Mark,
Here is how I translate what Jeff wrote concerning the origins of Merion East:
for a variety of reasons the club in 1909/10 was looking to replace the previous course in Haverford
In March 1910 a committee called "Committee on New Golf Grounds" was formed, with Horatio Lloyd the leader of this group of successful businessmen
in April of 1910 they finalized a 5-year extension of the Haverford golf course lease, just in case
they then began looking for a new piece of property
the record does not indicate exactly when the committee met w/ the Haverford Land Development Company, led by Joseph Connell
the HLDC controlled about 300 acres overall, including the land the club was interested in
Connell brought in HH Barker to examine what Connell thought was a suitable portion of the plot
Barker visited on June 10, 1910
Barker then wrote a letter to Connell, with an accompanying routing plan, stating in part: "I would say that the land is in every way adapted to making of a first class course" and it could be done cheaper than others he'd done and could be completed by fall of 1911 [Note: the routing plan and its details have not been found]
Barker's letter was included in a July 1st report by the new Ground Committee informing the board of their interest in the Ardmore land
just a bit earlier, in late June, Rodney Griscom asked Macdonald and Whigham for "for their educated assessment"
Macdonald and Whigham saw the Johnson farm site and on June 29th Macdonald wrote a letter to Lloyd indicating the land had some "desirable features", but thought there wasn't quite enough land to "get 18 holes that will be first class"
Macdonald provided yardages and pars that would form a 6,000 yard course
by November an additional parcel of land had been acquired by HLDC, offered to Merion, and an agreement was made
Lloyd simplified things by purchasing 160 of the acres (for a dollar) on a temporary basis and the deed in his name
this "allowed the club free rein to fiddle with boundaries for accommodating course" and gave the club time to gather money needed to purchase the golf course part of the land back (which happened in the following July)
in the December 1911 issue of American Golfer, Tillinghast (writing as "Hazard") penned: "Merion is to have a new golf course.... I feel that this step forward... marks the threshold to the new era of Philadelphia golf"
on January 11, 1911 the board appointed a special committee to build the golf course, consisting of Lloyd, Griscom, Harry Toulmin, Richard Francis, and Wilson
in March of 1911 Wilson and his committee spent two days visiting Macdonald and NGLA
they looked at NGLA's plans, CBM's collection of sketches of ideal holes, and studied the actual course on the ground
Wilson later wrote: "... in one night absorbed more ideas in golf course construction than we had learned in all the years we had played"
the committee returned to Merion and put together five different routing plans [None of which have been found]
On April 6 Macdonald and Whigham visited Merion again and a report filed by Wilson's committee to the board through the Golf Committee, stating "after looking over the various plans, and the ground itself, [Macdonald and Whigham] decided that if we would lay it out according to the plan they approved, which is submitted here-with, that it would result not only in a first class course, but that the last seven holes would be equal to any inland course in the world"
but the plan they chose necessitated a little more acreage
fitting the first 13 holes was done, but the final five was tricky
the 'Francis land swap' was approved by Lloyd and on April 9th proposed this to the board
the plans for the layout were complete by the end of that spring (1911)
Fred Pickering was hired to oversee construction
the course was seeded in September of 1911, then formally opened the following September