[TEPaul]

David Moriarty:

You're #424 definitely adds fuel to the fire, a lot of it actually, and that's too bad; it doessn't have to be that way. You can expect that post with no comment from me in an email to you. Matter of fact, I think I will personally submit it to Merion's historians to be reposited in the historical archives as just one of the latest events in the evolution of that fascinating place. Even serious historians need some good laughs from time to time, you know?

[TEPaul]

Sully:

You ask some good questions and make some good points on your #s 414, 415 and 416.

I'll get back to you tomorrow on them with the answers I have. And yes, I think that + or - 3 acre RR land is probably very central in the CBM roll there but other than him recommending it in his June 1910 letter and apparently praising it indirectly in the reference about it in the Wilson Committee report to the April 19, 1911 board meeting (they said that CBM said that the last SEVEN holes on that plan they approved would be the best last seven holes of any inland course in the world) I don't think we have anything else on it relating to CBM. But do I think he saw something there? Yes I do but it is only speculation.

However, it also strikes me that those holes #12 and #13 (one green and one hole) in that area of Merion East just didn't last very long. For over 85 years that land has not been used for golf, at least as part of the 18 hole golf course.

[Mike Cirba]

Jim,

Let's start with the Charles Macdonald letter (courtesy of Wayne Morrison) that followed his June, 1910 one-day visit at Griscom's behest to view the land they were considering buying for their golf course.

It's clear that Griscom had CBM and HJ Whigham visit to get his/their opinion on whether a first-class course could be built on the property in question.   His response is somewhat guarded, but does seem to give a qualified green light.

CBM's next visit to Merion was April 6th, 1911, almost 10 months later, a month after an overnite visit by the Merion Committee to NGLA where according to Hugh Wilson, they viewed his sketches of ideal holes abroad that night and walked NGLA the following day.

Construction of Merion East began later in April, after the Merion Board of Governors gave approval to the routing recommended by Hugh Wilson's committee and CBM, as well as approved adjustments to the original Land Purchase.


New York, June 29, 1910
Horatio G. Lloyd, Esq.
c/o Messrs. Drexel and Co.
Philadelphia, Pa

Dear Mr. Lloyd:

Mr. Whigham and I discussed the various merits of the land you propose buying, and we think it has some very desirable features.  The quarry and the brooks can be made much of.  What it lacks in abrupt mounds can be largely rectified.

We both think that your soil will produce a firm and durable turf through the fair green quickly.  The putting greens of course will need special treatment, as the grasses are much finer.

The most difficult problem you have to contend with is to get in eighteen holes that will be first class in the acreage you propose buying.  So far as we can judge, without a contour map before us, we are of the opinion that it can be done, provided you get a little more land near where you propose making your Club House.  The opinon that a long course is always the best course has been exploded.  A 6000 yd. course can be made really first class, and to my mind it is more desirable than a 6300 or a 6400 yd. course, particularly where the roll of the ball will not be long, because you cannot help with the soil you have on that property having heavy turf.  Of course it would be very fast when the summer baked it well.

The following is my idea of a  6000 yard course:

One 130 yard hole
One 160    "
One 190    "
One 220 yard to 240 yard hole,
One 500 yard hole,
Six 300 to 340 yard holes,
Five 360 to 420    "
Two 440 to 480    "

As regards drainage and treatment of soil, I think it would be wise for your Committee to confer with the Baltusrol Committee.  They had a very difficult drainage problem.  You have a very simple one.  Their drainage opinions will be valuable to you.  Further, I think their soil is very similar to yours, and it might be wise to learn from them the grasses that have proved most satisfactory though the fair green.

In the meantime, it will do no harm to cut a sod or two and send it to Washington for analysis of the natural grasses, those indigenous to the soil.

We enjoyed our trip to Philadelphia very much, and were very pleased to meet your Committee.

With kindest regards to you all, believe me,

Yours very truly,

(signed)  Charles B. Macdonald

In soil analysis have the expert note particularly amount of carbonate of lime.

[DMoriarty]

Mike,

Strange how you complain about my accurate depiction of the CBM letter by stating we should stick to posting the actual historical record, but then you proceed to couch the letter in your extremely slanted interpretation of a bunch of historical material.

1. I disagree with your spin on what happened at NGLA.  Read carefully and in context, neither the leaked minutes nor Hugh's Chapter support it.  
2. If Wilson wrote he was at NGLA for two days, then you should accept that.
3. There is nothing I know of in the minutes indicating that the Board approved the plan recommended by Wilson.  My understanding is that they approved the plan chosen by CBM.  
4.  You don't have all the records, so how can you say that was the only visit in 1910?  

If we are all ever going to get along you are going to have to stop misrepresenting your opinion as fact.

[TEPaul]

Mike:

Thanks for reposting Macdonald's letter to Lloyd (the so-called MCC "Search Committee on New Golf Grounds") of June 29, 1910. It seems to me the third paragraph of his letter is particularly indicative of what Macdonald/Whigam did and said that day regarding golf architecture as well as what they did not do or said they could not do as reflected in that letter ('....without a "countor map" before us'----I will try to expand on the potential significances of that later).

