Here's a legit question: is this article the first published news report of CBM's involvement or were there others prior to this?
The reason I ask is that if it was the first, that'd be a pretty big scoop, don't you agree? And don't you think a scoop like that - design by the biggest name in golf at the time - would have warrranted more than a vague midsentence reference?
Shivas,
CB Macdonald was mentioned in Philadelphia news reports in June 1910, when he and Whigham toured the property and gave their blessing to the purchase of the land. None of the article suggested anything in the slightest about a routing or "laid out", much less "mapped out" by Macdonald.
Wilson and Co. went to NGLA in early March, 1911, and the MCC Minutes reflect that they spent the first night going over Macdonald's drawings of famous holes abroad and the next day walking and touring NGLA. This is mostly corroborated by Hugh Wilson's 1916 account.
Macdonald came back for a day in early April, 1911 and as Alan Wilson stated, "advised as to
our plans", helping Wilson and Committee to pick the best of their "five different plans".
Tillinghast reported in the May 1911 "American Golfer", writing as Hazard;
About a year later Tilly wrote again in a Philly newspaper.
Finally, after the course opened, "Far and Sure", who many of us think is TIllinghast, wrote the following in American Golfer;
"Two years ago, Mr. Chas. B. Macdonald,
who had been of great assistance in an
advisory way, told me that Merion
would have one of the best inland
courses he had ever seen, but every
new course is "one of the best in the
country" and one must see to believe
after trying it out. I had hoped that
it was as good as reported, for it appeared
to be the one great chance to
provide Philadelphia with a real championship
course...It is too early to attempt an analytical
criticism of the various holes for
many of them are but rough drafts
of the problems, conceived by the con-
struction committee, headed by Mr.
Hugh I. Wilson. Mr. Wilson visited
many prominent British courses last
summer, searching for ideas, many of
which have been used. For example,
an attempt to reproduce the Eden
green at St. Andrews has been made
on the fifteenth and, in my opinion, it
has resulted in one of the few failures
The hole in question is a two-shotter
and the sloping green is so keen and
barren of undulations that the player
is practically forced to "skittle" his
approach in fear of getting above the
hole. Many of the imported ideas of
hazard formation are good, and the
grassy hollows of Mid Surrey have
been well introduced. On some of the
sand mounds I noticed the growing of
something which looked suspiciously
like the bents of Le Touquet. However,
I think that the very best holes
at Merion are those which are original,
without any attempt to closely follow
anything but the obvious."
Now, the only other person I know who wrote about Macdonald at Merion is Alex Findlay, in the article that spawned this thread.
Curiously, some find this one sentence stating that Maconald "laid out others" as some type of proof of his design, yet dismiss a slew of news articles stating that Hugh Wilson and Co. "laid out", "mapped out", "conceived of", "constructed", "built", "helped largely in the planning", "responsible for", and then also dismiss the Alan Wilson article where he tells us who designed Merion as well as Tillinghast articles upon course opening when he says that "Hugh Wilson and Co. deserve the thanks of all golfers", or Max Behr when he stated that Wilson did at Merion what Leeds did at Myopia and Macdonald did at NGLA, or when Alex Findlay said the same thing, or in any of the other following accounts;Philly Inquirer – 9/15/12 – “Clubs & Clubmen” column
“Mr. Hugh Wilson went abroad to get ideas for the new course and helped largely in the planning of the holes.”
Philadelphia Public Ledger – 10/12/13 – William Evans
“Hugh I. Wilson, chairman of the Green Committee at the Merion Cricket Club and who is responsible for the wonderful links on the Main Line, has been Mr. Geist’s right hand man and has laid out the Sea View course. Mr. Wilson some years ago before the new course at Merion was constructed visited the most prominent courses here and in Great Britain and has no superior as a golf architect. Those who have visited the new course have commented warmly on its construction.”
