The reason why many have argued both for and against Tilly as the designer of the Old Orhcard CC course is because it didn't exist in the late 1920's.
The March 12, 1936 issue of the Red Bank Daily Register, under the heading, "Club Name Changed," stated, "Daniel J. Maher, President of the Long Branch Country Club, has announced plans for the re-opening of the club. Hereafter the club will be known as the Old Orchard Country Club."
The Long Branch Country Club came into existence in 1929 and the course that was built at that time was the golf course used by the new Old Orchard Country Club when the Long Branch CC was "re-opened." So the real question is who designed that golf course?
To answer that we must first turn to the June 6, 1929 issue of the Long Branch Daily Record. Under the heading, "COUNTRY CLUB IS NOW CORPORATION," the article that followed stated, "Long Branch Country Club is now a corporation...Although the purchase of the Stillman farm has not been consumated, the committee in charge has virtually settled upon thatproperty as the site for the course. Their decision is based on golf course experts who have examined the Stillman property. Among them was A. W. Tillinghast, one of the foremost course architects in the United States. Mr. Tillinghast is the builder of Baltusrol, Winged Foot and others."
All that is lefy is to sign the contract. As noted in the July 17, 1929 issue of the Asbury Park Evening Press, "A cotract for the providing of the laying out an 18-hole golf course for the Long Branch Country Club, was awarded to Martin J. Loughlin, professional of the Plainfield Country Club."
Tilly absolutely did not design the golf course.