To respond to your Post #427 and the poster of #428 simultaneously;

I'll take Point #4 of Post #428 first. I do have all the known records of MCC from 1910 or any other known source of information from 1910 and there is not a single contemporaneous source or item of information that I am at this time aware of that puts either Macdonald or Whigam back with MCC and/or on the proposed new ground at Ardmore in 1910. If someone wants to imply that there were other visits or communications of any kind by Macdonald/Whigam in 1910 or after their June visit in the remainder of 1910 I'd say, at this time, that implication is merely speculation that is unsupported by any actual factual evidence that either I or Merion and its historians are aware of, at this time. If there is some actual factual contemporaneous evidence somewhere to support that implication and speculation we would all surely like to be aware of it at this time.

I will get to the other three points in Post #428 later.

THANK YOU, thank you very much....

Carry on!

[TEPaul]

Mike:

In your Post #427 regarding the Wilson Committee’s visit to NGLA you said only the following:



“…..after an overnite visit by the Merion Committee to NGLA where according to Hugh Wilson, they viewed his sketches of ideal holes abroad that night and walked NGLA the following day.”


The poster of Post #428 said the following in response to your remark in that vein:


“1. I disagree with your spin on what happened at NGLA.  Read carefully and in context, neither the leaked minutes nor Hugh's Chapter support it.”



I do have the Wilson Committee’s report to the board on April 19, 1911 (the committee is actually referred to in the board meeting minutes as the Golf Committee and the report is offered and read to the board by Golf Committee chairman, Robert Lesley (there is an apparent administrative (Board) structural reason for this I will explain later)).

What the poster of #428 calls ‘the leaked minutes’ actually do support what you said about the NGLA visit in your #427:

The so-called “leaked minutes: say this:

(Golf Committee through Mr Lesley, report as follows on the new golf grounds.

Your committee desires to report that after laying out many different courses on the new land, they went down to the National course with Mr. Macdonald and spent the evening looking over his plans and various data that he had gathered abroad in regard to golf courses. The next day was spent on the grounds studying the various holes which were copied after the famous ones abroad…)

That completes the subject of ARCHITECTURE during the visit to NGLA as contained in this so-called “Wilson Report.

We can refer later to what Wilson said about the visit to NGLA in what is referred to above as “Hugh’s Chapter” which is a chapter he wrote in 1916 for Piper and Oakley’s book.

I have one other source of information from Hugh Wilson regarding his committee’s visit to NGLA in the first half of March 1911. It is from a letter he wrote to Russell Oakley:

(Dr Mr. Oakley:
      I have just returned from a couple of days spent with Mr. Macdonald at the National Golf Course. I certainlyenjoyed having the opportunity of going over the course and seeing his experiments with different golf grasses. He is coming over in a couple of weeks to help us with some of his good advice, and we had hoped you would be up before this and have delayed sending you samples of the soil on that account.     I expect to get them this week and will forward them to you.    Mr. Macdonald showed me several pamphlets in regard to grasses and fertilizers and I will be very much obliged if you will send me any that you think would help us out on the new course, in regard to grasses and fertilizers, etc.
     I hope you will come up soon and have time to go out and see our new problem.
                                                                                    Very Truly,
                                                                                         Hugh I. Wilson     March 12, 1911)




So it would appear that Wilson (and his committee?) went to NGLA one day, spent the night there and spent the following day there on the grounds of the course of NGLA and perhaps returned home to Philadelphia after that. That is somewhat speculation on my part, I suppose, because knowing Charlie as most who knew Charlie, knew him, it is entirely possible (or at least it should not be considered entirely impossible or "totally meaningfully inaccurate") that Charlie and the Wilson Committee hied on into NYC after that and spent some time R and R--ing with various show girls and other ladies of the Demimonde perhaps while or even following a delicous dinner at Delmonico's with some fine and liberal libationing. After all, these men were and should be considered Gentlemen, and I don't think anyone ever claimed that when gentlemen seriously study golf architecture, and grasses and fertilizers like that out on the ground, that it is not to be considered very hard work, both physically and mentally, requiring some serious down-time rest and relaxation following it in the high-wire and high-fallutin' spots of NYC.

PS:
So as not to be accussed again of altering original documents I have even striven to include the typos in the above contemporaneous documents.  

PPS
In the letter from Wilson to Oakley I did, however, put the date of the letter at the end instead of the beginning. If that is considered to be altering original documents I plead guilty and ask for your forgiveness.


I hope you all enjoy the foregoing original contemporaneous documentary material information and will be able to come up with zillions of very different and varied interpretations of what it all actually means. I trust I will not get shot for providing it to you but it seems this subject needs to move along from its previous road-blocks. But if I do get shot for providing it I can only say it has been my great pleasure in serving you, and so even getting shot for failing to cover up---thereby exposing old lies and nefarious syndromes involving the creation of historically inaccurate icons that served to pan and minimize true icons, will be well worth it.

[Mike Cirba]

Tom,

Thanks for re-posting what the MCC Minutes say about the Committee's visit to NGLA.

As regards the single page letter from CBM after his June 1910 visit I re-copied above, to me the most telling paragraph is the following;

The most difficult problem you have to contend with is to get in eighteen holes that will be first class in the acreage you propose buying.  So far as we can judge, without a contour map before us, we are of the opinion that it can be done, provided you get a little more land near where you propose making your Club House.

Careful readers will note that he doesn't say "I", he doesn't say "we", he states very clearly and precisely that the problem of laying out the holes, of locating the holes, is Merion's....not his.

