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Mike_Cirba

Hugh Wilson - An Ongoing Investigative Journey
« on: December 27, 2007, 10:11:21 PM »
For some time now, there has been some questioning of whether Hugh Wilson was actually a detailed, heavily involved, "in the dirt" golf course architect or whether he was more of the patrician, high-level, big-idea guy who came back from a trip to the best courses overseas with a head full of concepts and was able through keen oversight and talented staff to get them implemented on the ground.

I think this distinction is important to how he is remembered in terms of his architectural prowess, because even as recently as last year, a lengthy and unfortunately quarrelsome discussion (argument) ensued here that seemingly sought to minimize his overall role in the design of Merion, and that ultimately and sadly resulted in the loss of two valuable contributors here, much to our collective dismay and regret.

In that light, I wish that some of the recently unearthed findings that have been uncovered from our researching the design history of Cobbs Creek had been discovered prior, as I can't help but feel that the whole largely speculative matter would have been dropped much sooner based on a plethora of written, contemporaneous evidence.

Until recently, I would have been very much in the camp that believed that Hugh Wilson originally laid out the East course at Merion, probably had less to do with the West course, probably had little to do with the early East course changes,  did a quick "paper job" for Cobbs Creek, and then did nothing much else but agronomic research until pressed into service at Pine Valley after the death of George Crump, when he and his brother Alan finished the last four holes (to the original recollected design that Crump wanted) before dying himself in 1925 at the early age of 45.

However, the historical record from contemporaneous account now seems to indicate a much different type of man and golf course designer, whose style seems more like Pete Dye than say, Jack Nicklaus, no disrespect intended.

From what we have learned,  I now feel very certain of the following;

1) He designed Merion East.

2) He designed Merion West. (a 1915 article calls him (paraphrasing), "the genius responsible for the layout of both Merion courses."

3) He designed Seaview for Clarence Geist in 1914.   At the time, this was a hugely prominent course.   An article at the time of the opening shows that the routing today is exactly as Wilson built it and the hole-by-hole descriptions indicate that Wilson did much more bunkering (that still exists today) than other accounts would suggest.   Donald Ross was brought in 2 years later to "toughen" the largely open course, and added bunkering that was then built by Wilfred Reid (the first pro) and Willam Connellan.

4) He designed Cobbs Creek as the head of the GAP appointed committee of Golf experts who included George Crump, Ab Smith, George Klauner, and had input from others like Walter Travis.   Hugh Wilson spent SIX months of his life on the design of Cobbs Creek and Ab Smith spent considerable personal time helping with the construction.   Both Wilson and Crump were on the 1913 committee who actually picked the current golf course site out of the 4500 acres in Fairmount Park.

5) Wilson and Ab Smith were also credited with doing major design renovation at North Hills Country Club (another well-regarded suburban Philly club) in 1916, a course originally laid out by local Philly gentry/course architect J. Franklyn Meehan.   North Hills was actually built on Meehan's property, so I'm sure he had to swallow his pride a bit to bring Wilson and Smith in just a few years after opening.

6) Wilson did so much renovation work to the original course at Philmont around 1915-17 that he is credited along with Green Committee chairman Henry Strouse with the design in a 1917 Phildelphia Inquirer article.   At minimum, Wilson added two completely new holes to the design, the 8th and 12th (which unfortunately has lost all of its center line bunkering).    

From that article;
"Many of the golf courses here were built in the old days when the architect was practically unknown.  In recent years, many of these courses have been remodeled.  The Philadelphia Country Club was changed and greatly improved by Walter Travis, one of the many amateurs who have been affected by the new ruling which bars as amateurs men who "construct" (my emphasis for a term of the time indicating and including "design) golf course.   A.W. Tillinghast, a Philadelphian, who intends to keep on with his golf course construction work, remodeled both the St. Davids and the Old York Road Country Clubs."

"Both of the Merion Cricket Club courses were built under the direction of Hugh Wilson who also laid out the Seaview course.   Philmont is largely the work of Henry Strouse and Hugh Wilson.  Aronimink has had many architects including George Klauner..."

