Tom
I don't think you'll ever be able to prove that Colt isn't even deserving of co-credit. That's bonkers
I suppose Colt was just used for his name and drawing skills!?
All in good fun, though.
It's absolutely not clear cut about 1-6, not from Tillie's report, nor the incomplete stick plan (that's all it is, with no hole width or green shapes, apart from maybe the 1st). And at the
very least not the 5th! But also, the 6th is described as a par5 by Tillie, so that doesn't track either. The 3rd isn't Alpinized, a design feature that Colt clearly disliked from his writing. I stand by what I wrote for the 1st and 4th, compare it to Colt's blue pen routing plan.
As far as I can work out from old photos in magazines, the course had holes 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,16,17,18 pretty much set by 1916 at the latest-in routing and much of the hazard placement. 11 holes were open by Feb 1914 less than a year after Colt's visit. Were these changed significantly before Crump died? I haven't any photos to indicate as much. Sure looking at Colt's routing plan, some of his hazards aren't there now, and some have been added by, presumably, Crump. But you've got to be careful here, because the red pen (Crumps?) is simply over much of the blue (Colt's). We need to see Colt's book in full and even then it's open to some interpretation.
We know that 4 greens were changed to Alison's specs, and Maxwell built 2 greens at the 8th and 9th. Tillinghast claims credit for the 13th and Hell's Half Acre on the 7th. The 15th is as Colt routed, apart from the island tee, the 12th isn't much different.
At this point, perhaps it's Crump who's struggling for a co-design credit. What's left, the 14th, some green contours(?) and some bunker placement?
I'm not sure why it's assumed that Crump slaves away for every day for the next 5 years. Where's the evidence? I haven't seen any to prove this, not in the magazines, not in photos. Is it in the archives? Didn't the members want to play some golf ASAP? I know there's evidence that Crump had ideas of radically changing holes like 6,7,11, but the truth is, this never happened.
If Finnegan had access to all these magazine articles, why didn't he mention the most important and detailed one by Carr? His writing comes across, to me, as biased. No
creative credit is given to Alison. Why did he only show a single hole the 17th, from of Colt's book, and then stress the difference in that hole rather than the similarities (the very oldest pics are actually very much like Colt's drawing)? Why not reproduce all 18 so we can make up our own minds?
I don't think it's off base to speculate that Crump was glorified after his death. Wouldn't that be natural for such a loved man? Tillie's contemporary "Hazard" psuedo articles are inconsistent, he switches back and forth on credit. Some of his details are inconstistent, particularly the recollections that don't always tally with what he wrote at the time as "Hazard".
I read some affectionate glorification in his final article after Crump's death-they were very close. Quoting Tillie:
"So it will be seen, by all this, exactly how Pine Valley was conceived, and how it developed. In some respects the course represents a consensus of opinion, carefully edited by the master mind of George Crump, to whom must be given credit to the fullest measure. Certainly one of the world’s greatest golf courses, it reflects the genius of one man after all and must ever be a tribute to his memory. "
Finally, lets be honest
It does matter to me and you,
who designed PV. It's PV! Why else would you want to prove to me that Colt isn't deserving of a co-design?