Careful readers will further note that he never does mention the "3 acres near the clubhouse", although that has been represented as fact.   The truth is, we don't really know as fact what he meant when he recommended that Merion "get a little more land near where you propose making your Club House".    

And since I agree with David that we should as much as possible be presenting hard, black-and-white evidence of what the facts are, and not our interpretation of those facts, I would also submit Hugh Wilson's 1916 article he submitted to P&O when asked to send along something related to agronomy.   Here are the relevant bits as relates to the NGLA visit, and again careful readers will note the term, "our problem", as well as "what we should try to accomplish",and "we did get a good start", although this time from the Merion side of the matter.







I'd also submit the first of Wilson's letters to P&O, which was referenced earlier, and refers to the fact that CBM had recommended Wilson contact him.   In fact, as early as the July 1910 letter, CBM clearly references "Washington" as the best source for agronomic advice, so this remains consistent throughout.

Careful readers will also note that Wilson claims Merion has purchased 117 acres.   When the layout was eventually finished in April 1911, before construction, Merion required 123, of which 120 were purchased and 3 acres leased.

[Mike Cirba]

Jim Sullivan asked earlier when Construction began.

This March 27th, 1911 from Hugh Wilson states that, "We are starting in this week to plow and do some of the rough work."   

CBM made his second, and final visit to the course on April 6th 1911.

[TEPaul]

"Tom,

Thanks for re-posting what the MCC Minutes say about the Committee's visit to NGLA.

As regards the single page letter from CBM after his June 1910 viisit I re-copied above, to me the most telling paragraph is the following;"



Michael Cirba:

Come on Man, there you go again just blatantly distorting and misrepresenting history!! You just CANNOT say that CBM's letter to the MCC Search Committee was a single page or a ONE PAGE letter because none of us have ever actually seen that original letter. All that we have seen from the MCC meeting minutes and the MCC archives is a word for word transcription of that letter into the MCC board meeting minutes. And that was done by long-time board member/secretary Edward Sayers who hand-wrote the meeting minutes and in medium sized script, at least in my humble opinion it appears to be medium sized hand-written script, even though I probably could measure his hand-written script for you with the Google ruler or whatever.

I admit that the transcription of that letter into the meeting minutes covers approximately a single page or one page spread out over two pages and that it might cover one page or a single page in the meeting minutes if it was the only thing on a particular page (which it isn't). But since none of us have ever seen Macdonald's actual letter how in the world can you say it was only a one page or SINGLE PAGE LETTER???

I mean you have no idea what font he used or even the actual size of his stationery (what if he wrote it on formal note cards or RSVP cards?) do you, or even if he hand wrote it or if his secretary, Patty LaBelle Belle, the speed-writing and speed-typing, part-time chorus and show girl, hand-wrote it or typed it? And what if he doubled spaced the letter; that could've made it two pages and if he tripled spaced it that might've made it THREE PAGES, which could very easily alter the entire architectual history of Merion East under various interpretations.

That remark is a shocking error on your part! What the hell kind of historian are you, CIRBA?!? And you actually in some way or manner claim to represent Merion and its architectural history on here??? It's despicable, I tell you. Truly SHOCKING! Are you some kind of creep, sleaze-ball, stalker, drunkard or LIAR??

[Mike Cirba]

Tom,

I would respectfully add one relevant sentence to your transcription of the MCC Minutes from April, 1911, as relates to the NGLA visit, as follows;

“Your committee desires to report that after laying out many different golf courses on the new ground, they went down to the National course with Mr. Macdonald and spent the evening going over his plans and the various data he had gathered abroad in regard to golf courses. The next day we spent on the ground studying the various holes that were copied after the famous ones abroad.”

"On our return, we re-arranged the course and laid out five different plans."

[TEPaul]

Thank you Professor Cirba, but in my post above I only intended to concentrate on the subject of the visit to NGLA as contained in that so-called Wilson Report to the MCC Board of April, 19, 1911.

By the way, Cirba, you no count dirty slut of an historian, you have henceforth seemingly and highly inaccurately, or at least "meaningfully inaccurately," misrepresented who Macdonald wrote that letter to, even if the letter said who he wrote it to which was definitely NOT MCC or its Search Committee but Horatio Gates Lloyd, c/o Messers Drexel & Co, Philadelpha, Pa, 19002!

And even that could change the entire interpretation of Merion East's architectural history, at least as it relates to CBM's part in it! I mean for God's Sake, that could definitely mean CBM was basically dissing MCC and its Search Committee and just sucking up to uber financier Horatio Gates Lloyd and/or Drexel & Co perhaps looking for some serious stock trading business in his day job on Wall Street with something like massive amounts of Pennsylvania RR stock trading business. Don't forget, CBM was apparently a floor trader Specialist! He actually owned a Seat on the NY Stock Exchange until he sold it in 1912 (at a shocking loss, I might add).

Do you even know what that specifically means, you, you, you half-assed excuse for a golf architecture historian??

[TEPaul]

Michael Cirba:

I might also add that the terms used in that so-called Wilson report are quite indicative as to the actual meaning used and meant back in those days. Of course I am referring to the use of the term "laying out" or "laid out" in that report to refer to what was going on some weeks or even months before any plan was approved and well before any actual construction or building took place.

