Soon to be 1st time parker owner.

[B. Dudley]

Tom,
Welcome and congrats on your new Parker. Would love to see it when you get it. What a great gun for your first. A GH with fluid steel and btfe. By "open" recoil pad, I am sure you mean an open cushion pad. What kind of pad is it? If it is a white line or other type of pachmyer pad, then it would not be correct for the gun for sure. There were many open cushion pads that are period correct and very well could have been installed originally. Hawkins and jostam pads are two that are common.
If your pad is not correct for the gun, it can be easily corrected by putting a proper style pad onto it. Of, if the length of pull warrants it, a buttplate can be put back onto it.