Personally, I think some of these interpretations of Tilly's design record are a little over the top.
Tilly wrote around 400 letters to George Jacobus summarizing his work for the PGA of America. (We will try to get these up on the Tillinghast web site in the near future to engender more interpretation, or mis-interpretation.)
I think it is hard to say Tilly sold himself out to anyone. First, he was an extremely strong willed person who could not be bought by anyone. (Phil Young is writing the definitive biography on the man and probably has the best interpretation of his character from numerous first-hand and second-hand family sources.) Second, even though it has been said that anyone can be bought, who was around in the depression with enough cash to buy him?
I think it is very fair to say that Tilly's design style evolved and that he was not afraid to experiment. I think Rand Jerris has a book in the offing on Tilly's body of work and design style. I would think that the natural terrain of the site probably was the largest determining factor in how much bunkering Tilly would use in his designs. (i.e. allot of bunkering on a flat site and much less on a rugged site) The project budget may have been the second biggest factor.
After reading and studying Tilly's PGA letters, it is safe to say that the so-called Duffer's Headaches (DHs) were bunkers that no longer were part of the design intent of the hole or were simply primitive and un-natural trenches -- mostly found on what Tilly called the "sporty courses," which certainly did not follow Tilly's principals of modern golf course design. These DH's were not the great strategic diagonal hazards that Mike has put up on the screen. These were crumy little fairway bunkers that were generally misplaced, poorly constructed and out of play.
An example of Tilly restoring lost design intent, and on a Tillinghast course to boot, was at Hermitage CC (now called Belmont) in Richmond, a circa 1916 design, Tilly wrote that he had to "take his own medicine" and recommended closing a number of side pits, for which he commented that,
"it must be remembered that general play has lengthened out considerably in twenty years and that long ago we were much closer to another period of course conception."
Tilly recommended the most "DH" removal on the short and sporty courses with these un-natural or contrived features and misplaced bunkers -- most of these courses were designed at the turn of the century. Most of these course were designed by the lesser known architects -- Bendelow, Douglas, Emmet to name a few.
Now, we can speculate and say, if Tilly came back from the beyond and visited some of these same courses, would he sell out to this DG and argue for a "total restoration" to the sporty old course of yesterday, or would he say what he believes. Personally, my guess is that he would make a pitch for a "total redesign" contract to bulldoze the course and build a new one with his name on it.