Therefore, so much for the definition and meaning of the term "lay out" as used in architecture back then (or even in the Oxford English dictionary and certainly in the essay "The Missing Faces of Merion") to only mean the actual CONSTRUCTION of something-----as in Wilson and his committee were only the "constructors" or "builders" for someone else's "plan"----eg routing and design------THEREFORE they were not the "driving force" behind the routing and design of Merion East but that CBM was or must have been!

It is just amazing how fast some of this partially researched "a priori" reasoning and logic falls apart like a house of cards under some very careful and expert consideration and scrutiny, isn't it?  

I should also add that in that Wilson Committee report regarding the committee's visit to NGLA and in Wilson's letter to Oakley referencing the Wilson Committee's visit to NGLA and even in the "Wilson Chapter" (done in 1916) there does not seem to be a single mention or reference to any of them having anything to do with any actual plans for the course at Ardmore----not a single reference or implication I can see anyway. Can anyone point out for me a single actual reference or implication to that affect?

After-all, aren't we supposed to be only dealing with actual "verifiable FACTS" here, and not just speculation and "spin"?

Thank you, THANK YOU so much.

[Mike Cirba]

Tom,

If memory serves, I think we were told at this point that they were laying out stakes, or sticks on the ground, and playing a sort of game of "pick up sticks", where they would re-arrange them multiple times in the corn fields.   I think when we asked how they did this five different times on the ground without getting confused we were told they were probably color-coded sticks.

Can't you just imagine Rodman Griscom, and HG Lloyd, and the rest of these blue-blooded patricians and captains of industry just traipsing around the big, muddy, icy winter fields day after day...  


"Rodman, old boy, do you recall if CBM said to put this stake 40 paces past the big rock quarry, or 45 paces?"

"Why, Hugh, you incompetent twit, why in heaven's name did Mr. Lesley even appoint you to head our group of constructors?   Don't you even listen?!  

"Mr. Lloyd...you thought Macdonald said to only buy land 130 paces beyond the quarry???  Now look what a fine mess you've gotten us into!'

"Dr. Toulmin, I've got just the nastiest sliver from this damn wooden post, can you extract it before I perish from exposure out here in this gawdforsaken field!!"

"Hurry up Mr. Francis...get those stakes over here and get them measured precisely...I swear you ought to get yourself a bicycle you move so damn slowly sometimes."

[TEPaul]

"Tom,
If memory serves, I think we were told at this point that they were laying out stakes, or sticks on the ground, and playing a sort of game of "pick up sticks", where they would re-arrange them multiple times in the corn fields."


Professor Cirba:


Well so what if we were told that? Who told us THAT? And what did whomever told us that think he was saying of implying?

Did he think that was the same thing as "constructing" or "building" golf architecture because those men were pounding stakes or sticks into natural landforms?

I've seen that a lot, and these days, and out there on the ground with preconstruction projects and from the likes of C&C and Hanse and Love Co, et al. That is basically called staking out routings and it sure isn't the same thing as actually building or constructing golf course architecture. I think most people would be pretty disappointed and confused trying to play just a staked out routing (or staked "lay out," the term often used for routing back in the day)."

I mean when I first saw say the 16th at Hidden Creek with Coore that had been staked out I guess I could've tried to play the hole but if I had I would've had to play it through about 250 trees! At that point we were just basically walking around in the woods even if there were basically some tee, LZs and green location stakes out there somewhere even if you sometimes couldn't see them in the trees until you got right next to them.  

Thank God that group of MCC member novices (the Wilson Committee) were out there at Ardmore working and staking out landforms that they could actually see across on that open farmland. My God, if those 'know-nothing" novices had been out there trying to do that in a virtual forest, like Crump was at PV, they would probably still be out there trying to figure things out.

I never really thought about that but it's probably very important to our historical understanding and interpretation of Merion East. If that novice committee had actually been in the woods or in a highly treed atmosphere on that site they would probably be of no real difference from that famous Canadian Indian tribe---the Whathfucawies, who apparently just wandered around in the woods aimlessly throughout their entire lives never really knowing where the f... they ever were! I don't know if they were trying to lay out golf courses in those Canadian woods but I guess it is not "impossible" to conclude that.

Maybe I should write an IMO piece on THAT and put it on here. I might title it; "What if the Whathfucawies were trying to stake out courses on open land instead of in the dense Canadian woods---eg could they have routed, designed and built the likes of a Merion East?"

Or I could alternatively title it: "What if the Whathfucawies had gotten help and advice from Macdonald and Whigam or even HH Barker?"

[Mike Cirba]

Tom,

Again, if memory serves, we were told that the MCC Minutes passage you transcribed simply meant that Wilson's Committee came back from NGLA and put the sticks in to the fields five times, presumably in five different ways, just as CBM had supposedly instructed them.

Why do I keep hearing that creepy guy from "Silence of the Lambs" when I type that?  

"It puts the sticks into the ground five times and does what it's told."    

"It puts the sticks into the ground five times and does what it's told."

"Put the **@)D> sticks into the ground!!!"    

[Mike Cirba]

Tom,

You won't believe this.

First of all, I couldn't imagine that any of these privileged Captains of Industry had ever swung a sledge-hammer before, much less posted a stake.

