Anthony,
I've seen references that said Bendelow "adjusted" and "refined" the course after Clive Jaffray and Bob Taylor added the second nine in 1907, but I don't know precisely what that means. Is there any more detailed source of the work Bendelow did at Minikahda?
As for the criticism following the 1916 open, you've probably seen this information, but I thought I'd post it here. The course was stoutly defended by both Chick Evens (understandably) and Donald Ross (also understandably, since he'd just been employed by the club.) First Evans:
"Now a word as to the course: It is a championship course with a good golfing swing to the land, neither too severe nor too gentle; and I repeat the words of many other contestants when I say the Open championship has never been played on a better conditioned course. In my whole experience I have never known the ground 10 or 15 yards in front of the green so nearly perfect. One could pitch one's chip shot on a certain spot and it would run as expected. The greens, too, blended delightfully into the fairgreens. The grass on tees, greens and fairgreens was superb. The tees were excellent and always faced the line of play. One had to be very careful of his line at Minikahda. It was a course that rewarded a man who kept straight. There are swings in the ground that must be allowed for, and different greens tip different ways. Placing the shots to conform with the break of the ground is one of the chief difficulties at Minikahda.
"The course permitted only a medium amount of roll even to half-topped shots. Some of us said it was an easy course, but it did not work out that way when we came to play it. It was easy to count up a low score but it wasn't there when played out. The par, 72, was the same as on the last two course where the National Open was played. Minikahda was not unlike Baltusrol in some respects. There were the blind, the semi-blind holes and the unprotected greens. There were straight shots up lines of trees, and easier ones in a grass-lined fairway. There were shots uphill and downhill, and Baltusrol had its freak eighth, and Minikahda its freak third, and no one who entered at both courses could say that the pitch at the Northern course was easier than the second shot pitch at the Eastern one."
Ross was interviewed Aug. 31, 1916, by the Minneapolis Tribune:
Charges made by Eastern professionals that the Minikahda greens were “absolutely rotten” during the Open and “Chick” Evans won the title by putting blindly were ridiculed by Mr. Ross as jealousy on the part of a few disgruntled pros, who begrudged Evans the honor.
Mr. Ross visited Minneapolis a short time before the Open and went over the Minikahda course. He declared last night that at that time the greens were in the finest possible shape.
It was stated by one of the pros that the reason for the poor greens was they were made up of many kinds of grass and that one was totally different from the other.
“Bosh,” was Mr. Ross’s answer. He said that the grasses found at Minikahda were of the best variety and they excel that used on many of the famous Eastern courses.