Tom,
I came across Col. Gillespie's name, in fact he was among the founders of the club, and the small blurb in the article mentioned that he had come from Scotland. I immediately thought that he may have been involved somehow, but there was no mention of his designing this or any other course. I am greatly intrigued that this family had their own private links and that it might even have been built in the late 1890's.
Anthony, your information is incorrect. Tilly visited the course in December of 1935 during his PGA Course Consultation Tour. That is probably why your information suggests that he only recommended bunker removal.
In his letter to George Jacobus of the PGA following his visit, Tilly wrote how he was met by (among others), F.C. Elliott (President of the Club) & William galt (Chairman of the Green Committee and City Manager). After noting that they wanted to extend the "present nine holes to eighteen," he stated that "both Elliot and Galt are engineers of rare ability and experience, who also possess fine knowledge of golf course requirements."
This was far more than a polite statement, especially in Elliot's case. He is the engineer who oversaw the project to drain the Everglades and regain the land for Florida.
Tilly further stated that, "Already they had prepared a plan for the new holes on contour maps and with profiles. I analyzed this work carefully with them and while I generally approved of their plan, there were certain changes which I suggested, which they readily recognized as being improvements. After our study of the contour maps and profiles, we went out over the ground and checked them. I gave them several changes of their present nine holes and instructed them concerning the building of the new ones..."
Evidently his "several changes" for the existing nine holes were more than just a tweaking as when finished they would be increased in length by more than 300 yards and re-routed.
Tilly would receive finished prints from Elliot several weeks later while out in San Diego. He wrote to Jacobus that, "What was to have been my first day of service in this section of California, turned out to be a very raint one. Consequesntly I put it in, studying and checking the plans, which had been sent to me for that purpose by F.C. Elliot, president of the Tallahassee (Florida) Country Club. You will recall that my report from that city outlined their program. After a careful check of the vity engineer's [Elliot] plans, I have returned it with notations."
It is really interesting that just the week after this, Mr. Galt resigned his position as City Manager without notice or warning [The reason for doing so has been lost to history but probably had nothing to do with the golf club]. The building of the course was then left in the hands of elliot & the head pro Mr. Budd.