[Mike_Sweeney]

I was hanging in there till about page 6 or 7. I am actually interested but.....

Can someone give a brief summary of where we are?

Mike Cirba?

[Mike_Cirba]

Mike,

I'd say that we covered more ground, but made less progress.  

I'd suggest you stay far, far away, lest your head be-a hurtin' like mine is.  

Despite being pounded unmercifully, David and MacWood still won't give up, but now Patrick has joined the fray and opened up a whole new direction (using his now famous rejoinder "you can't believe everything you read because Ross said Seminole was flat"), as Patrick is wont to do.

I'm taking a break on the bench for a while, but I tagged Sully and he's like a lion after fresh meat.  

[Mike_Cirba]

oh...p.s.

We are now to the point of debating whether Hugh Wilson actually designed Merion, or whether it wasn't a big eastern syndicate headed by Kingpin/Godfather CB Macdonald and his toady Smither...er...ah..Whigham.

That in and of itself should give you some idea of the "progress".  

[Mike_Sweeney]

oh...p.s.

We are now to the point of debating whether Hugh Wilson actually designed Merion, or whether it wasn't a big eastern syndicate headed by Kingpin/Godfather CB Macdonald and his toady Smither...er...ah..Whigham.

That in and of itself should give you some idea of the "progress".  

Not as bad as I thought. I thought we were at the point of bringing in George Bahto to restore CB's Main Line course before the US Open is played!

[Mike_Cirba]

Not as bad as I thought. I thought we were at the point of bringing in George Bahto to restore CB's Main Line course before the US Open is played!

Yes, I think the loose constructionists have already determined the following Templates;

1) Raynor's Prized Dogleg
2) Long
3) Redan
4) Longer
5) The little known Macdonald "Tilt" hole
6) Double plateau (the green is actually higher than the approaching fairway)
7) Little Alps
Punchbowl
9) downhill Redan

and so on...

[Mike_Sweeney]

Mike,

What people don't understand is that this is Philadelphia, let's clarify, The Main Line of Philadelphia. Everyone on GCA thinks Old Tom Paul is from Phi... oops - Main Line Philadelphia. This is simply not so. Old Tom Paul can break records at local clubs, fix local clubs maintenance meld, run GAP, die at his farm, be buried at his farm, but still Old Tom Paul did not go to high school in Philadelphia, so he is not a true Philadelphian!! He is a gdang New Yorker for crying out loud!

Now if Old Tom Paul in 2006 is not a Philadelphian, there is NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO way they are going to let some guy from CHICAGO, come in and run the show at Merion at the turn of the century. Oh they will be nice and hospitable, write a few articles .... but Old CB did not run the show at Merion, and I don't need any evidence from a golf journal to understand that! Growing up in Philadelphia gives me that knowledge!

Mike Sweeney
The Prep Class of 1980

Let's see if the out of towners can figure what "The Prep" is.  

[TEPaul]

For God's Sake don't ask George about Merion. George once told Wayne and I that Raynor designed Merion West. When we asked him what in God's name kind of evidence he was using to claim that George said he once saw a few of the holes and they sort of looked like Raynor to him.  

Well, Wayne and I proceeded to beat George about the head and shoulders in person for that nonsense and he seemed to settle down and recognize the reams of documentary evidence from Merion and Wilson that Wilson, Pickering, Flynn and Valentine were responsible for that course.

Then maybe a few months later George claimed he was now certain that Raynor designed Merion West. When I asked him what in God's name kind of evidence he had to claim that considering all the documentary evidence at Merion regarding who did the course, George said he found a eulogy from Whigam at the funeral of Raynor and Whigam claimed Raynor designed Merion West. When I asked George why he put so much stock in that off the cuff remark over a dozen years later George said because Whigam was a man who was never mistaken!!!  

MY God, please help us!!  

Another time George informed us he may've found evidence that Raynor was involved in over 400 golf course. All I could say to that is in a career that lasted about 15 years it's no damn wonder the man worked himself to death and died prematurely in 1926.

[Mike_Cirba]

You think the new Fazio bunkers at Merion are steep and deep now?

Wait til George gets ahold of them!  

[JESII]

What course am I supposed to be talking about? Merion? Never been there. Is that down on the eastern shore of MD. The name rings a bell from a crabbing trip I took with a few buddies last summer. Anyway, who's drinking? It's 5 o'clock somewhere.  

[mike_malone]

 Sweeney,


   I was born in the city of Philadelphia and I don't know which school is "The Prep ". One of my golfing buddies says he went to "the prep" , but that one was in the suburbs. What gives?

[Mike_Cirba]

What course am I supposed to be talking about? Merion? Never been there. Is that down on the eastern shore of MD. The name rings a bell from a crabbing trip I took with a few buddies last summer. Anyway, who's drinking? It's 5 o'clock somewhere.  

Well Mike...

Sully's heart was into it, but you can see that after just a few hours spent in the infamous "Merion 10 - Piece of the Puzzle" thread, he's a spent and broken man both mentally and emotionally.  

Hang in there Sully...don't go towards the light!!!

[Mike_Sweeney]

Sweeney,


   I was born in the city of Philadelphia and I don't know which school is "The Prep ". One of my golfing buddies says he went to "the prep" , but that one was in the suburbs. What gives?

Mayday,

Please read this carefully. Where did you go to HIGH SCHOOL? You are in the same category as CB and Tom Paul!

Don't blame me, I moved.  

