Seems patently obvious to me that "time will tell" is the ONLY answer here. Pete's right on and Rich sure has precedence and example on his side in spades... How can we know now what will be held in vogue 50 years from now? Hell for all we know real grass might become as antique as featheries, and all the "best" courses then will be made of some sort of synthetic turf with hologram hazards, where you are assisted by your personal Tiger Woods robot caddie.
Links Mag may be right, who knows. But it sure is easier to argue that they're wrong...
In any case, you tell 'em Rich re your experience. I'd venture to say your 300 rounds at Dornoch are enough to make you qualified in any golf discussion. You sure as hell know Scotland more than anyone I've ever met (although your lack of Cruden Bay experience is galling - fix that, will ya?)... and while I do disagree with your assessments all the time, hell that's nearly always my ignorance and/or exuberance talking.
You're wrong about Shinnecock being better than NGLA no matter what though!
As for me, I stand at 29 played out of Golf Mag's world 100, with a 30th to be knocked off in a couple weeks thanks to another very cool GCA stalwart. Not bad for a public course yokel!
The funny thing is though, as Mark Fine sorta predicted for me, the more I see, the more I realize the less I know. Horrible syntax but I hope that makes sense...
TH