Here is a most interesting article from Tillinghast in 1939 in which he essentially outlines and explains his philosophical differences regarding golf architecture and architectural styles between himself and Macdonald, and apparently lasting throughout their long careers.
Basically, it just doesn't get much clearer than this:
"A Veteran Passes
Just as April was drawing to a close, Charles Blair Macdonald died in Southampton. Long Island. He was eighty-three years of age and the first amateur champion of the United States. He won the title from a meager field at Newport, Rhode Island in 1895, a year after the USGA was formed. His birthplace was Niagara Falls, Ontario. In 1907 Macdonald became interested in planning and building of golf courses, although he was a broker by profession, and after securing models of famous holes on British courses of that time, he more or less followed these designs in the building of the National Golf Links of America among the rolling sand dunes near Shinnecock, Long Island. Some years later he designed the beautiful course, the Mid-Ocean, at Bermuda. Numerous other courses were designed by him, still following his custom of working severely to the artificial construction of replicas of British golf holes
I have known Charley Macdonald since the earliest days of golf in this country and for many years we have been rivals course architects, and I really mean rivals for in many instances we widely disagreed. Our manner of designing courses never reconciled. I stubbornly insisted on following natural suggestions of terrain, creating new types of holes as suggested by Nature, and even when resorting to artificial methods of construction. Charlie, equally convinced that working strictly to models was best, turned out some famous courses. Throughout the years we argued good naturedly about this and that, always at variance it would seem. Now he is gone and I can only salute his memory.
In 1928 he published a most ambitious book of reminiscences,---”Scotland’s Gift, Golf.”