I know nothing about the "suggested improvements" - Do you have a breakdown on them?
I found the course to be very scenic, very long, and appropriately challenging for the Hope rota.
I did not, however, find it to be of much architectural merit. It benefits from an incredible setting and a lack of houses around the layout, but on the whole, I'd play it again, but I wouldn't pay for it.
Interesting things to note from my perspective:
The documented drainage problems were still pretty bad (I played a few months ago) and the second fairway was almost entirely ground-under-repair.
I really liked the 9th and 10th - I can't decide if I felt that the fact that I, playing from the 7200 tees, should or should not have been able to carry the waste bunker straight at the green. I had aimed down the right fairway and pulled my tee shot (but I nutted it) and it flew straight at the green over the absolute longest part of the carry (about 275) and hit the downslope, barreling to about 40 yards short of the green (the hole is 453 yards long).
The 10th was also excellent as a short, typically artificial desert "bite off what you want" par 4, but the green was extremely interesting with its slope toward the water and a knob on the right hand side that could either help or hurt a drawing approach shot or spinning wedge.
The 5th hole is a unique dogleg left at the very base of the mountains, and curving around large mature trees. It looked good from the tee, but I actually snap hooked my shot onto the next fairway and played through the inside of the dogleg with a SW to the green. I'd like to have another shot at this hole because it looked interesting.
14 is 140 yards from the absolute Palmer tips - everything else, on the card, is under 100 yards. Where have you ever seen something like this?
14 - Par 3 - 140/95/76/66/61/57
Though, when I played, the back three sets were all at the 135 marker.
The green is flat-out goofy and I heard some pros who played it complained bigtime.
The 15th is a really nice par 5. The problem is that it's a par 4. At 525/480/453/425/399/385 yards into the prevailing wind from whichever set of tees you choose, it's a borderline impossible green to hit in regulation due to the sheer length, not to mention the fact that the last 100 yards leading up to the green are pinched to no more than 15-20 yards across by a canal left and a waste bunker right. I hit an average drive that the wind knocked down, and the best 3 wood I could possibly hit, and barely made it to pin high...much too hard of a hole to be arranged with the lengths the tees offer.
17 is your everyday desert 17th hole - you know the one...210 over water with a waterfall and babbling brook. Can it really be a signature hole if every course has the same signature?
Overall, the course was fine. And just that...fine. When I think about the other things that could have been done with the site, it makes me really wonder what could have been.......
Great practice area, though.