Tom,
You asked, "When did Bell alter the bunkering at SFGC?"
In the December 1934 issue of Golf Illustrated, Scotty Chisholm wrote, “The San Francisco Golf and Country Club course, one of the country’s finest, abounds with such testing two-shotters and it says much for the skill of A.W. Tillinghast, the designer, that few if any changes have been made anywhere on this splendid course since he did his work many years ago…”
The year 1924 was among the few occasions when it was touched, some 6 years after it had officially opened for play. Golf Illustrated in April 1925 states, “This fine testing course, remodeled by A.W. Tillinghast a year ago [this would be in 1924], in the pink of condition…”
So up until this time very little if any substantive changes had been made to the course.
In that same December 1934 issue of Golf Illustrated, Tilly himself writes that, “The editor will be on his way to revisit California after an absence of some years.” Among the things that Tilly did on this visit is mentioned in his March 5th, 1936 letter to George Jacobus from his San Francisco stop while on his PGA Course Consultation tour. Note what he wrote:
“It must be mentioned that Greenkeeper George Paulson accompanied us throughout the day, and must compliment this man especially for the able manner in which all of my plans have been carried through, particularly the new first and second holes, as well as the new twelfth, which I designed when I was here last winter. [This would be his Winter 1935 visit mentioned in December 1934’s GI article] Today I gave them a rearrangement of the trapping of the fairway of the fourteenth, which has been the only weakness of the course. The new plan will bring it up properly. While I made numerous suggestions for refinements on nearly every hole, they were of minor character and not at all expensive to accomplish.”
As a follow-up to this letter, Tilly revisited the club on February 6th, 1937, during his next California visit on his 2+ year PGA Course Consultation tour. Writing once again to George Jacobus, He stated, “This morning it was raining again and a telephone message from Dixwell Davenport advised me that it would be foolish to attempt the visit to the San Francisco Golf Club. Consequently this was postponed until tomorrow (Sunday). However at ten o’clock Davenport telephoned again as there were indications of clearing and asked me what I thought about it. I replied “let’s go” so I drove to the club. Of course it was very wet underfoot and sticky. Out here it is not the falling rain which hinders nearly so much as the bad footing, on the adobe (?) soil. However at the San Francisco Golf Club there is a somewhat different soil condition, more sand than usual in these parts, so it was possible to walk around… I checked on all work, which I recommended last March… However some of the construction work has not altogether pleased me and gradually this is being corrected… Today I additionally instructed them concerning the raising and contouring of the right side of the 3rd green; the left-front of the 5th and located a new site for the 10th green to the right of the present (one of their own making, which has left much to be desired.) All other opportunities for improvements were made note of on my last visit and definite records made at that time by the committee…”
It is most likely that Bell was at SFGC in the 1930’s at Tilly’s recommendation (I can’t find where I put the information on those dates… I’ll see if I can find them). Many times, especially during his PGA Tour years, he suggested other architects be used by clubs to carry out his recommended work. Most occasions he would leave detailed sketches for them to work from or send them at a later date. The work that Bell did was according to Tilly's recommendations to the club.
It is interesting to again note what Tilly wrote about locating "a new site for the 10th green to the right of the present (one of their own making, which has left much to be desired.)" Clearly work was done by an in-house committee that was immediately recognized as a mistake. They corrected it by following Tilly's instructions, not Bell's or any other architect.
That Tilly was pleased with the work that Bell did and showing that he believed that they could work well together and that he wasn't competing against Tilly, was that they became partners in September 1937 right after Tilly ended his PGA Tour.