I almost forgot to add, this is a subject that is really dangerous for me. I tend to lose all track of sight and common sense when I start thinking of every 1/4 acre lot that I happen to pass during the day-- "Hey, that would make a very interesting green complex!"
Way back yonder, many, many light years ago, a few of us orignal Golfweb Architectural Discussion Group junkies got together for a NoCal get-together at Half Moon Bay.
Redanman made the excellent choice of "The Beach House" for our accomodations, which is a very beautiful inn set right on the water in front of it's own little private enclave of dunes. We went for a walk out there, talking about golf and how we could dream up a little mashie-like course there, so rudimentary, yet taking full advantage of this very small little dune line. (This by no means was fit for anything close to resembling Rees Jones-approved Championship Length, but we did in fact have a blast figuring out a neat little layout. Getting a hold of some featheries would have made it that much more fun! I think we even had a few holes that crossed over one another!)
It is an amazing thing how much more I have learned since then, maybe fifty fold. But I still remember this one paticular complex that just sticks with me to this day. I think you can acheive GREAT golf no matter what the setting or size or even the depth. I think this is where the GREATNESS lies, in the NATURE of anything that can yield the roots of the Game.
Here in fact is that piece of neat little dunes land--so small, yet so perfect for our intrepid minds.
