David,
I am sure you are comfortable with your understanding of the letter...my initial post was meant to suggest that it (along with Tom Macwood's interpretations) is wholly one sided and not based on a realistic expectation of what could have happened...much like I think Mike and TEP are wholly one sided the other way in their interpretation of the timeline.
With the two main combatants being so entranched this might go on for a while...
Jim, I really disagree with you on this. In the heat of battle I sometimes get dogmatic, but believe it or not I am trying to consider all of the facts, and if you think I am stretching something, I'd appreciate if you pointed it out so I can reconsider. That is how conversations work and how I learn; by presenting and defending positions against any and all challenges.
In contrast TEPaul and Mike are insisting that we agree with them without allowing us to even see the facts, much less challenge them. That is no conversation at all.
We are certainly not going anywhere so long as one side is trying to control the historical record.
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Tom,
For example, who do you think conceptualized the really cool undulations on the present 7th green?
How about exact placement of the short right bunker on #5?
Wilson reportedly tried to build a replica of the Eden green on the 15th. Now given he had never seen the hole when he built the green, how do you suppose he planned this? And according to Tolhurst, the front of the 17th was supposedly based on the Valley of Sin.
Same question as above?
Actually, the 17th is interesting because the green was rebuilt very early on, so theoretically Wilson might have modeled it after something he had seen overseas, except that I am not sure the hole was conceptually changed or whether the swale was or wasn't there before. I don't have my info handy on this hole.
My point is that there is plenty to talk about regarding the actual architecture, and I certainly would NOT exclude green contours. Those were pretty important to CBM and, arguably, his fingerprints are there. To me that is the more interesting conversation. But I'd like to finish this one first.
Same goes for bunkers, although those are tough because some were added later, and I don't know exactly which ones. I generally think it is reasonable to credit HW for bunker placement. Some bunkers were somewhat destined given the type of holes I think they were trying to create, but even in this case it would have been HW who was in charge of the exact placement, the look, etc.
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Interestingly Tom, I am a believer in taking responsibility for a screw up and the benefit of taking that responsibility is the deserving the credit for a home run. After all, approving something done by someone else makes it your own when you're the one in charge, right?
I don't really have a horse in this quest for credit, but I don't get this. Haven't we been told that it was CBM who approved the final layout plan? And wasn't it the plan he approved that went to Merion's Board of Governor's for final approval? So then by your logic doesn't he get credit?