But, wanting to stick strictly to "black and white" facts, I may be exceeding the bounds of discussion here, but I believe I've actually found a "color" photo of the young Hugh Wilson, out working in the corn fields to CBM's precise instructions, which I'll reproduce here.

By golly...who would have thought...




Note the changing leaves in the background.   Notice also the tarp on the ground.

This can only mean one thing.

Wilson and his crew staked out the course sometime in the autumn of 1910 precisely to CBM's instructions, in the precise timeframe we were told it happened.  

Obviously, the tarp is to protect one of CBM's vaunted template greensites from the coming winter.   I can't tell if it's a "road", a "redan", or a "short", but upon closer examination it does look like perhaps a tell-tale "double plateau" to me.   Care to weigh in?

Or...wait.

Is that Jim Varney?!?! 

The guy who sold me the picture said it was Hugh Wilson!!   

[TEPaul]

"Tom,
Again, if memory serves, we were told that the MCC Minutes passage you transcribed simply meant that Wilson's Committee came back from NGLA and put the sticks in to the fields five times, presumably in five different ways, just as CBM had supposedly instructed them."



Professor Cirba:

AGAIN, so what? So what if we were told that? Who told us that? It makes no sense anyway and furthermore there is no contemporaneous evidence they were doing that or said that. If there is some evidence that they said or did that then where is that evidence? I think what they actually said is they layed out numerous courses on the land and then went up to see Macdonald at the National course and then came back and rearranged those courses in to five different plans.

Wait a minute----let's parse that AGAIN! They did say they layed out numerous course ON THE LAND! I guess that certainly may mean they pounded some stakes into the ground out there somewhere. Or who knows----those guys were some pretty resourceful and well-heeled guys weren't they----at least Lloyd and Griscom sure were? Maybe they actually made about 6,400 yards of like Velcro and layed out that on the ground into numerous courses.

Wait a minute, that doesn't make any sense does it? I don't think Velcro had been invented yet but one of our good researchers might want to check that out too. Moriarty was resourceful enough to figure out that 1912 ship manifest for Wilson so I'm sure he could research and figure out if Velcro was available in 1911. I'd say that would be a piece of cake for a great research like he is.

But WAIT! We have heard that story (not totally documented) that they did lay out white sheets out there for their bunker schemes, haven't we? Well, shit, you know what----I bet they ripped all the blankets, and maybe even curtains and such off their wives and friends, and probably green blankets and curtains at that and just laid about 6,400 yards of those green blankets and curtains out there to see what "numerous courses" might look like before going up to see Macdonald at the National Golf Course. ("Hey, Rodman, can you HEAR ME out there from back here? OK, good; can you grab all those blankets and curtains that are supposed to be the third fairway and drag them all about twenty years to the right? Thanks, Roddie, you're a peach of a guy.")

Damn, you give some smart and resourceful guys like those novices a job to do like that and there's just no telling the creative things they can come up, is there?

Does anyone want to volunteer to do the research to see if the likes of Mrsses Wilson, Lloyd, Griscom, Francis and Toulmin bought like a whole lot of new blankets and curtains at some point beginning around the spring of 1911? Or else had like some truly unusually high laundry bills in that timespan? I would start on the first one by Googling all the sales records at Wanamakers in Philadelphia! Actually that would be Fern's (Fernanda Wanamaker Wetherill) maternal great, great grandfather! Damn what a small world this really is!

This golf architecture research and analysis is fun, don't you think? It's better than a barrel of Malaysian monkeys in tutus with hula hoops.

[Mike Cirba]

Dam*it all..

That IS Jim Varney!!!  

Man...I saw the stakes, the sledgehammer...the cornfields..

An obvious telltale Double Plateau green...the autumn timeframe.

Who can blame me for that simple mistake?     Especially since the guy who sold me the photo said it was Huge Wilson.  

It all seemed so clear...for a brief moment of seeming clarity.

Do you think perhaps lovable Varney or perhaps his alter-ego Ernest P. Worrell was on the Merion Committee??

[TEPaul]

Mike and Sully or Whomever;

You know it really is good to reanalyze some of the material from those there then to put it into a clear perspective and particularly a clearer timeline. I have read Richard Francis' 1950 account many times but looking at it again it seems like some real timeline evidence pops out at you, that pretty much indicate that some things just have to follow other things in the regular progression of events we can pretty much be sure of with ALL our actual and verifiable documentary evidence.

I'm of course speaking about that 15th green and 16th tee fix and pretty much what it could not have preceded given what he said in that article and given what we know independent of it.

And another interesting thing from it and Heilman's book is that it appears that 1910 trip abroad and for seven months story may not have first occured for not 50 or 60 years after the fact but close to 80 years after the fact.

I suppose some will not want to consider some of these things for their own particular reasons but they sure do seem to be getting more obvious and because of that there is no reason at all that Merion didn't accept them and should continue to.

Carry on and try to just stay with the known facts and away from your own factually unsupported speculations!

[Mike Cirba]

Tom,

Can you expand on your thoughts a bit further on what you are now reading into the timeline of events around the 15th/16th fix from your re-reading of the Francis 1950 article?

I was going to write more about that article, as well, and it's amazing to me that CBM isn't mentioned at all.   He also makes very clear that the laying out and constructing of the golf course were both the responsibility of Wilson's committee, and then refers to his part of the "layout", where he's clearly speaking about design, not construction.

