Mike Sweeney Wrote:
I think you and David are trying to apply 2009 standards to the early 20th century world. If this was 1925, I could see your point. Reality is there really are no professional architects in 1911? Macdonald never accepted a fee at any of his projects. Even today, there are no real standards today to call yourself a golf architect. If I could afford it, I could appoint myself as architect of a new to be built course.
In 1911, if I had fairly unlimited time and money, access to some of the greatest golf architecture minds of the day in M&W, access to industrialist throughout Philadelphia that are building bridges, infrastructure and factories, and I had a supportive membership, I absolutely believe I could build a great golf course. We have such a person on this Board today in Archie Struthers. Is Twisted Dune world class? No, but he did not have the access, money and support that Hugh Wilson did at the time? No.[/color]
I think you might be missing the point. The question isn't really whether Hugh Wilson could have done it with unlimited time (which I don't think he had) and unlimited money (which I don't think Merion was willing to spend.) Rather, the question is, would MCC have entrusted Hugh Wilson to design their golf course? Given that they were looking for the very best, I don't think they would have. More importantly, given the evidence available of which I am aware, I don't think they did. That is why I started this thread. To figure out what evidence exists that Hugh Wilson was put in charge of designing this course? So far, none has come forward.
Plus Mike, I don't think that even Hugh Wilson would have chosen Hugh Wilson to design the course. As I say in my essay, Hugh Wilson's greatest quality may have been his ability and willingness to learn, and for him this entailed gathering the expertise and experts to do the job. The Ag Letters provide a terrific window into his approach, at least early on. Frankly it is hard for me to imagine him doing anything without having sought and received guidance from the utmost experts in the field, and then double checking with them to get the story straight.
I believe that Merion has always (and probably more so now!) known and acknowledged Macdonald's involvement at Merion. I did not know about it and have attributed it to David's essay but that is due to my (probably lack of) knowledge about the details of the club's history.
This just isn't the case with the modern understanding of their history. They have always acknowledged there may have been some involvement, but Wayne has actively tried to diminish and minimize this involvement, insisting that there was no proof of any real contribution, insisting there was nothing on the course that even remotely resembled CBM's influence, and even insisting that the only known guideance was CBM helping Wilson plan his trip. So while TEPaul and Wayne are fond of saying they have always known all about CBM's involvement, if this is true then they have been intentionally to us for many, many years. Take a look at Wayne's early 68 page chapter on Merion in his Flynn Bible, which he insisted was incorporating all the resources available to them, and tell me what, if any mention there was of CBM at all. Wayne desperately doesn't want me to see that or any other draft, but I am willing to wager that his information is largely incomplete and misleading as to CBM's involvement, if he mentions CBM at all. I know, they claim they focused on Flynn, but that is entirely inconsistent with what they have written in the past about how complete their knowledge was about Merion, and even inconsistent with their statement that they knew all this all along.
So my question to you and David is, what do you want Merion to do, and please be specific?
Your putting me in a tricky spot here, because if I answer you others will undoubtedly hold it against me and claim that I am arrogantly telling Merion how to behave. Nonetheless, I'll try to answer.
Believe it or not, I am not all that concerned with design attribution issues, and have no advice for Merion on to whom they should attribute the design of their course. All I can hope for is that they do so honestly and based on a complete understanding of all of the available information. Unfortunately, I believe that they have been provided inaccurate, misleading, and incomplete information just as we have, and so I doubt they have much idea of what actually occurred in Merion's early years, at least through Hugh Wilson's unfortunate death.
Aside from that, I echo Tom MacWood and would add that, while I don't have high hopes, I wish they would set aside loyalties to those responsible for creating this website mess and join the pursuit of truth. I don't think that it would be necessary for them to actively participate with anyone, but at the very least I wish they'd quit allowing Wayne and TEPaul to control who gets to see the information obtained from MCC and who does not-- selective dissemination of incomplete information will not get us to the truth, and while I can see how Wayne and TEPaul might think that controlling the record is in their personal best interests, it is no way in Merion's best interest. I wish that Merion would realize this.
Once all the information is out there and has been honestly presented, analyzed and VETTED, I'd of course leave it to Merion to determine their attribution for themselves.