I'm not sure where we get the idea that NGLA was the first course ever that used template holes, or even the first one that CBM was involved with that used template holes.
What made NGLA unique and original is that CBM originally planned/attempted? to create EIGHTEEN IDEAL holes based on great holes abroad, but even that plan was eventually scrapped faced with the realities of doing that on any one piece of ground. So CBM ended up with a hybrid, largely, with a few direct copies, a few close adaptations, and some wholly original holes. By and large, he did succeed in creating almost eighteen great holes, although some may quibble with his Eden, or Long, as not being particularly stellar.
Irrespective, by 1910 holes called "Alps" existed on many courses, from Ardsley to Tuxedo. There was a hole named "redan" at The Country Club in Brookline, so this whole idea of direct copying was not original, nor did it start with CBM. As Niall Carlton points out, it had been done in GBI for some time.
This 1905 article below is interesting from any number of aspects, but it does point out that CBM had been interested in the whole idea of identifying the very best golf holes for some time and the whole topic had a lot of discussion from multiple parties both here and abroad.
But what I find most interesting is the statement that by 1905 CBM already "has wide experience in planning out links" and has been called in as a "friendly adviser whenever a noted course has been in construction in the east". The article does mention that "he laid out the first course of the Chicago Golf Club", seemingly to differentiate it from those courses where he had wide experience as an "adviser". This is particularly interesting in light of Shivas's recent finding that CBM was involved in laying out Exmoor.So where else did this "wide experience" take place, and at what other "noted course"(s) did CBM advise while they were being constructed?I think we have to consider that we really have only scratched the surface in terms of his architectural involvement before NGLA, and truly have no idea if he had created prior template holes at courses where we still don't know that he was involved with.
From my perspective, I still believe that the Findlay article was talking about various courses that Macdonald had opined that Wilson visit while abroad (David seems to think this is an insult to CBM somehow, but can anyone here actually imagine that CBM
wouldn't have provided Wilson with an itinerary or that Wilson wouldn't have asked for one??) because the whole topic of the article centers around the trip abroad and Wilson's experiences with various courses there, but no matter....it is certainly open to a number of interpretations.
Finally, Alex Findlay in 1912 probably had more golf experience than any man in this country. He had created courses from Florida to Maine to Nebraska (his first in 1887), but not only that...over his lifetime he claimed to have played more than 2400 courses and was one of the most traveled men on the planet. To say that he probably hadn't even seen NGLA by 1912 is ludicrous.
In any case, we have three articles by Findlay concerning Merion and this brief, almost non-sequiter statement inserted into an article praising Hugh Wilson and describing his trip abroad is the only mention of Macdonald.
The others...one talking about what a great set of greens Fred Pickering created as the construction man responsible for laying out the course on the land, and the third, the Opening Day article that doesn't mention Macdonald but does praise Hugh Wilson and his Committee for doing what Leeds did at Myopia...created the best courses in their respective states.
You have to wonder...
If Findlay seriously thought that CBM had designed Merion, and that Fred Pickering had constructed it...
...what the hell did he think Hugh Wilson and his committee did??