7) Anecdotally, from Bill Kittleman (per Tom Doak), Wilson designed the 9 holes at Phoenixville CC around 1915.   We're still looking for documentation on that one.

8) WWII Intervened

9) After the war, Wilson gets involved as mentioned earlier in the completion of Pine Valley and becomes the architect of record (along with brother Alan) for completing the final four holes circa 1919.   There is little doubt this was a lengthy, onsite, detailed process of high visibility and close scrutiny.

10) Working with Willam Flynn, they layout the Kittansett Club in 1922.

11) In failing health, he works with WIlliam Flynn to come up with a complete re-bunkering scheme for Merion East, which Flynn implements after Wilson's death in 1925.

During all of these years, Wilson was hugely responsible for the evolution of the agronomic side of the game, working with Piper and Oakley and others, which Tom Paul and Wayne can document much better than I can.

However, I've come to understand that Wilson was not a one-trick pony, or even a short-lived shooting star across the golfing landscape.   Instead, it seems clear that he put in close to 15 solid years of detailed architectural, agronomic, and civic-minded work before exiting center stage much too early like his friend George Crump.
« Last Edit: December 29, 2008, 11:16:43 PM by MikeCirba »

TEPaul

Re:Hugh Wilson
« Reply #1 on: December 27, 2007, 10:46:13 PM »
Mike:

I don't know that those two departed contributors who miminzed Wilson's work at Merion by trying to establish that rather ridiculous contention about Macdonald/Whigam's value to Merion would've seen the light at this time.

Don't act too surprised at Wilson's contributions to American golf architecture and golf agronomy because basically we've been telling you that all along and Cobb's Creek doesn't really change a thing.

Significant architects writing their remembrances such as George Thomas (Golf Course Architecture in America) basically just weren't lying about his value, influence and significance. When a man of the stature of Thomas says what he did about Wilson---eg in his opinion Wilson was probably one of the best architects extant, professional or amateur, most definitely any of us today should think very serioiusly about putting a lot of stock in that!

If some overarchingly argumentative dude like David Moriarty wants to string out these threads and the history of that time endlessly on here that that wasn't true and Macdonald needs way more credit for Merion then just let him do that to his heart's content. To me that's just as foolish and as historically baseless opinion now as it was then!

There's a ton of writing out there from the old days that a lot of us need to delve back into and analyze if we really want to get a sense of that time and who really was into what and making waves.

I've just spent the last couple of days reading and rereading everything I have and most everthing that's out there on the writing over 40 years of A.W. Tillinghast and it just blows my mind how much he covered and for how long.

Of course some of those on here who might want to make names for themselves as 'expert researchers' might try to make the case that he was lying too here and there for their own convenient arguments about WHATEVER, but generally I'm not buying their revisionist ramblings!

JSlonis

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Hugh Wilson
« Reply #2 on: December 27, 2007, 10:49:44 PM »
Mike,

Great information!  Thanks to you, Geoffrey Walsh and others for all the excellent work on the Cobb's Creek thread.  That is some really interesting stuff.

TEPaul

Re:Hugh Wilson
« Reply #3 on: December 27, 2007, 10:52:37 PM »
MikeC:

By the way, in May 1917 Tillinghast reported in American Golfer that the greens of holes #12-#15 at Pine Valley were being prepared for seeding and that they would be open for play in the Fall of 1917!

Does that really sound to you like Wilson and Flynn designed those golf holes?

SO, what stopped them from coming into play on the schedule that Tillie reported in May 1917?

Just a little event like the USA's entry into WW1 did!

Mike_Cirba

Re:Hugh Wilson
« Reply #4 on: December 27, 2007, 11:04:00 PM »
MikeC:

By the way, in May 1917 Tillinghast reported in American Golfer that the greens of holes #12-#15 at Pine Valley were being prepared for seeding and that they would be open for play in the Fall of 1917!

Does that really sound to you like Wilson and Flynn designed those golf holes?

SO, what stopped them from coming into play on the schedule that Tillie reported in May 1917?

Just a little event like the USA's entry into WW1 did!

