Jeff,
While I"m not saying that they don't exist, I've never seen a county map listing every property owner.
I have seen maps of specific locatons and even town maps with the plots/plats identified, but never a county map.
Have you ever seen a county map listing every property owner ?
And, if that's what Crump wanted, why wouldn't he have specified that ?
Certainly, his brother-in-law wasn't a mind reader.
If someone asked me to get a county map, that's what I would get, a simple county map
Until we know the entire contents of the post card and not just one sentence, we'll have to continue to make reasoned guesses.
Colt stated that he designed Pine Valley, but, he was brought into the equation after the purchase of the property, not prior.
While we know that Crump initially bought 184 acres, we know that the purchase was expanded well beyond that acreage within a short time after,
I am hung up on a number of items.
Crump's total inexperience as an architect.
The hostile nature of the site and the creation of a masterpiece that's retained its ranking as the # 1 golf course in the world for 100 years.
I could spend a decade studying music, but, I wouldn't be able to create a "song" for the ages.
I could spend a decade studying painting, but, I wouldn't be able to paint a "picture" for the ages.
I don't have the inate talent.
So, you can see my skepticism with respect to GAC simply walking the woods and crafting a course for the ages.
The fact that the course remained unfinished six years after the purchase has to be significant, especially when the missing holes were 12, 13, 14 & 15.
I've always felt that the conversion of the swamp to a pond/lake might have been the linchpin to the final design.
If the swamp remained a swamp, I don't see how you could complete the routing, in the field or with a topo.
While you may not see or recognize the relevance of posts 660 or 661 or any of my posts, sometimes a post strikes a chord and a discovery is made. Some call it "brainstorming"
While it may not be important to you, I'm interested in knowing if GAC used topos as his primary tool in designing the golf course.
The Blue/Red topo would seem to indicate so, but, more info is needed before a definitive conclusion can be drawn.
One things for sure, he didn't visualize the golf course from a speeding southbound train