Mike,
Tom asked me to also post this comment:
"But yes, Barker, by virtue of the fact that he came from abroad and was a professional golfer, and did a small handful of mediocre same-day routings, almost all of which were summarily replaced over the years, and who had at most two actual golf courses built on the ground as of June 1910 was the actual architect of Merion, it's just that everyone over 100 years forgot to actually ever notice that, much less think to mention it to anyone."
Mike
Barker claimed upwards of twenty golf courses in his Merion letter. I have not found twenty courses prior June 1910, but I have found quite a few: Garden City, Waverly, Spokane, Newport, CC of Virginia, Rumson, Arcola, Columbia, Mayfield, Youngstown, Williamsport, Springhaven, CC of Atlantic City, Skokie, Detroit, and Victoria (which I'm still trying to confirm). If you ask me that is a pretty impressive list of designs and redesigns. Another possibility is East Lake in Atlanta , a club he had a relationship with, which was redesigned in the image of GCGC in early 1910.
Who had a better resume in June 1910? And which courses are the 'mediocre same-day routings'?
The redesign of GCGC, along with the design of the NGLA, were the two most important architectural events of this period. Barker was involved in the redesign of GCGC, and with Travis's encouragement turned that involvement into an architectural career. Arguably he was the hottest architecture in the country circa 1910. But you know all this because I've sent you this information before. I don't think you do Wilson and yourself any good trying to mislead. The people at Merion were not dumb.