Tom,

I'd never suggest that Wilson and Flynn designed the final four holes at Pine Valley..I'm only stating that they were the ones who were called upon by Pine Valley to see Crump's vision through to a successful end.   I'm also quite aware of the work that went into recollecting Crump's desires for those holes from an architectural standpoint, and didn't mean to imply that Wilson and/or Flynn "designed" them..

I'm merely emphasizing that the Wilson's got those holes built and I'm sure it took a lot of on-the-ground time and effort to do so, both agronomically and from a detail standpoint.  

They also did it with the critical eyes of the golf world at that time watching keenly, which I'm sure was some huge pressure.
« Last Edit: December 27, 2007, 11:06:06 PM by MPCirba »

TEPaul

Re:Hugh Wilson
« Reply #5 on: December 27, 2007, 11:20:16 PM »
Mike:

I don't think Wilson and Flynn "built" holes #12-#15 at Pine Valley at all. I think they were built by the spring of 1917. What they needed, and a lot of the rest of Pine Valley needed after Crump died was some very serious agronomic attention, and that's what Wilson and Flynn (and Carr as the only other member of the PV Green Committee) gave them. Of course to minimize in any way the contributions of Jim Govan at this time would be historically ridiculous.

The only one who made any real suggestions or changes to the architecture of the course shortly after Crump died was Hugh Alison but all in the context of the 1921 Advisory Committee working off Carr and Smith's "Remembrances".

We have in the archives of this website some opinions from some otherwise pretty impressive architecural students like David Eger saying that the topographical characteristics of holes #12-15 look a lot like Merion and therefore that indicates those holes may've been designed by the likes of Merion's Wilson and Flynn.

The available historic research and timelines today can debunk that notion in New York moment!
« Last Edit: December 27, 2007, 11:25:28 PM by TEPaul »

Mike_Cirba

Re:Hugh Wilson
« Reply #6 on: December 27, 2007, 11:26:29 PM »
Tom,

That would be consistent with the same news article from January 1917 I quoted above which also states;

"Pine Valley has been made possible through George Crump and it is estimated he has expended nearly $200,000 on it up to date.  With the possible exception of the National Golf Links it is admitted to be the best course in the United States.   Up to the present time only 14 holes are in use, but the remaining four holes will be ready for play in the fall."

Still and all, I'm quite sure that getting them to full playability and function (Crump had worked on these for a number of years at this point) would have taken a significant amount of hands-on effort and involvement at that time by Hugh and Alan Wilson, especially given the shock and spotlight thrown onto the completion given the sudden death of Crump.

TEPaul

Re:Hugh Wilson
« Reply #7 on: December 27, 2007, 11:33:48 PM »
"Still and all, I'm quite sure that getting them to full playability and function (Crump had worked on these for a number of years at this point) would have taken a significant amount of hands-on effort and involvement at that time by Hugh and Alan Wilson, especially given the shock and spotlight thrown onto the completion given the sudden death of Crump."

Michael:

Come on Pal, we're talking about golf course architecture here. Tillinghast said in May 1917 (he probably saw it and wrote it in April 1917) that the greens were being prepared for seeding and would be ready for PLAY in the fall.

Does that sound to you like those holes had not been designed and built?  ;)  
 
 
« Last Edit: December 27, 2007, 11:35:10 PM by TEPaul »

Mike_Cirba

Re:Hugh Wilson
« Reply #8 on: December 27, 2007, 11:43:18 PM »
Tom,

Am I understanding you that Wilson(s) were only there to grow grass?   That sounds probably true but why then the whole comprehensive effort that was undertaken with Carr, et.al., to understand fully what Crump had wanted for those holes?

Also, was his detailed architectural involvement with Philmont and North Hills and Seaview (as well as Cobbs) documented here prior and I missed it during one of my slowtimes?  

Mike_Cirba

Re:Hugh Wilson
« Reply #9 on: December 27, 2007, 11:51:57 PM »
Just as a tie-in to the Pine Valley and Cobb's Creek related threads, the article also mentions;

"A.H. Smith is the man who has made the most important changes to the Huntingdon Valley Country Club, and he was the chief architect along with Hugh Wilson in the public course at Cobb's Creek."

