In 1900,
fifteen years before the city of Philadelphia finally approved building a golf course within their park system at Cobb's Creek, the Golf Association of Philadelphia appointed a committee of local golfers who had prior experience with design and construction of golf courses to design and lay out a golf course in Fairmount Park, near the Belmont Mansion.
Even at that early date, it was recognized that men with experience in design and laying out their own local club courses would be in an excellent position to help with the public golf course. And apparently they did design a course, one of nine holes and 3100 yards, which unfortunately was never built.
The idea of going to local experts to design golf courses in Philadelphia evidently had a history that was over a decade long when Cobb's Creek was finally built, and when Merion and Pine Valley were built.
It has been portrayed in some quarters that going with local knowledge was some type of myth, or weird anomaly that doesn't hold up to the test of logic, but even in the earliest days of golf in Philadelphia, it seems the idea of the "Philadelphia School" of collaborative design effort was well underway.
Mr. Griscom, in fact, was to show up on another design committee years later.
Thanks for your interest.