Mike,
If I understand your position correctly (not sure I do) are you saying that on November 1 that CBM was still considering the Canal site (as well as Montauk) and that his offer on 120 acres was rejected some time after Nov 1.
You've pointed out many times that CBM originally in 1904 mooted 110 acres for the golf course, and he subsequently wrote that he offered on a 120 acre site for the golf course near the Canal. We KNOW that the course as built occupies a little more than 200 acres. When do you suppose he figured out that his ideal golf course wasn't going to fit on 110 to 120 acres, and he really needed 75% more space than he originally planned? If he was offering on 120 acres in early November and "securing" 205 of 450 acres in mid-December, I presume you think that he figured it out between mid-November and mid-December 1906. What caused the epiphany, do you suppose?
Bryan,
I also find it odd that you're willing to accept the October 15th article as having some basis in fact, particularly in terms of an agreement of some sort (which was not repeated in any other NYC paper), but are in the Muccian camp of discounting others, lumping them all into the "news articles are crap" bin.
Are we going to do that here, or are we going to use higher standards of discernment to see what facts that we know support which articles?
I do find it funny as Jeff said, how that worm has turned here compared to other threads where news articles were held to be virtually infallible, and worthy of changing attribution records of major club courses.
In any case, let me try to answer your questions, although some is admitted speculation.
First, I doubt that NGLA as built was over 200 acres of golf course. I recall David measuring it some time back and estimating that it was around 165-170 acres today.
Here's a drawing from back then...it certainly doesn't seem to take up the entire shaded 205 acres, does it?
In fact, CBM himself told us that he didn't use all of the land he bought for the golf course in his 1912 Letter to the Founders, under the heading, "Surplus Land". He refers to his original Agreement (also reproduced here) where he thought there would be land enough left over for 1.5 acre building lots, which didn't turn out to be the case, obviously.;
This was nothing unusual. Even by 1915 Max Behr wrote about the amount of land needed for a golf course and talked about the variables of land shape and routing that would play into that determination. He seems to say that although more is better, about 120 acres of so will work in most cases.
CBM himself also told Merion they could build a first-class course on 120 acres, so we know it was in the range of what he thought.
Nevertheless, we know golf course when completed took up more space than the 110-120 acres CBM himself estimated and wrote that he'd need.
I think this is due to a few reasons.
First, we know that CBM's primary focus was the golf course. I'm not sure he ever really wanted to build lots for his Founders at all, but probably saw that as a necessary incentive to gaining enough Founding members and seed money to build his dream course.
So, I don't think he shed many tears in scrapping that part of his plan, probably figuring that he could financially compensate them in some other way once things were up and running.
I also think that once he scrapped that idea it really opened up the whole playground for him, and gave him unique opportunities to create width and expanse that was beyond probably what he even envisioned at first. Playing into that however, was the fact that some of the land was not quite as good as CBM originally hoped, and a lot of dirt was brought in, and swampy areas attempted to be filled, with some of it remaining not very good for golf, and probably not for building lots either.
One other thing that I don't think he estimated was exactly how wide he'd need to make his fairways to accommodate "safe" avenues of play for short hitters and high handicappers playing "around" his hazards. As such, today the width of some fairways is over 100 yards, which is HUGE, and the scale of the course is impressively huge.
So, as far as the timeframe for when this transition happened?
Personally, I think it happened over the course of the design and early construction phase in 1907 and into 1908.
I don't see any reason at all to think that CBM added 75% to his estimate between late 1905 and late 1906, nor do I believe that CBM thought the canal site would make a great golf course at 120 acres, but somehow he needed 205 at Sebonac Neck. It's a ridiculous contention, frankly.
In the end, as Max Behr said, enough land was purchased to incorporate all of the best natural features for golf and then "no concession was made to economy in the use of land." Once CBM scrapped his building lot plan, he certainly had a LOT to work with.
Interestingly, even in 1915 Behr wrote, "Even so, a considerable part of the 205 acres is not touched by the golf course and is available for other purposes."
Do you think it was simply coincidence that CBM wrote in 1904 he needed 205 acres, was quoted during intervening years as looking for slightly over 200 acres, and purchased exactly 205 acres at the end of the day?