"The most famous family of golfers in town is the Smith family.  William P. Smith is probably the best and plays from the Country Club and Pine Valley.  He has been a champion of this city and has qualified oftener (sic) in national championships than any other Philadelphian.  His brother, A.H., (Ab) is Chairman of the Green Committee at Huntingdon Valley, and he was the first Philadelphian to win a local amateur championship (Philly Am) and fifteen years later duplicated the feat.  Both he and his brother are eligible to play in the national amateur championship."

TEPaul

Re:Hugh Wilson
« Reply #10 on: December 28, 2007, 12:03:59 AM »
"Tom,
Am I understanding you that Wilson(s) were only there to grow grass?  That sounds probably true but why then the whole comprehensive effort that was undertaken with Carr, et.al., to understand fully what Crump had wanted for those holes?"

Mike:

Yes, I think Wilson and Flynn came in to grow grass which had been a pretty significant failure (for the second time).

Have you ever read Carr and Smith's "remembrances" Mike?

The holes that were really changed architecturally were not holes #12-#15 but others.

Alison suggested changing #15 into a really long par 4 with the green in another place but the club did not accept that suggestion.

On the other hand, a few greens were redesigned and rebuilt out of that 1921 Advisory Committee.

They were #6, to some extent #7, #8, #9, #11 and #17.

Why did the "Remembrances" or even Alison make the suggestions they did?

Because that's what Carr and Smith understood from Crump that he wanted to do.
« Last Edit: December 28, 2007, 12:07:27 AM by TEPaul »

Mike_Cirba

Re:Hugh Wilson
« Reply #11 on: December 28, 2007, 12:08:31 AM »
Tom,

Unfortunately, I haven't read their "rememberances", but I'd certainly be eager to do so.  

I think that in some ways we're probably making my original point that Hugh Wilson was an extremely detailed architect and course "constructor", whether he did any of the design to those four holes at PV or not.   Would you agree?

Is there any record of how long Hugh and Alan spent getting those hole completed and finally opened?    

TEPaul

Re:Hugh Wilson
« Reply #12 on: December 28, 2007, 12:42:57 AM »
Mike:

I don't really know how detailed Wilson was as a course designer or constructor but you most certainly aren't making ayd original point that he was a very good and signficant and perhaps influential one of that time and either am I or Wayne.

I think others long before us made that point and they made that point pretty well. The fact that people like MacWood and Moriarty couldn't seem to understand that is the odd thing!

TEPaul

Re:Hugh Wilson
« Reply #13 on: December 28, 2007, 12:48:10 AM »
"Is there any record of how long Hugh and Alan spent getting those hole completed and finally opened?"

Yes, from the time Tillinghast reported the greens of those holes were ready to be seeded and the time they finally opened took about two and a half years.

But again, do you understand how that was effected by WW1?    

Mike_Cirba

Re:Hugh Wilson
« Reply #14 on: December 28, 2007, 08:39:17 AM »
Tom,

I just didn't realize there were so many written sources of good information on what he accomplished right here in our own backyard.  The stuff that Joe Bausch has been coming up with has been an education, at least for me concerning the depth and breadth of WIlson's involvement beyond Merion, and the degree of collaborative creation he undertook with others in the Philadelphia school, including some generally unknown ones like Ab Smith and George Klauner.  



Adam_Messix

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Hugh Wilson
« Reply #15 on: December 28, 2007, 09:00:07 AM »
Mike--

Great stuff and Thank you!!!!


Peter Pallotta

Re:Hugh Wilson
« Reply #16 on: December 28, 2007, 09:28:22 AM »
Yes, Mike (and Tom), like Adam says.

You know, I wasn't part of gca.com when the Merion thread was going on, but I read it.  I concluded then that history hadn't been unfair re: Macdonald's involvement. After a year here at gca.com, I've now concluded that history was actually being kind re: Macdonald's involvement.

Peter

wsmorrison

Re:Hugh Wilson
« Reply #17 on: December 28, 2007, 10:27:53 AM »
I don't think Wilson was a one-trick pony either, but I would be careful making specific statements out of general reporting, even if much of it came from Tillinghast.  In all of Wilson's writings, he never discusses who did what, it was always "we did _____."  We can be certain he did manage a number of projects and involved himself to varying degrees in those projects based upon his ability to do so dictated by his health and his business.

