The whole idea that there was this degree of specialization as we understand it today between designing and constructing is really based on a misunderstanding of how closely those activities had been historically linked up until 1910.
I'm going to type up three separate articles, and I'd like for you to consider the wording, and then think about the courses that had been "built" between 1888 and 1910, and how at that time most folks and golfers didn't even know what a "golf course architect" was. Macdonald, in fact, defined that term to a great degree.
Philadelphia Inquirer 1915
"By the time this letter is in proint the annual meeting of the United States Golf Association will have adjourned and some at least of its deliberations must be matter of common knowledge, but one cannot resist the temptation to say something more about that pulsing question - the amateur status. It is doubtful if the problem in all it's immensity can be threshed out in a single evening, along with other business matters. Whether it is or not, it is bound to be a burning topic throughout 1915, becase there can no longer be temporarizing with the rule upon which the whole future of the sport depends. Most of the trouble lies in the fact that the long existing by-law like the Sherman act againsts trusts, has not been enforced. However, it is with rules as it is with clothing. They frequently are not ony outgrown, but there is call for different cut and fabric."
"For instance, a dozen years ago there was no such profession as the links architect. The greens keeper did about all the course planning that was required, outside of the club professionals who played, gave lessons, made clubs, sold balls, etc. Each of those duties is now becoming more specialized. "
"It will be a hard task to convince golfers, the country over, that a man who keeps greens cannot be an amateur, while the one who made the very same greens remains a simon-pure. The argument advanced in favor of excepting he links architect is that such work calls for ability of a rare sort, in the nature of a special gift. Don't you believe it. There are as many good course architects now as there are really expert green keepers."
"It is the experience of the last ten years that has created both callings in the Western Hemisphere and it is almost as difficult to separate the two as to divorce a musical instrument from the music it makes through human agency."
Another Inquirer article from January 1917 discusses the impact of the amateur ban on golf course architects who take money for their work, and mentions all of the men in the region who had recently had architectural activity and it's impact on them. In fact, when talk of this banning began some years prior, there was no distinction concerning omitting those who architected without financial compensation. This led to some of the lack of publicity by anyone who did not fully intend to become a Professional architect, like Tillinghast.
In any case, witness the number of different terminolgies bandied about to describe what we today view as golf course architecture. There was clearly not the singular distinctions we think of today and the words, laid out, constructed, designed, built, responsible for, etc., were thought of synonymously and often used interchangeably as this article shows. Let's also not forget that things were even more so seven years prior to this article in 1910, and that the idea of an "architect" as a separate calling had evolved quite a bit over that time.
"The proposed ban on golf course architects will undoubtedly result in a great big howl from those gentlemen who are coining all sorts of money and have been doing so for the past two or three years. Yet, after all it affects very few amateurs, and prominent among them are Walter J. Travis, three times the amateur champion of this country and the only American who has ever won the amateur championship of Great Britain and a Philadelphian (Tillinghast). "Travis has done a lot of course construction and among other courses that he has changed is the Philadelphia Country Club. The PHiladelphian has changed the St. David's and Old York Road clubs and he is the man who built the Shawnee course where the women will play their championship."
"Should the ruling stand there is very little doubt that the majority of the course architects will prefer to surrender their amateur status rather than give up a business that just now is in a very prosperous condition. Some of these architects get as high as $100 a day for their services and in many cases all they do is to spend a day or so at the course and then send the clubs blueprints of the changes to be made. Very little of the actual construction work is done by them personally."
"Only one Philadelphian is affected by the rule and all the other amateurs have been doing this work as a matter of interest and love of the game. George Klauder had much to do with the laying out of the Aronimink and Cobb's Creek courses. George Crump had done wonders at Pine Valley. Hugh Wilson built BOTH the Merion courses and the course at Seaview. Ab Smith has done a lot of construction work at Huntingdon Valley, Cobb's Creek, and North Hills, but it is very doubtful if any one of these ever got a penny for his services. According to the old rule golf architects were as good amateurs as the (garbled) who played once a week and were excepted from the ban placed upon those who infringed the amateur rule."
Finally, as late as 1940, when the League Island Park municipal (now FDR Park) course opened in Philadelphia, the Inquirer reported the following. It should be noted that Joe Bausch has found evidence that local star Ed Clarey had designed local courses (Heritage CC) as early as the mid 20s, and had been affiliated with public golf most of his life. Somewhat ironically, Hugh Wilson was part of the site selection committee that picked this site and one other in 1924 as targets for locating future municipal courses for the city;
Describing the accompanying photo;
"Joseph Carson, president of the Fairmount Park Commission, drivesout the first ball as left to right, Edward Clarey who constructed the course; Alan Corson, the Park Commission's chief engineer, and Bernard Samuel, president of the City Council look on."
Then, in the body of the article that describes the course;
"The League Island course, located at 20th an Pattison Sts. is one of Philadelphia's series of places for the pay-as-you-play fan. But, it is a bit different from Cobb's Creek and Juniata. The chief distinctions are the unusually large greens, well trapped, nd it's grass tees."
"The course has been constructed to offer a good test for the expert as well as not to be too difficult for the duffer. Every hole is well trapped and besides the boundaries, which offer penalties for the wandering shotmaker, there is Shedbrook Creek, 20 feet wide, which winds through the property..."
I am uncertain if David was aware that the terms were used that synonymously and interchangeably during that period, even as late as 1940, at least in Philadelphia. I'm thinking he made the fundamental, if understandable mistake of viewing it from our modern understanding of the terms.
Otherwise, to suggest to the uninitiated reader and those with only a passing modern interest in this historical topic that they were clear cut distinctions based on our modern understandings is something that is not only wholly historically inaccurate but also very misleading.