Both Tom Paul and I have made a number of interesting findings in the course of our research on the golf designs and constructions of William Flynn. You note here that I made the same distinction that Tom mentioned above. I'll mention some of them here.
There are several courses such as Westchester-Biltmore (Travis), Burning Tree (Alison and Colt), and perhaps a redesign of Sunnehanna (Tillinghast) that Toomey and Flynn (the construction arm of the business) constructed the courses for the primary designers. It might seem reasonable to speculate that they did some minor design input along the way but that they clearly were the construction team on these courses. We have seen newspaper accounts that talk about Flynn as the designer of these courses, clearly they confused design with build.
There are also a number of courses that were originally designed by others, a great many by Ross, but were quickly redesigned by Flynn; in a number of cases these were complete redesigns. However, the courses continued to be referred to as Ross courses. These include Beaver Dam (Prince Georges), Indian Spring, Pocono Manor (6 holes by Ross with a redesign and an additional 12 holes by Flynn), and others.
There are courses such as the aforementioned Brinton Lake (now Concord) that were thought to be a Ross but were unsubstantiated. A prominent restoration architect and his staff also thought that it was Ross. Our drawings, with William Flynn noted as golf course architect rather than Toomey and Flynn, construction engineers (builders) indicate that the course was built to Flynn's plan.
Norfolk CC, now Sewell's Point, was thought to be a Ross course, I'm not sure why and neither is anyone associated with the club. But C+W cite the course as being Ross, they are part of the Ross Society, and have a picture of Ross hanging in the clubhouse. This course is marketed as a Ross course. Now, Tom and I come in with incontrovertable proof that it is a Flynn design--we have the original drawings and early aerial photographs that prove it was designed by Flynn (drawings state by William Flynn, golf course architect) and built according to the plans. The head pro seems convinced that it is a Flynn, but what is he going to do? Take down the picture, resign from the Ross Society, change the scorecards? They don't seem likely to do so. Well, we're not trying to carry the Flynn banner over there and picket the place till the error is corrected. We are simply correcting the historical record.
As Tom Paul noted, Kittansett was clearly routed and designed by Flynn (we have many of the hole drawings--some are missing) that clearly show Flynn as the overall designer of the course. Frederick Hood appears to have overseen construction and perhaps he even added some design input (although it is merely unsupported speculation). You can see how building the course was confused with designing the course.
There are instances where some of Flynn's employees took credit for work they clearly did not do. Red Lawrence took credit for designing Indian Creek, a work clearly designed by Flynn. We have his drawings and the recollections of his daughter (Connie Lagerman) spending a great deal of time working there. Similarly, Dick Wilson, returning to Shinnecock in the late 50s or early 60s told some of the members that he was the designer of the course. Well, the membership took him at his word and the club histories credit Wilson for the design. According to separate accounts from David Gordon and Connie Lagerman, Wilson was never even the on-site man in charge of construction.
It is evident that the company, Toomey and Flynn, was comprised of Flynn's design company and the Toomey and Flynn engineering arm. Toomey was 12 years older than Flynn and was the first name on the corporate title. Flynn used two project foremen, William Gordon and Red Lawrence. Gordon was the project foreman for Shinnecock and Wilson was directly under him. In fact, Wilson undertook his own interpretations of Flynn's design and they had to be removed and redone according to Flynn's specific plans. We're not sure how Wilson was able to take credit for work where he was at a junior level, but he did manage to do so.
We have also discovered lost courses that were finished or in some stages of construction and some that were never started that are of enormous interest. Quite the opposite of misrepresentation, these were never known or became forgotten. The complete collection of works by William Flynn we think will fascinate and surprise many of you.
There are many courses besides those of William Flynn where work is misidentified. Chris Clouser, George Bahto, Dan Wexler, and others have all come up with instances such as those mentioned here. This is a fun part of the research process; discovering new information or debunking existing myths.
Tom and I believe that the process we use in our research method correctly identifies and presents the facts that are stated as such. Information that falls short of the high standards we set are presented in their true form with all supporting (and in some cases non-supporting) evidence and left to the judgement of the reader. However, they are clearly noted as such.