I think a careful perusing of the Wilson-Piper/Oakley letters during the six month period that Wilson was working on the Cobb's Creek project might offer a better understanding of what he did a that time.  I cannot recollect any communication regarding the CC project, but I wasn't looking for that when Tom and I originally went through the files.  The copies we made do not have anything regarding CC.  At that time, Wilson was working at his insurance business (the Workman's Compensation Act was being implemented in January 1916) and doing agronomic work at Pine Valley and Sunnybrook where the Taylor greens were being put in and grassed.  Wilson continued to work with Flynn on Merion (the Amateur was later that year).  Piper and Oakley asked Wilson to describe his work at Merion, the results of which appear in Turf for Golf Courses.  I don't know how much time he really spent at Cobb's Creek.  It sounds like it was quite a lot, but he certainly didn't devote himself exclusively to the project.

As for Wilson designing Merion East, he probably had the most to do with it as the manager of the project.  A committee was also involved, though it is clear that Wilson was the one sent to the UK to study the courses there.  I would not minimize the efforts of Fred Pickering nor would I ignore that the course was significantly changed over the next 25 years or so, some of it long after Wilson had died.

As for designing Merion West, it was probably a similar process as the East Course except Flynn took the place of Pickering as he was let go for excessive drinking.  According to separate conversations with David Gordon and Connie Lagerman (Flynn's daughter), they both considered Flynn the man with the most to do with the design of the West Course.  Mrs. Lagerman recalls her father telling her that he designed the West Course.  Clearly this does not clear the hurdle of absolute truth, but we can assume that Wilson was in charge and likely had a lot to do with concepts and final approval.

There is no archival material that proves that Wilson designed the Phoenixville CC nine-hole course.  Wilson's sister, in a August 7, 1981 letter mentions Seaview and Cobb's Creek as the only courses HIW was involved with outside of Merion.

I don't think Wilson had any more to do with Philmont South other than the redesign of the two holes.  Other than the Philadelphia Inquirer attribution in the stating he and Strouse are credited with the South course.

As for North Hills, Flynn and Wilson did some significant redesigns.  We have the hole drawings and the handwriting is Flynn's on the redesign drawings.

After WWI (American invovement spanned from Woodrow Wilson's April 1917 Declaration of War to the November 1918 end of the war) Pine Valley was completed.  Flynn was there several days a week for an extended period of time handling agronomic work and likely worked with the Wilsons to finish the golf course.  I concede Tom Paul has studied the evolution of PV like no other, yet to conclude that all they did was agronomic work could be wrong.  Crump was changing plans and his intentions were not finalized on many holes.  Who's to say that the designs cleared for grassing in 1917 were the same as found on the completed course?

Regarding Kittansett, Wilson (who often vacationed in NE) toured the property with Flynn for two days.  These are Wilson's words in March 1922,

"I have just gotten back from Marion, where I spent two days with Mr. Hood and Flynn.  It certainly is a pretty piece of ground and it ought to make a bully golf course."  

The remainder of the short letter discusses the acidity of the soil and the ability of Bent and fescue to take and hold.  To give credit to laying out the course with Flynn from this scant reference is a mistake.

As for the changes to Merion East, including the re-bunkering of the course, this was taking place pretty much since the course opened.  Greens were revised, moved and bunkers redone before the new holes 10-13 were constructed.  Much of the work preceding the 1924 Amateur, some of the most significant of all,  was conducted while Wilson was often bedridden with illness.  Piper and Oakley rarely consulted with him during this time.  He had an assistant correspond for him.  I'm sure, given the foster father-son relationship he had with Flynn that he knew what was going on and advised on redesign matters.  To what extent, we'll never know.  I think it fair to give some credit to Wilson, but much of it can be attributed to Flynn as can all of the significant changes made to the course after Wilson's January 1925 death.  

