Jeff Brauer,
As you may recall, I think Merion too had an attempt at CBM conception of a Biarritz. The 17th. It is quite as obviously recognizable as such, but then I wouldn't expect it to be given that Wilson had no Biarritz to view at NGLA and given that CBM hadn't yet built a course with his own version.
CBM's original conception of the Biarritz as expressed 1906 and by HJ Whigham after Piping Rock's got built was quite a bit different that a hole with a swale running through the green. The swale was before the green and it was about 30 yards from beginning to end. Alot like the swale fronting Merion's 17th hole.
Below are Merion's 17th, the plasticine model of Lido's Biarritz, and Piping Rock's Biarritz. The Lido Biarritz was listed at 220 yards, while the white line and yellow line of the other two are each 230 yards.
Look how crazy the first section (the "hogsback") was meant to be at the Lido.
You ask:
"As to semantics, isn't it is as easy to interpret six template holes in a design as Merion taking some advice but not following it completely, substituting their own judgement in spots, as they would do if he advised, but not if he designed (to such a large degree?)"Given that NGLA only had four or five true template holes, six is a hell of a lot don't you think? And as I have said there were more than six, So far I've just stuck to the most obvious ones and those directly called by the name of the template, so as to avoid the inevitable pettiness that will follow. (See what happens with by Biarritz post above.)
But they certainly could have put in their own touches and altered things here and there. And as time went on they did. But even here there are remnants of CBM's ideas. I've said that from the beginning that my concern has always been with two things and two things only: The strategic concepts underlying the holes, and their general location on the ground.
CBM didn't build the course and I doubt he ever worked up an exact detailed blueprint to use in construction. But so far as I can tell, Merion attempted to build a CBM course, which has been my main point all along.
And this said, at some point there has to be a tipping point where we stand back and say, "Holy Shit, there were CBM strategies and tells all over this place. It was obvious he was very much involved in the design." I think we are well past that point.
Or are there any non-CBM courses from around this time with attempts at a Road Hole, a Redan, an Alps, a double plateau green, an Eden green, another double-plateau with a biarritz-like orientation, a long hole with a properly placed hell bunker, a hole fitting the description the Biarritz concept (yet to even be built by CBM)? And more.
You ask:
Sleepy Hollow may have had a few less, but again, we can ask the question in 2299 the other way, if CBM was calling the shots, then why NOT 16-18 templates found before and after in CBM's design work, and not just 6?Can you readily identify 16 or 18 "templates" at Sleepy Hollow's original course? Can you readily identify 16-18 at Piping Rock? If so, please do and describe their defining characteristics for me? Thanks.
But I don't think you will succeed, because I don't think that CBM was building 16-18 replica holes at this time. I think there are certain core holes and features that show up again and again, and the rest are combinations or concepts. Merion has the core holes, and then many of the concepts. Like Merion's 7th hole. It wouldn't necessarily jump out as a copy of anything, but it is a perfect utilization of the bottleneck concept utilized by CBM on some of his designs.