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?

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!

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...

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.

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.  

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!!!

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.

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

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.  

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.  

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.  

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!!!

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!