Sven, In an earlier post, I mentioned "evidence-based" design quoting Keith Cutten, who has written a great book called, "The Evolution of Golf Course Design." Thank you for all of your extraordinary research and insight which is the backbone of GCA. It's a privilege to talk with you. I'm just trying to scratch the surface! I think MacDonald mostly went down his own path on the way towards the Golden Age. His journey to the mecca of golf, the golf courses of the British Isles, to find inspiration, ideas, and the ideal holes, is a pathway that architects like Ross, Dye, and Doak have emulated. It's interesting that Darwin wrote a book titled the same a few years after C.B.'s first trip. Today, the foundation of every architect's education is to see as many courses around the world as possible. I do think the theories of the Oxcam group led by Hutchinson, Low, Colt, and Darwin came first. My guess is that MacDonald, Travis, Leeds, Emmet all read John Low's 1903 book, "Concerning Golf" and it would have informed their work.
I'm probably not as enamored with Cutten's book as others might be. Shack's "The Golden Age of Golf Design" seems like a better kick off point for this conversation.
We'll agree to disagree on CBM. I look at him as someone who may have had a singular drive in creating his ideal course, but also someone who was seeking out the thoughts of others on both sides of the Atlantic.
The community of budding architects in America just after the turn of the century wasn't very large, but it contained some names that would remain prominent for a number of years, including CBM, Travis, Emmet, etc. All of them had already produced significant work, written on the subject and most likely shared whatever knowledge they had gleaned along the way by the time Low's book was written in 1903. Not to say it didn't influence them as their design career's progressed, but all of these guys had already witnessed the first great wave of course development in this country by that point. The American Design School planted its roots well before 1903.
We often undersell the influence of the early guys like Davis, Dunn, Bendelow, etc. But these were the guys that did the heavy lifting on course development over here. They essentially created something out of nothing, and we'll leave alone the debate on how substantive that something was for another thread.
Ross can be looked at as a late arriver to this early boom, but he was part of it. Like Dunn and Bendelow, he had a wealth of knowledge as to what a golf course could be from his days in Scotland. And he saw what was being built in the US. He wasn't as prolific as the others early on because that was not what he came here to do. His work balance prior to 1910 leaned more to teaching and playing than it did to building. By 1913 there is no dispute that Ross was considered one of the preeminent designers located in the United States. Not a construction expert, as his teams and networks were only just getting going, but a designer.
I think the best way to look at the evolution of American design is to think of all of the players almost acting in concert. Travis was sharing ideas with CBM, until he wasn't. Emmet was talking to everyone and anyone who would listen. They all stopped in on Donald when they came down to Pinehurst in the winter. Everyone knew Leeds had done something special at Myopia and Fownes was on his way to doing something pretty cool up in Pittsburgh. Tillie was in the background learning and writing, and even guys like George Thomas were on their way to caching away the information they'd need to produce masterpieces down the line. Some of these guys were amateurs, with their focus on one or a few courses only. Others were professionals who were called in as experts on big money projects or filled the void when a course was going to be built without the local knowledge to make it happen. We often draw a line in these parts between the pros and the ams in this realm, but in reality they were probably all drinking from the same cup, one that was first filled by mother nature, later by Tom Morris and his ilk and then further a bit more be each of them in their own way.
This was a spider web of activity, ideas, inspirations and debates. When the market for development truly arrived post-World War I, the web only grew with more players being added on nearly a daily basis. There was room for Raynor and his millionaire CBM connected clients, for Langford and his bold features, for Flynn and his nature-faking, for everything taking place in California, for Willie Park to be the hottest name in town, for the Old Man to shape his greens, for Emmet to plug away into eternity, for Macan and Egan to build the Northwest, for a banker in Oklahoma to shape dirt into rolls, you get my point.
To put all of this on the influence of any one person or any one small collection of courses built in one year seems a bit simplistic. Who's to say Old Elm had more impact on the game in this country than Van Cortlandt did years earlier. I'd venture way more people saw VC than ever saw OE? None of this happens without that initial grab we all felt at one point. Who get's the most responsibility for creating that collective itch in America? I don't know if anyone has the answer to that question, and I don't think the answer is just one name.
Sven
PS - I owe you a call. My apologies, its been a hectic fall.