An initial list of courses was generated through extensive research by James A. Barclay for his writing of The Toronto Terror, The Life and Works of Stanley Thompson, Golf Course Architect, copyright 2000 Sleeping Bear Press. Since then, the Stanley Thompson Society commissioned an arbitrary third party 'provenance' study of Stanley Thompson courses in Canada. This investigatory authentication was undertaken by the University of Guelph over a two year period 2008-2010 under the mentorship of Dr. Cecelia Paine, professor of Landscape Architecture and Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, and Kirsten Brown, MLA, CPGA, EIGCA. Ongoing evidence continues to be discovered and once authenticated by the Society's Archives and History Committee including a third party Thompson Provenance expert, will be assimilated into this section of the website.

Documentation that supports Thompson's involvement in each course is categorized as being either primary or secondary evidence. Primary evidence includes plans, specifications, contracts, site notes, internal correspondence between Thompson and his clients, client lists, and company advertisement. Secondary evidence includes articles written by individuals other than Thompson or his firm.

The Evidence category identifies the type and quality of known archival evidence that supports verification of Stanley Thompson's involvement with each project.

Those with evidence that will assist in the efforts to authenticate Thompson's works i.e. plans, documents, photos, articles, anecdotal references, etc., for specific courses are encouraged to click on "Edit Course" at the top of each Course page and insert any relevant information. Further, individuals and Clubs are encouraged to donate potential Thompson archival material to the Stanley Thompson Collection at the University of Guelph for safe keeping and restorative treatment. Such donations will be scanned and copies returned to the donating party. Certain donations may qualify for a tax receipt from the University.

The Evidence category indentifies the type and quality of known archival evidence that supports verification of Stanley Thompson’s involvement with each project.

Primary Evidence

LEVEL 1/PROJECT SPECIFIC: Project-specific primary evidence includes plans, specifications, site notes, contract documents and internal correspondence. This type of evidence demonstrates a clear involvement by Stanley Thompson with a golf course project. Evidence in this category includes plans, contracts, specifications, site notes and internal correspondence between Stanley Thompson and his client.

LEVEL 2/ NON-SPECIFIC: Non-specific primary evidence includes client lists and advertisements from Stanley Thompson’s firm. This type of evidence provides support that Stanley Thompson had ties to the project in some way. Stanley Thompson’s client list and company advertisements are included in this category as they are of his hand; however it is unclear as to his involvement with any of the golf courses merely by being listed. This evidence is therefore recognized as primary evidence, but provides a lower degree of certainty.

Secondary Evidence

LEVEL 3: Secondary evidence includes articles written about Thompson’s work by authors other than Stanley Thompson, his employees or his associates. Articles are derived primarily from Canadian Golfer magazine, the Saturday Evening Post and various other news and magazine publications. Articles of this type have been found to be contradictory and do not always show agreement with primary evidence. It is therefore considered Secondary/Level 3 evidence.