Sheesh, David...
Yes, Macdonald was involved and the account you cite are irrefutable.
Yet, they also point out to me exactly what his involvement was. The fact that the accounts of the time are so vague, so thin, so vaporish, at a time when there was tons of press about the course, at a time when Macdonald and Whigham were writing regularly boasting about the holes and concepts and courses they brought to America. I think the fact that such pale descriptions were brought forth is completely reflective of the reality of his involvement.
Which is...according to the records;
1) Showing Wilson around NGLA for two days, and discussing in detail with him the concepts of the best holes in the world at the time.
2) Helping Wilson with his itinerary for his forthcoming EIGHT month trip and suggesting the best courses to visit and best holes to see.
3) At least one documented site visit after Wilson's return
4) One written account, mentioned years later in the Merion history book, that Wilson was grateful to Macdonald for his help in overcoming problems in "laying out A golf course".
David...I'm sorry to say but that's about IT for concrete evidence of Macdonald's involvement. We can speculate that this hole was inspired by an ALps or this hole was inspired by a redan, but the statistical odds are that this was simply due to Wilson's months of study abroad, and not due to direct influence from Macdonald, but only peripherally due to his suggestions of where to visit.
Does it really make sense on any level whatsoever that if Macdonald was fully and intimately involved in the creation of the East course, and that Macdonald had a key and critical role in the conception, design, and construction of that course that Wilson and company would completely excluse him a few months later when they started the West course? That's totally ridiculous, on the face of it. It's so far from reality as to be farcical.
I know you think I'm being demeaning to the ongoing communications between these two men when I suggested that it might be as simple as "how's the wife and kids?", but I'm totally serious. Macdonald kept some pretty fastidious records on his involvement in course building, yet none of them exist for Merion. He wrote extensively about his work in architecture, yet there isn't a single mention by him of anything he did for Merion. He was the preeminent man in golf in America during this time, yet his role was recorded as "advisor", which is basically equivalent to me as similar to when someone like Jim Furyk is listed as "advisor" to the St. Annes course being built currently in Delaware.
That includes a few site visits, probably some general design input on a few holes, and a bit of PR. Other than that, the real work is done by others.
Jeez guys...if the original course at Merion looked anything like Piping Rock, or Sleepy Hollow, or NGLA, or Chicago, or anything else by CB at the time, I can understand that you feel that perhaps Macdonald didn't get appropriate credit. But, the lack of real template holes, the introduction of completely new hole concepts using the existing land, the construction techniques that largely eschewed the more geometric and formalized structures that Macdonald favored all seem to support my position that Macdonald's role was minimal, at best, once Wilson returned from his eight month visit to Great Britain.
Finally...I'm really not interested in the argument between you and Wayne, and I've tried to keep my discussion points between us. Although it's obvious that there is some acrimony between the two of you, I don't think he's attempted to minimize any role of Macdonald's that can be clearly documented.
I think...similar to me, that what he's questioning is some seeming exaggeration or speculative magnification and expansion of Macdonald's role without something beyond those clear facts that I detailed above.