It's also interesting that he says "we" thought the road would make a good hazard ,again indicating design responsibility as far as location of the holes.

And finally, he makes clear that the 3rd was NOT a redan hole UNTIL Wilson returned from abroad, at which point he used what he learned there to incorporate some of those features on the hole.   It reminds me very much of what Alex Findlay wrote about the Alps hole, where after his return from abroad Wilson said it would "take a lot of making" to make it an Alps.

Before then, both holes were just uphill holes with elevated green features.   Wilson's application of bunkering placements, and mounding features tried to incorporate what he learned abroad after his return.

In fact, it's very hard to read Francis's first-person account and still deny that Wilson's Committee was responsible for everything in the creation of Merion East...design, construction, and agronomy.










p.s.   Do you think it's possible that Richard Francis had his brainstorm AFTER the start of construction, with the general location of the holes already in place?   

After all, I don't think he's claiming sole responsibility for designing the final five holes as much as saying he's found a way to fit them in.

I haven't thought through the ramifications of this, and I know what the MCC Minutes say about swapping for "land already purchased", but this makes more sense to me than the theory that Francis's work took place prior to November 1910.   It also seems that Francis is talking about a single plan, and in the timeframe before April 6th, 1911, we know there were any number of plans under consideration.

Would be curious to hear your thoughts on this, or anyone else's.

[Mike Cirba]

Since we're reviewing primary source materials, it might be of interest to post both Alan Wilson's recollections from the 1920s, which he wrote at the time for a proposed history book that was evidently never published.   The BOLD are simply my cut-and-paste from the original typist here, who thought they merited special attention;

Merion’s East and West Golf Courses

   There were unusual and interesting features connected with the beginnings of these two courses which should not be forgotten. First of all, they were both “Homemade”. When it was known that we must give up the old course, a “Special Committee on New Golf Grounds”—composed of the late Frederick L. Baily. S.T. Bodine, E.C. Felton, H.G. Lloyd, and Robert Lesley, Chairman, chose the site; and a “Special Committee” DESIGNED and BUILT the two courses without the help of a golf architect. Those two good and kindly sportsmen, Charles B. MacDonald and H.J. Whigam, the men who conceived the idea of and designed the National Links at Southampton, both ex-amateur champions and the latter a Scot who had learned his golf at Prestwick—twice came to Haverford, first to go over the ground and later to consider and advise about our plans. (BOLD mine, MC) They also had our committee as their guests at the National and their advice and suggestions as to the lay-out of the East Course were of the greatest help and value. Except for this, the entire responsibility for the DESIGN and CONSTRUCTION of the two courses rests upon the special Construction Committee, composed of R.S. Francis, R.E. Griscom, H.G. Lloyd. Dr. Harry Toulmin, and the late Hugh I. Wilson, Chairman.

   The land for the East Course was found in 1910 and as a first step, Mr. Wilson was sent abroad to study the famous links in Scotland and England. On his return the plan was gradually evolved and while largely helped by many excellent suggestions and much good advice from the other members of the Committee, they have each told me that he is the person in the main responsible for the ARCHITECTURE of this and the West Course. Work was started in 1911 and the East Course was open for play on September 14th, 1912. The course at once proved so popular and membership and play increased so rapidly that it was decided to secure more land and build the West Course which was done the following year.
   These two committees had either marked ability and vision or else great good luck---probably both—for as the years go by and the acid test of play has been applied, it becomes quite clear that they did a particularly fine piece of work. The New Golf Grounds Committee selected two pieces of land with wonderful golfing possibilities which were bought at what now seems a ridiculously low price (about $700. an acre). The Construction Committee LAID OUT and built two courses both good yet totally dissimilar—36 holes, no one of which is at all suggestive of any other.
   The most difficult problem for the Construction Committee however, was to try to build a golf course which would be fun for the ordinary golfer to play and at the same time make it really exacting test of golf for the best players. Anyone can build a hard course---all you need is length and severe bunkering—but it may be and often is dull as ditch water for the good player and poison for the poor. Unfortunately, many such courses exist. It is also easy to build a course which will amuse the average player but which affords poor sport for players of ability. The course which offers optional methods of play, which constantly tempts you to take a present risk in hope of securing a future advantage, which encourages fine play and the use of brains as well as brawn and which is a real test for the best and yet is pleasant and interesting for all, is the “Rara avis”, and this most difficult of golfing combinations they succeeded in obtaining, particularly the East course, to a very marked degree. Its continued popularity with the rank and file golfers proves that it is fun for them to play, while the results of three National, numbers of state and lesser championships, Lesley Cup matches, and other competitions, show that as a test of golf it cannot be trifled with by even the world’s best players. It is difficult to say just why this should be so for on analysis the course is not found to be over long, it is not heavily bunkered, it is not tricky, and blind holes are fortunately absent. I think the secret is that it is eternally sound; it is not bunkered to catch weak shots but to encourage fine ones, yet if a man indulges in bad play he is quite sure to find himself paying the penalty.
   We should also be grateful to this committee because they did not as is so often the case deface the landscape. They wisely utilized the natural hazards wherever possible, markedly on the third hole, which Mr. Alison (see below as to identity—W.R.P.) thought the best green he had seen in America, the fourth, fifth, the seventh, the ninth, the eleventh, the sixteenth, the seventeenth, and the eighteenth. We know the bunkering is all artificial but most of it fits into the surrounding landscape so well and has so natural a look that it seems as if many of the bunkers might have been formed by erosion, either wind or water and this of course is the artistic result which should be gotten.
   The greatest thing this committee did, however, was to give the East course that indescribable something quite impossible to put a finger on,---the thing called “Charm” which is just as important in a golf course as in a person and quite as elusive, yet the potency of which we all recognize. How they secured it we do not know; perhaps they do not.
………..The West course was designed particularly for the benefit of “the ninety and nine” and for low cost of maintenance, in both of which respects it was most successful. Very little bunkering was done but the ground was rich in natural contours and hazards and they were utilized in an extremely clever way. While not as severe as the East, it is a real test for even the best of players as was shown in the qualifying round of the National championship in 1916.
It is so lovely to look at that it is a pleasure to play and I like to remember the comment of Mr. C.H. Alison of the celebrated firm of Colt, Mackenzie and Alison—British Golf Architects---who, after going over both courses said: “Of course, I know the East is your championship course; yet while it may be heresy for me to say so, I like this one even better because it is so beautiful, so natural and has such great possibilities. I think it could be made the better of the two.”
   Having spent so many years playing bad golf over good courses I have come to believe that we members of Merion have for all season use about the most attractive golf layouts I have seen; two courses quite dissimilar in character and in play, in soil and scenery, both calling for brains and well as skill, very accessible, lovely to look at, pleasant to play, yet real tests of golf, with excellent bent fairways and fine greens. The East course recognized as one of the half dozen regular choices for National championship play, and the West capable of being made just as exciting a test should that ever been deemed desirable. We certainly owe a debt of gratitude to those two committees which by their hard work, foresight, good judgment and real knowledge of the true spirit and meaning of the game of golf evolved and built so well for Merion.  


