Why didn't Joe Bunker state that Wilson designed the golf course ?
Certainly, if he was so connected to golf and Philadelphia golf, he must have known the difference between "designing" and "building" a golf course.
Patrick,
I think you (and possibly others) might be making a fatal error here if that's the distinction you're drawing.
Joe Bausch will certainly vouch for the fact that the terms used back then were very, very different than what we're used to. For instance, I cant' think of a single news account of any golf course we've read about from that period that used the term "Designed".
Instead, you had "constructed", "laid out", "built", "planned", "conceived", "responsible for".
Interestingly, and somewhat counter-intuitively given our modern terminologies, it's the term "laid out" that I've seen used sometimes to discuss strict construction and feature building, as opposed to planning and design.
Being known as a golf course architect meant possibly being viewed as a "professional", which was tantamount to being lumped with the hired help, and risked losing one's cherished amateur status.
These guys just wanted to build great courses...they weren't looking to build monuments to themselves, nor seeking that type of publicity.
But, since you're into parsing terminologies, let's see actually what William Evans said in 10/12/13 about Wilson;
"Mr. Wilson some years ago before the new course at Merion was constructed visited the most prominent courses here and in Great Britain and has no superior as a golf architect."I'm sure that statement is one that some would like to chop down because I'm betting it strikes right at the very heart of the "new interpretation" of events.
Why?
Because it tells us many things at once, from someone who was there from the beginning, a prominent member of GAP, and someone who knew all these guys like Wilson and Lesley and Tillinghast personally. What does it tell us?
It tells us that Wilson made his trip "some years ago". Not one year...not even two years, but implies more than two actually.
It tells us that he visited the most prominent courses not only overseas, but in the US as well, deflating the argument that he needed Macdonald's vast knowledge and expertise to get started.
It tells us that even though you and David and Tom MacWood want to differentiate 'Designed" from "Constructed", that the way they were being used at the time, and I'm sure MacWood knows better even if you and David haven't done that level of research prior...this clearly tell us that William Evans considered them synonymous.
I ask you, what else might he have architected at this point, Patrick, to be someone without a superior in that regard?
The funny thing is...
David and MacWood had already sent their treatise out to a number of folks for review before learning of this account. I'm sure they don't care much for this new revelation and will do whatever they can to dispute its clear meanings.
Their interpretation already flew in the face of what Tilliinghast wrote in 1934, where he makes clear that Wilson was doing much more than directing laborers at Merion who were following Macdonald's plans. Now, suddenly, there is another much more contemporaneous hurdle to clear if you try to follow their logic;
"It seemed rather tragic to me, for so few seemed to know that the Merion course was planned and developed by Hugh Wilson, a member of the club who possessed a decided flair for golf architecture. Today the great course at Merion, and it must take place along the greatest in America, bears witness to his fine intelligence and rare vision.” I'm also hoping the treatise is giving due credit to Fred Pickering, who had vast experience in building courses prior to Merion, and thereafter.