absorb design ideas via the phone or letter, without maps, sketches, etc. And, they say they got a "good start" in March when they visited NGLA. Would there be any more letter type contact before March to discuss design and what could it have accomplished?
As above, there were some status differences. And, CBM was busy with NGLA, other clubs, being a stockbroker, etc. We know of a Feb 1/Jan 31 phone call, a March two day visit to NGLA, and an April one day visit back to Merion. After the committee got started in January, that is one contact a month between the two parties until the design was finalized.
Given all CBM had to do, isn't that a fairly reasonable time to figure he devoted only to Merion?