Just a few more items of interest;

At least Merion at the time seemed to think Wilson's role went beyond construction of the course;



This 1923 article found recently by Joe Bausch speaks to Wilson's original role and intent;



This pre-NGLA article shows that consulting clubs who were building their own courses was something Macdonald did frequently, yet none of those clubs ever gave CBM authorship of their courses because he was simply providing the benefit of his advice.

[TEPaul]

"Tom,
Can you expand on your thoughts a bit further on what you are now reading into the timeline of events around the 15th/16th fix from your re-reading of the Francis 1950 article?"






Mike C:

Sure, no problem, but first I'm going to put on here the version of the Francis brainstorm (land swap) from the essay "The Missing Faces of Merion." I suggest anybody following or interesed in this subject read it very carefully. And later today I'll put on here what I think happened from what I'm reading from Richard Francis' 1950 account of it and what I think I know from all the supporting evidence we now have.

Matter of fact, I will even explain what I think the pertinent information was that the author of the essay did not have that we have now wjen he wrote the essay. I will even encourage the author to tell us himself what pertinent information he thinks he did not have that was found later by others and that we have now when he wrote that essay. And after that you all can try to evaluate how not having certain pertinent information when writing that essay may've led him to make some of the assumptions and conclusions he did about that Francis land swap event and when it happened; some assumptions and conclusions that some of us, and including Merion the club, believe are inaccurate and/or wrong.







"Richard Francis Fixes the Routing Plan
According to Tolhurst’s excellent history, in 1950 Merion’s Richard Francis recalled his major contribution to the layout of the course. Francis, an engineer, would serve on Wilson’s Construction Committee, and later become a foremost expert on the rules of golf, writing a groundbreaking book on the subject and serving for many years on the USGA Rules Committee. But most importantly for our purposes, he was also the mastermind behind a crucial land exchange that enabled Merion to better fit the last five holes into the routing.

According to Tolhurst, Francis wrote:
The land was shaped like a capital “L” and it was not very difficult to get the first 13 holes into the upright portion – with the help of a little ground on the north side of Ardmore avenue – but the last five holes were another question…. The idea was this: We had some property west of the present course which did not fit in with any golf layout. Perhaps we could swap it for some good use?

Francis immediately ran the idea by H.G. Lloyd, proposing that Merion exchange land west of the routing for the land now used for the fifteenth green and sixteenth tee. Lloyd agreed, and “a few days later the quarryman had his drills up where the 16th green now is and blasted off the top of the hill so that the green could be built as it is today.”

Given Francis’ description of the timing of the quarryman’s blasting, and given that he eventually served on the Construction Committee, it has long been assumed that the “swap” occurred while Construction Committee was in the process of building the course. But the supposed land exchange must have occurred much earlier, before Merion secured the land, which was before Merion appointed Wilson and his Construction Committee.

As quoted by Tolhurst, Francis wrote that Merion gave up “land west of the present course which did not fit in with any golf layout;” land which was later “covered by fine homes along Golf House Road.” In exchange, Merion received a small section of “land about 130 yards wide by 190 yards long – the present location of the 15th green and the 16th tee.” No doubt Francis was describing the land between the present practice area and Golf House Road, a small triangle of land that perfectly matches Francis’ description. More importantly, the land was acquired while Merion was putting the finishing touches on the routing plan for the course. So the date of the supposed “swap” will allow us to determine when the final touches were being put on the initial routing plan.