In response to an inquiry from JD Rockefeller's engineer, Mr. Todd to the Merion Cricket Club, Mr. Philip Staples, chairman of the Greens Committee, replied on May 17, 1934 as to the qualifications of William Flynn.  Mr. Staples indicated that he,

“...is very well and favorably known in this section.  It has done very effective work at Merion and is, I think it fair to say, progressive in its methods and moderate in its charges.”  Mr. Staples goes on to say that “Those previous chairmen had, I know, much to say about the general outline of the courses when they were constructed, and it may be debatable as to whether they or Toomey & Flynn had the principal say in the determination of such design.”  However, Toomey & Flynn have been consulted at all stages, have had in charge the construction work proper, and are in my opinion, entirely capable of taking on major projects.”

I think you are correct when you remark on the tremendous work Wilson did in terms of agronomic practices for golf turf and the origination of the Green Section.  Between his family, his business and his health, his work in golf agronomics could well have overshadowed his architectural contributions even though they can be considered very significant.  While some past contributors to this site sought to minimize Wilson's abilities and contributions, I would be careful that the pendulum doesn't swing to far to the opposite side.  The truth nearly always lies somewhere in the middle.  I think that's where you'll find Wilson's architectural accomplishments.

TEPaul

Re:Hugh Wilson
« Reply #18 on: December 28, 2007, 10:34:27 AM »
"Tom,
I just didn't realize there were so many written sources of good information on what he accomplished right here in our own backyard.  The stuff that Joe Bausch has been coming up with has been an education, at least for me concerning the depth and breadth of WIlson's involvement beyond Merion, and the degree of collaborative creation he undertook with others in the Philadelphia school, including some generally unknown ones like Ab Smith and George Klauner."

Mike:

I didn't exactly realize there were so many good articles on Cobb's Creek either and who all was involved but it certainly is logical if one things about it.

For years we've seen much of this information referred to in club histories and in club archives but it's generally been referred to indirectly.  In other words, we haven't seen reprints of these articles in clubs (actually a few we have) just that the info was referred to in club histories and such.

But if one thinks about it that info in those club histories and such had to come from somewhere (unless as a Moriarty was sort of implying everyone around here was just making it up) and the info reported in these old Philly Inquirer articles and such is where it did come from.

The thing that ticked me off (and still does frankly) is when people like Moriarty (or MacWood) try to make it look like some of this info was just made up by Philadelphians from those clubs or whatever to make themselves look good and perhaps look more important in an architectural sense than they were.

They were implying that somehow the work or talent of Wilson at Merion or in this town in golf and architecture was somehow overblown or that he needed someone like Macdonald and Whigam or Raynor to tell him what to do and how to do it. I don't believe it was like that at all and these old articles seem to be proving that.

Dan Herrmann

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Hugh Wilson
« Reply #19 on: December 28, 2007, 10:36:19 AM »
The folks at Phoenixville GC certainly seem to think Wilson designed their course:
http://www.phoenixvillecc.com/golf-index.html

I played GAP at Phoenixville a couple of years ago, and the guys we played with mentioned the Wilson pedigree several times.

I'm not submitting this as evidence for anything but the fact that the members there belive fully they're playing on a Wilson track.

TEPaul

Re:Hugh Wilson
« Reply #20 on: December 28, 2007, 10:45:33 AM »
Dan:

I've been around here for about thirty years now and Phoenixville certainly thought Wilson was involved in the design of their course when I first got here. Fred Christman was the old competition director of the GAP, he was from Phoenixville CC and he used to mention it all the time.

I have a certain sense that if and when the detailed history of Hugh Wilson and his involvement in golf course architecture is finally told we just might come to find that he was one of those guys who could be referred to as a very quick study and certainly of a economic efficiency mindset.

I can certainly tell you from reading through all his so-called "agronomy letters" the man was both efficient and relentless. The things he wanted done he sort of wanted done yesterday, if you know what I mean. He was most definitely not a procrastinator!

The odd thing about Wilson is he was obviously one of those guys who was just never a "well man" if you know what I mean and that seemed to be the only thing that ever slowed him down. It seems like his brother Alan was most aware and frankly always pretty solicitous of that fact and problem.

I've said it before on here but the personality of Wilson that seems evident in his letters as well as some photos of him really do remind me of a young John Kennedy---another guy who was never a "well man".

