Mike
Clearly Wilson was heavily involved, no one is saying he wasn't involved, but it seems you won't be satisfied until I say Hugh Wilson designed Merion.There isn't overwelming evidence to support that, in fact just the opposite. The overwelming evidence is that the committee designed the course, headed by Wilson, advised by M&W.
Tilly claims in 1934 the course was designed Wilson; in '39 Whigham claims the course is Macdonald's. Based on what we do know (from contemporaneous reports) I think there both off the mark. It seems pretty clear it was a group effort.
Tom,
If like me you don't find the following to be strong evidence of "architecture by committee" as you contend, then I think you need to cite some specifics of your own, besides Whigham's seemingly absurd paean to Macdonald after his death.
"We have said that there are good green committees. But we make the admission mainly for the sake of argument. By far the best work in this or any other country has not been done by committees but by dictators. Witness Mr. Herbert Lees at Myopia, Mr. C.B. McDonald at the National, and Mr. Hugh Wilson at the Merion Cricket Club. These dictators, however, have not been adverse to taking advice. In fact they have taken advice from everywhere, but they themselves have done the sifting. They have studied green keeping and course construction as it was never studied before..." – Max Behr 1914 (18 months after the East course was opened and around the time the West opened)
"It seemed rather tragic to me, for so few seemed to know that the Merion course was planned and developed by Hugh Wilson, a member of the club who possessed a decided flair for golf course architecture. Today the great course at Merion, and it must take place among the greatest in America, bears witness to his fine intelligence and rare vision..." - A.W. Tillinghast 1934 (onsite many times during the inception of the course)
It took me 25 years of searching, but I recently stumbled upon a 1918 Atlantic City newspaper article on microfilm. It was a rambling review of the history of Seaview, especially its massive clubhouse (now expanded into a hotel.) The article did mention the course: "Hugh Wilson laid out course and Ross did the trapping," a subhead read.
"Hugh I. Wilson, who also laid out the two Merion courses (bold mine), is responsible for the Seaview course," it said in the text. "Five or six years ago, Clarence H. Geist, then president of the Whitemarsh Valley County Club (outside Philadelphia), decided that there was no earthly reason why Philadelphians and other golfers should go south in the winter to get their golf. He felt that there were scores of men of big affairs who ... could run down to the shore and play over the weekend ..." – 1918 Atlantic city newspaper article as recounted by Ron Whitten.
"In 1910, the committee to lay out the new course decided to send Hugh Wilson to Scotland and England to study their best courses and develop ideas for Merion. He spent about seven months abroad, playing and studying courses and sketching the features that struck him most favorably. One mystery which still surrounds Wilson's trip to Britain is the origin of the wicker flagsticks, and it is still part of Merion's mystique. The layout that Wilson fashioned at Merion was masterly. He fitted the holes onto the land as compactly as a jigsaw puzzle. As a result, players only had to step a few yards from each green to the next tee. The trip to the Old Country had certainly paid off."
"Wilson admitted that his concepts sprang from the holes he'd seen in Scotland and England. The 3rd hole was inspired by North Berwick's 15th hole (the Redan) and the 17th, with its swale fronting the green, is reminiscent of the famed Valley of Sin at St. Andrew's 18th hole."
"On September 12, 1912, the old course at Haverford was closed, and on the 14th, the new course and the clubhouse were opened to members. A report of the opening said the course was "among experts, considered the finest inland links in the country". This was an assessment that has been echoed down through the years." - Merion History
"Plus, I've been looking through numerous articles from Philadelphia newspapers back then, particularly from longtime golf writer for the Philadelphia Public Ledger, William Evans, that refer to Wilson constantly as the architect of Merion East and West. These were in the years Wilson was still alive. One even mentioned that since it was provable that he was never paid for his architectural efforts he was one of the few whose amateur status was never questioned or challenged."
"MacWood refers to Merion East being attributed to Wilson as the result of legend. If these things were written constantly in local papers about Wilson as the architect of those courses (and others) while he was alive and it was simply not true one would certainly think Wilson or others reading those accounts would have informed the newspapers of that obvious fact. " - Tom Paul's mention of Philadelphia newspaper articles on Merion and Wilson during Wilson's lifetime.
Tom, if you have other articles to cite beside Whigham's funereal comments, and Lesley's broad-brush approach as the head of the Merion Greens Committee, in which he very politically correctly and no doubt generously cited everyone on the standing committee as well as golf celebrities who "advised" like Macdonald and Whigham, probably now is the time to bring that research to public light.