Surprisingly, as one can see in the land plan above, Merion acquired this small projection of land as part of the 117-acre parcel designated “Merion Golf Course” in the Plan. Merion optioned and purchased the land for the 15th green and 16th tee as part of their option and purchase of the bulk of the golf course property. Property records confirm this. The supposed land swap must have occurred prior to mid-November 1910, when Merion obtained an option from Haverford Development Company. This was six weeks before the purchase was finalized and the Construction Committee appointed. The “swap” was not a swap at all but actually a small but significant reshaping of the large parcel Merion intended to purchase from Haverford Development Company. Before the purchase, the parties must have agreed to shave off a portion on the right side of the parcel and added the projection of land for the 15th green and 16th tee.

Francis and Lloyd had been fine-tuning the layout plan before Merion secured the land. Francis described his epiphany as having occurred while he was looking over a “map of the property.” He also noted that the land Merion gave up “did not fit at all in any golf layout.” So by this time the planning process was well underway, and the “swap” allowed them to better fit the last five holes into the plan for the routing. “It was not very difficult to get the first 13 holes into the upright portion – with the help of a little ground on the north side of Ardmore avenue – but the last five holes were another question.” The Francis land “swap” allowed them to complete the routing plan. All before November 10, 1910.

So, by mid-November 1910, the layout had already been planned. I have found no evidence that Hugh Wilson had been at all involved in the purchase or the planning at this early date. To the contrary, as will be discussed below, the historical record indicates that Wilson became involved in early 1911, after the purchase was finalized."






Will the author of that essay tell us what he thinks the pertinent information was that he did not have when he wrote that essay? I don't know the answer to that but I am more than willing to give me plenty of time to offer it to us anyway. If after giving him plenty of time and opportunity to explain that on here and if he hasn't offered it by then, I will just try to proceed forward anyway with what I know we found later and which he could not have had, and for reasons that should be patently obvious to all, when he wrote that essay.

[Mike Cirba]

Tom,

Will look forward to your thoughts on the Land Swap.

In the meantime, a few more related documents;

First, we know that Alex Findlay was involved prior to the course being opened and wrote about Wilson's journey overseas;

Here was his opening day article;



AW Tillinghast wrote in spring of 1911 that he had "seen the plans" for the new course, and also that he had spoken to CB Macdonald about it, as seen in the following Tillinghast written articles.










So, when the course opened that fall, after playing it Tillinghast wrote the following review for American Cricketer magazine.   Strangely, exactly like Findlay's account, there is no mention of CBM, but only of Hugh Wilson and the Committee's work (as seen on the second page).







The passing of time didn't cloud Tilly's recollections.   Here is what he wrote for the 1934 US Open program;



And since your transcription of David's essay refers to the "Land Plan", which was the to-scale map drawn by Pugh & Hubbard in November, 1910, I thought I'd reproduce it here;



Following is an attempt someone (I believe it was Bryan Izatt) made to measure the base of the triangle as represented on the Land Plan using the scale that came with the map.   If memory and math serve, I believe it masured to around 100 yards wide, (each gradient no the scale measured 200 feet), not the 130 Francis said he needed but instead only about 76% of that needed width.

I'm sure if I'm wrong in that estimation someone will shortly correct me.

[TEPaul]

"So, when the course opened that fall, after playing it Tillinghast wrote the following review for American Cricketer magazine.   Strangely, exactly like Findlay's account, there is no mention of CBM, but only of Hugh Wilson and the Committee's work (as seen on the second page)."



Professor M. Cirba:


I realize that with all this evidence (some reposted by you on here) to the contrary there will probably still be at least one and quite likely two (if there are any others at this point I must admit I can't say that I know who they are) who will still say that somehow this all involves some kind of conspiracy or agenda to overstate or exaggerate the architectural contribution made to Merion East by Hugh Wilson in the beginning and even for the purpose of minimizing the actual contribution of another architect or so that goes as far back as near the beginning that involves all those you just referenced with their material remarks and more.

However, I would have to think that given all this mention by so many back then about what Wilson did do that some conspiracy theory to that effect would begin to seem pretty implausible to just about anyone. And particularly involving someone with the reputation and stature in golf and golf architecture of Charles Blair Macdonald and even H.J. Whigam, two men who obviously MCC respected greatly back then as did so many others.

I think this whole thing that has been running for a number of years now and particularly promoted by just two on here really just is an attempt to make a mountain out of a molehill. I go back to what Peter Pallotta said on the only post he made on this thread----eg it just seems like fairly early on those two just got mad at some of us and decided to just dig their heels in and refuse to ever admit to making any analytical mistakes and perhaps to just not ever really admit to the reality of the history of Merion East.

[TEPaul]

I'm afraid that the basic mistake those trying to measure the dimensions of that November 1910 land plan may've made is that they failed to realize that we just don't know if the dimensions on that Nov 1910 land plan matched the dimensions in that area (the triangle or even the entire proposed road that would not be built until late 1911 or early 1912) that were on the survey maps that the Wilson Committee used to lay out numerous courses and then five different plans in early 1911. Since we have not found those survey maps we just can't tell if they were exactly the same as that Nov 1910 land plan, and particularly in that specific area or even the entire proposed road from College to Ardmore Aves. If Golf House Road had been actual or even an actual border line (as it now is) rather than a theoretical  road as it was in 1910 and it had been part of a survey map as it was later we could of course just measure the former survey against the latter survey and tell.

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