Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water:
I'd like to give a summary of why I think Wilson and Committee probably designed Merion and M&W did not. Though I also believe M&W advised Wilson on the design, and may have given him some specific hole/routing ideas.
First, problems with the theory that CBM designed Merion:
1. CBM does not say he designed the course. He says absolutely nothing about this. This apparently is extremely OOC for him, if in fact he was Merion's architect.
2. Merion does not say CBM designed the course.
3. No one else in history gives any hint that CBM designed Merion, except Wrigham, who was Macdonald's son-in-law. Wrigham made this claim once, nearly 30 years after the fact, in passing, as part of an obituary for CBM that contained other factual errors.
4. CBM had very little opportunity to do the design. He visited the prospective site for a few days in June 1910. But Merion had not even bought the land yet, and Macdonald's letter to the committee shows his purpose during that trip was not to design a course. It was to evaluate the site, and advise Merion whether he thought they could build a 1st-class course there. If he did route Merion, it was almost surely based on that one trip. Perhaps someone sent him a topo map later. But there is no evidence anyone did that. And even if they did, could CBM have come up with such an intricate routing in this way? I asked earlier if he designed any other course in this manner. No one could give a single example. It certainly is not how he designed NGLA. And that is the only CBM course rated as highly as Merion.
5. There is no evidence that Raynor had any involvement of any kind with Merion. But there also is no evidence that CBM designed any courses without Raynor, once they collaborated on NGLA.
6. Merion, as I understand it, did not and does not look like other courses CBM designed. When it opened, it had at most a few templates. Many on this site debate even that: at best the so-called templates were poorly or half-way done, at worst they may not have existed at all. One example: the alleged Redan green apparently sloped back to front, and did not allow runup shots. Descriptions I've seen of the course from back then noted that Merion did NOT copy the famous holes. As I understand it, this stands in marked contrast to other courses CBM designed.
7. Besides not looking like other CBM courses, Merion probably did not look like the course CBM recommended to the committee. In his June 1910 letter, he suggested a sporty 6000 yard course. The course actually designed and built was a championship 6245 yarder, with room to expand to 6500 yards. This may be one reason Merion chose not to have CBM design their course: the shorter course he suggested was not the course they wanted.
8. David's theory rests on the idea that Merion's design was finished by November 1910...Wilson was not part of Merion's Construction Committee until January 1911 or later...and therefore could not have designed the course. But David cannot prove Wilson was not involved earlier. All he can do is show they didn't form the Construction Committee till 1911. It seems likely to me that Wilson WAS involved: I doubt Merion would have turned over construction of this course to a complete novice who had no experience with or knowledge of the project.
9. Merion's committee wrote a letter to members, apparently in 1911, saying plans were being prepared for the course. While we have argued over what they meant, one explanation is that they were still designing the course in 1911. If so, that throws out David's claim that the course was completely designed by November 1910.
10. David's theory also rests on the idea that Wilson did not travel abroad till at least 1912. David cannot prove that is so either. In fact, as the quote in #3 below shows, the USGA believes Wilson traveled to Europe in 1910 to study courses. As a side note that may be relevant: I've seen Wilson referred to as a Scottish immigrant. Does that mean he was born in Scotland?
Reasons to believe Wilson designed Merion:
1. Tillie says he did.
2. Merion history says he did.
3. The USGA says Wilson designed Merion: "The baskets have been part of Merion’s lore since the club moved to its current location in 1912. It’s not a closely guarded secret, but nobody associated with the club seems to know the origin. It is clearly linked in some way to a trip taken by course designer Hugh Wilson in 1910 when he was sent by the club to study the best courses in Europe before the course was built on its current site." So the USGA says Wilson designed Merion; and that he went abroad in 1910.
4. Tolhurst says Wilson designed Merion.
5. Herbert Warren Wind says Wilson designed Merion, and even favorably compares Wilson as an architect with CBM as an architect.
6. Wilson himself apparently says or implies he designed Merion, as the following passage from David's essay shows: Quoting Tolson, David says "Wilson admitted that the concepts sprang from the holes he'd seen in Scotland and England . . . Yet none of the holes at Merion is an out and out copy." The concepts sprang from holes HE'D seen in Scotland and England. BTW, this also suggests there were no template holes at Merion: there were no out-and-out copies. Another strike against CBM.
7. Alex Findlay, noted golf writer and architect from back then, implies Wilson designed Merion, by equating what he did with what Leeds did at Myopia Hunt. Findlay never breathed a word that CBM designed the course.
8. Alan Wilson says Wilson designed Merion. Some say that since Wilson is HM's brother, he may not be trusted. Perhaps. But then the same standard should apply to Wrigham, who was CBM's son-in-law. Also, if you take away Wrigham's eulogy, no one at all says CBM designed Merion. If you take away Alan Wilson's claim, a number of people and sources still say HM designed Merion.
Could Wilson have designed Merion?
1. Patrick says a novice like Wilson could not design a course like Merion. But other first-timers have designed world-class courses. Leeds is one example. He designed and built Myopia Hunt, with zero experience in gca, and apparently zero help from experts.
2. Wilson had the help of men who had traveled abroad, and seen the world's best courses and holes.
3. Wilson almost surely had the help of CBM.
4. Wilson almost surely was aware of the famous European holes, from newspaper and magazine reports, from others at his club and on the golf committee.