[Dan Boerger]

Well, I'll never play that hole again without thinking about these posts! Then, when I drive into those bunkers on the right, I'll blame it on my confusion with the new routing.

[wsmorrison]

Hey, Sweeney.  Tom Paul is a blood relation of an honest to God saint from Philadelphia.  That must mean something, right?  Can't we give Tom some sort of honorary status at least?  

He may be a NY liberal, but there's some good in him too (read Philadelphian; both Quaker and Catholic).  Tom is a hybrid and fits in with anyone.  His may be blue blooded and wear racing loafers on his tractor, but he is one of the people.

[mike_malone]

 I don't think I want this board to know where I went to high school , but the locals there rooted for the Colts.

[Thomas_Brown]

Sweeney - at least you were close to NYU:
  Girls Preparatory Charter School
  333 East 4th Street, New York, NY 10009
  Tel: 212-388-0241 | Fax: 212-388-1086

[Mike_Sweeney]

Hey, Sweeney.  Tom Paul is a blood relation of an honest to God saint from Philadelphia.  That must mean something, right?  Can't we give Tom some sort of honorary status at least?  

He may be a NY liberal, but there's some good in him too (read Philadelphian; both Quaker and Catholic).  Tom is a hybrid and fits in with anyone.  His may be blue blooded and wear racing loafers on his tractor, but he is one of the people.

You and Mayday are alligned for once. I did not create the Rules of Philadelphia, it is what it is. When people ask in Philadelphia, "Where did you go to school?", they are not talking about college. Only place I have ever seen it.  

[TEPaul]

Mike Sweeney:

You're not whistlin' Dixie I did not go to high school in Phila-madelphia. I when to school in Daytona Beach Florida where I majored in slipstreaming and sling-shotting from Fireball Roberts that included spending the remainder of my waking hours at car-hops smoking Lucky Stike or Hit Parade cigarettes with waitresses in little skimpies on rollerskates and with my head underneath the hood of hot engines.

Then I was shipped off to Boston and enrolled in one of them fancy-smancy boarding schools for the next six years.

You want to talk about a culture shock!? There can't be much more of a culture shock than that.

In my first week at St Mark's School they took away my silky car jacket with "FISH CARBURETOR CORP" emblazoned on the back and my black suede shoes and magenta socks too.

God, I thought I was gonna die!!!

[Mike_Sweeney]

Hey, Sweeney.  Tom Paul is a blood relation of an honest to God saint from Philadelphia.  That must mean something, right?  Can't we give Tom some sort of honorary status at least?  

Nope, doesn't count a lick. Which is also why you are correct in your argument that Old CB from Chicago did not design Merion. So stop arguing with me, even Old Tom took a dive for the home team.  

[Mike_Sweeney]

Sweeney - at least you were close to NYU:
  Girls Preparatory Charter School
  333 East 4th Street, New York, NY 10009
  Tel: 212-388-0241 | Fax: 212-388-1086

See a smart guy from LA can't figure this Philadelphia code out, there is no way that a guy from Chicago could crack the code in the early 1900's.

[TEPaul]

Hey Mike:

Basically, I'm from New York. You think these Philadelphians are a snobby self possessed community that think their hot shits with their local schools and all and their little preppy society?? Well, give it up, pal. You should've seen the way us New Yorkers treated you Philadelphians back in the day. To us you guys were a bunch of hinterland oafs. When us New Yorkers came down here for some of your deb parties and saw you birds in those ridiculous colored pants with tuxedo jackets we knew this was an outpost of sissies and when we saw that you guys give toasts without even standing up we knew you were the dregs of any manner of civilized society.  

[TEPaul]

Don't mention that Catholic saint thing from Philadelphia Wayne.

That was the second worst culture shock of my life.

You see, I'm married to an unpredictable Irish Catholic girl from one of those enormous Irish Catholic Philadelphia families.

Whenever I'd get pissed at her I'd accuse her of being one of those superstitious, half-truth tellin' Irish Catholics that were the dirge of the earth compared to my super-civilized and genteel Episcopalian English WASP heritage.

And then what does she do to me. She figures out and proves my great Aunt is Katherine Drexel, this Philadelphia Austrian/Catholic MOTHER who started the ORDER OF THE BLESSED SACREMENT and is shortly slated to become the fourth American saint.

God, she nailed me and I've never been the same again. I'm one of her (my Catholic wife) and it's mortifin'  

[Mike_Cirba]

Great news, folks...

I can report that after some smelling salts and a pep talk by his trainer Paulie, Sully is back on the lucid wagon.

His latest retort over on Page 15;

"That's the problem here Tom, I am not promoting Hugh Wilson as the architect. You, however, are stating that CBM's influence has been swept under the rug. Yet you cannot provide any evidence of this influence.

I love it.  Concise, to the point, strong, and not backing down one iota.   This boy might not win every fight, but I'll bet he's going to go the distance!  

Start the Rocky music!!!

[JESII]

It's just beer muscles Mikey, and they always get you in trouble. Like I said, now it's almost 6 o'clock somewhere.


By the way, is it safe to refer to TEP as Saint Thomas of Happydale?

"deb parties" and "colored pants with tux jackets". The frigin' guy cracks me up.


"FISH CARBURETOR CORP"!

If it were humanly possible to make this stuff up...

[David Stamm]

He may be a NY liberal, but there's some good in him too  

Wayne, don't worry, Hunter realized the error of his ways in HIS advanced years later on and did an about face!

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