People like that with that inherent condition can tend to be in a real hurry for probably fairly obvious reasons.
« Last Edit: December 28, 2007, 10:49:51 AM by TEPaul »

Mike_Cirba

Re:Hugh Wilson
« Reply #21 on: December 28, 2007, 03:46:16 PM »
Wayne,

Thanks for the additional information, which helps to flesh out a fuller picture.  All of these historical details that have been unearthed over the  years here on various architects are really informative and educational, and it's wonderful how some of the pictures of their lives and works start to come together.

TEPaul

Re:Hugh Wilson
« Reply #22 on: December 28, 2007, 08:10:53 PM »
"I cannot recollect any communication regarding the CC project, but I wasn't looking for that when Tom and I originally went through the files."

Wayne:

Don't forget when we were going through all those "agronomy letter" files at the USGA we were sort of just on the lookout for the mention of Merion, Flynn et al and there are a ton of those letters up there that we didn't copy for that reason.

I'll go through them again up there but my recollection is there was remarkably little written in them about who did what architecturally in anything.

My sense is that Wilson, as much letter writing as he did must have written about architecture to others (obviously Piper and Oakley were agronomists not architects) but that those correspondences are just gone and maybe long ago.

Another reason Wilson may not have chronicled much about what he did in architecture is he always was an amateur, never taking anything for what he did and he surely didn't have anything to gain by promoting himself as an architect in any way.

Matter of fact, he may've been fairly quiet about it hoping that others wouldn't ask him to do projects for them too as architecture definitely was not his day job.
« Last Edit: December 28, 2007, 08:12:52 PM by TEPaul »

Mike_Cirba

Re:Hugh Wilson
« Reply #23 on: January 09, 2008, 10:27:16 AM »
On the Cobb's Creek thread, I made note of Wilson's detailed involvement with Philadelphia public golf up until at least 1922, which is somewhat incredible to me.

However, perhaps more importantly, and to possibly (and finally) end the previous debate here about when Wilson actually went overseas to study course architecture, I refer you to the following Philadelphia Inquirer article (by "Joe Bunker") from April 23, 1916, which was part of a full-page story on Merion;

"Nearly every hole on the course has been stiffened so that in another month or two it will resemble a really excellent championship course.   Hugh Wilson is the course architect and Winthrop Sargent is the chairman of the Green Committee.   These two men have given a lot of time and attention to the changes and improvements.   Before anything was done to the course originally, Mr. Wilson visited every golf course of any note not only in Great Britain, but in this country as well, with the result being that Merion's East course is the last word in course architecture.   It has been improved each year until it is now nearly perfect from a golf point."

"The club has been very fortunate in having as its greenkeeper William S. Flynn.   He is a New Englander and before coming to Merion was a professional in Vermont."
« Last Edit: January 09, 2008, 10:32:51 AM by MPCirba »

TEPaul

Re:Hugh Wilson
« Reply #24 on: January 09, 2008, 11:23:59 AM »
Mike:

I don't know that the article mentioned there will shed much light on when and how often Hugh Wilson went abroad.

But when there was all that debating going on with Merion and when Wilson went to Europe I did notice that there appeared to be something of an assumption or even a premise that because it was determined he was across the Atlantic in the spring of 1912 that he could not have been over there before that time.

Making an assumption like that isn't all that smart, in my opinion. I can tell you that men like Wilson and his kind were generally in the habit of traveling to Europe and the other side a lot more than some of us may realize or appreciate.

Not to mention the fact that Wayne determined part of the Wilson Bros. insurance company was into insuring shipping! And also not to mention that one of the primary movers from Merion in the club and the move to Ardmore ran a shipping company.

This is a little like a guy like Rich Goodale implying (not that he exactly did this, mind you) that since I've never seen TOC I must not know anything about the other side either.

The fact is I don't know about TOC because I never have been there but because someone like my own mother was a total globe-trotter and inveterate anglophile and in my wild young days I lived with a Dutch lady in D.C. for about 7-8 years and went to the other side three or four times a year I guess in my life I've been over there about forty or more times.

Wilson didn't live very long but to assume that 1912 was the only time he ever went over there seems like a useless assumption to me.
« Last Edit: January 09, 2008, 11:32:42 AM by TEPaul »