TEPaul,
CBM didn't need to rise from the ashes because he never suffered the fall you attribute to him. To paraphrase Twain, the gossip about his untimely demise has been greatly exaggerated. By you mostly. And Wayne. And a few others still gullible enough to believe that what you guys say has any connection to the truth.
You promised us you would back up your years of petty gossip and character assassination, and I guess this thread was your attempt. Where is the evidence that CBM renounced golf and golf course architecture? Where is the evidence that he turned his back on the game for the entirety of the 1920's? Where is the evidence he dropped out? Because I don't see it.
-- Is it the bit about the Argonomy committee? Interesting stuff, but even you must know that it falls well short of establishing anything but 1) CBM wasn't interested in heading up this committee; and 2) Alan Wilson was intimidated by the guy and afraid that he wouldn't go along with the others on the committee. Great men rarely go along with the pack and oftentimes are willing to "crab" when crabbing was called for, and it doesn't surprise me that some would be weary of working with him. Perhaps CBM would have had the sense to "crab" Alan Wilson's odd notion of how to measure a golf hole.
-- If not the few bits about the agronomy committee, then perhaps it is something that you were told by those who witnessed CBM's supposed demise first hand, and are still around to tell about it? Let's see, you claim that he renounced the game and golf course architecture around 1920? Ninety (90) years ago! If these first hand witnesses were adults, then they must be fast approaching 110 years old. Who are these miracles of science approaching their 12th decade on earth, and able to recall accurately events witnesses almost a century ago?
-- Or is it a matter of some sort of miraculous reincarnation, where knowing this "Knott" could substitute for CBM himself? Amazing if true!
-- Or is it again your special Blue Blood radar which provides you special insight into the lives of people who lived a century before? You've often claimed that ability, I understand how you might consider yourself a foremost expert on the nasty behavior of drunken bluebloods, but somehow I doubt that you are CBM's time traveling doppleganger.
Something tells me though that all these 'proofs' fall well short of your promise, and all you have is some sleazy gossip, much of it your own creation. CBM didn't abandon the game in the 1920's and he certainly didn't abandon golf course design for the entirety of that decade. As Mac points out, he loved golf from his time in Saint Andrews in the 1870's at least until he penned Scottland's gift. And he was quite satisfied with the results of his efforts at NGLA. As he noted, he it had accomplished what he had hoped it would accomplish.
Here again are some of the more obvious items from the 1920's . . .
1920-1921. Macdonald and Raynor designed and built Ocean Links.
1921-1922. Macdonald and Raynor designed and built Gibson Island Club.
1922. Macdonald's NGLA hosts the first Walker Cup. St. Andrews would host the next.
1922-1923. Macdonald and Raynor designed and built Creek Club.
1922 Macdonald and Raynor designed and built a practice course for Eddie Moore.
1922 Macdonald and Raynor designed and built 9 hole course for H.P. Witney.
1922-1923. Macdonald and Raynor helped plan Women's National Golf & Tennis Club.
1922-1924. Macdonald and Raynor designed and built Mid Ocean.
1924-1925. Macdonald, Raynor, and Banks designed and built Deepdale.
1923-1926. Macdonald, Raynor, and Banks designed and built Yale University Golf Club.
1926. After 18 years of service, Macdonald stepped down from the Rules Committee of the Royal & Ancient, St. Andrews.
1927-1928. While no longer on the Rules Committee at St. Andrews, CBM nonetheless was still actively corresponding with Low, Darwin, Fownes, and others about various rules issues.
1928. Macdonald published Scotland's Gift.
1930. Macdonald turned 75 years old.
Imagine what he might have done had been involved in golf during the 1920s.