Philadelphia Public Ledger – 11/1/14 - William Evans
“Then comes Hugh I. Wilson of Merion, whose word ought to count for a great deal, for he laid out both the Merion courses and the Seaview links. He has this to say.. "
Philly Inquirer 12/06/14 – Joe Bunker
“Hugh I. Wilson, for a number of year’s chairman of the Green Committee at Merion Cricket Club has resigned. He personally constructed the two courses at Merion, and before the first was built he visited every big course in Great Britain and this country. “
Philly Inquirer 1/24/15 – Joe Bunker
“Such experts as Hugh Wilson, who laid out the Merion and Seaview courses…have laid out the golf course in Cobb’s Creek Park.”
Philadelphia Public Ledger – 1/31/15 – William Evans
“A Committee made up of Hugh Wilson, the man responsible for the two Merion and new Seaview courses…will aid the park engineers in laying out the course (at Cobb’s Creek)”.
Philly Inquirer 4/23/16 – Joe Bunker
“Nearly every hole on the course (Merion East) has been stiffened (for the US Am) so that in another month or two it will resemble a really excellent championship course. Hugh Wilson is the course architect and Winthrop Sargent is chairman of the Green Committee. These two men have given a lot of time and attention to the changes and improvements. Before anything was done to the course originally, Mr. Wilson visited every golf course of any note not only in Great Britain, but in this country as well, with the result that Merion’s East Course is the last word in golf course architecture. It has been improved each year until not it is almost perfect from a golf standpoint.
Philly Inquirer 1/14/17 – Billy Bunker
“Hugh Wilson built both the Merion courses and the course at Seaview.”
Philly Inquirer 1/28/17 – Billy Bunker
“Both the Merion Cricket Club courses were built under the direction of Hugh Wilson who also laid out the Seaview course.”
Philly Inquirer 4/22/17 – Billy Bunker
“An expert like Hugh Wilson, who built the two fine courses at Merion believes every club would have better putting greens if not for the craze for lightning-fast greens.
USGA Greens Section report – February 1925 (after Wilson’s death)
“The mature results of his studies in golf architecture are embodied in the East Course at Merion, which was remodeled under his direction in 1923-24. It is safe to say this his course displays in a superb way all the best ideas in recent golf course architecture along the lines of its American development. For a long time to come the East course will be a mecca to all serious students of golf architecture.”
George Thomas – Year unknown (quoted by Geoff Shackelford)
“I always considered Hugh Wilson of Merion, Pennsylvania as one of the best of our golf architects, professional or amateur (note the early need for distinction). He taught me many things at Merion and the Philadelphia Municipal (Cobb’s Creek) and when I was building my first California courses, he kindly advised me by letter when I wrote him concerning them.”
Geoff Shackelford – “The Captain”
“Thomas spent considerable time studying Hugh Wilson’s work during the construction of Merion Cricket Club’s East Course in 1912, its West Course in 1914, and at a municipal course in Philadelphia, now Cobb’s Creek.”
Golf Illustrated – July 20, 1934 – A.W. Tillinghast (a man who had been there since the beginning and witnessed the creation of Merion first-hand)
“There was peculiar pleasure in revisiting Merion after an interval of years for I have known the course since its birth. Yet, with it all, there was keen regret that my old friend Hugh Wilson had not lived to see such scenes as the National Open unfolded over the fine course that he loved so much. 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 architecture. Today the great course at Merion, and it must take place along the greatest in America, bears witness to his fine intelligence and rare vision.”
...yet argue that because Alex Findlay wrote that "others, as laid out by Charles B. McDonald are really great" is ready to assign design credit wholly at his feet.
Don't you find it a bit odd that three months later, this same Alex Findlay...one of the most knowledgeable and well-travelled men in the golf world an an architect himself...wrote an opening day article about Merion that didn't even mention CB Macdonald yet compared Wilson and Co. with Leeds and Myopia...a course he knew quite well?Sometimes, as much as we all love a good mystery, common sense and the words of the people who were there and told us clearly what happened has to inevitably rule.