I played Purchase for the first time on Saturday. Other than the first couple of observations which are things that really struck me, the rest are in no particular order of alleged importance.
First, the green complexes are surprisingly (too me) hospitable - not nearly as severe as I expected to find. The putting surfaces and surrounds aren't flat and they're certainly not uninspired. But, given Purchase's reputation in these parts (and Nicklaus' overall), I was expecting a lot of big-time contours that would be near-impossible if they were stimped on the high side. Not so - getting to the green is more of a battle than putting once you get there.
Admittedly, the speed of the greens on the day I played was not at a tournament level, but given how many opportunities my poor ball striking presented to deal with chipping, bunker shots, "short sided" flop shots and long putts, I had a good opportunity to envision what life would be like on 12+ surfaces. It wouldn't be pretty if you were above the hole, but not impossible either. The teeth of the course is in the shot values, IMO and you could play it every day without feeling beaten up. My personal flip side to Purchase would be Stanwich - a routing I admire but with 8-9 greens just too severe to be playable (at least for me).
Second, I was very pleasantly surprised to see that the numerous wetlands that the routing had to work around did not result in a single "awkward" hole. There is only 1 lengthy walk from green-to-next tee box (17 to 18), but the integrity of the shot values is totally uncompromised by, for example, forced 5 iron lay-ups off the tee or 8 iron second shots on par 5's. Only #10 really maxes out a drive at 220+ yards and none of the par 5's preclude a full second shot for a reasonably competent player IF YOU HIT YOUR DRIVE IN THE RIGHT PLACE. Given my past experience with EPA-driven routings (and Purchase has wetlands on at least 7 holes I can remember), I expected 1 or 2 forced lay-ups. Not only are there none of those, but the wetland holes are really pretty good in their own right and a couple of them (e.g. #4) are excellent.
Third, there was not a single hole that I didn't really care for. Considering that every other course I have ever played about which I can say the same thing has a name like...well, you get the point. That doesn't mean that Purchase is a better golf course than Pebble (I don't like #15, for instance) or TOC (I don't much care for #'s 1,9 or 10 there), but this track has 17 1/2 very solid holes (see #10 above) with not a clunker in the bunch IMO. I'm no rater but that part sure fits my Top 100 criteria.
Other thoughts:
While Purchase is very definitely a tree-lined course, there are no Stupid Trees. If you're in the fairway or on a tee box, you have no branches in your way. I'm told that the club is always looking to remove trees and that I might not have been so positive 3 years back, but that was then and this is now. Somebody there gets it when it comes to (less) trees.
Except for the wetlands (a big "except"), it's pretty good property. The elevation changes are significant but not overly abrupt. I would liken the up/down part to Pine Valley - not the easiest course you ever walked but nothing really unpleasant on the uphill and no Mickey Mouse shots going downhill, either. While it's somewhat wedged in between I-684 and White Plains airport, none of the holes feel cramped and you have to look hard on almost all of them to see another.
Purchase would be a good stroke-play tournament course if the quality of the field was strong enough to keep it out of the trees and get around in less than 4 1/2 hours. A Met Open would work there - not sure the full field for a Mid-Am qualifier could finish by dark. You can lose a lot of golf balls there if you're hitting it crooked.
Like most Nicklaus courses, the power fade off the tee is a huige advantage. All the sharp doglegs are to the right and several of the wetlands that cross the fairways cannot be cleared from anywhere left of center off the tee.
#6 is a pretty fair Redan-like hole. The back bunker is missing but chipping from where it would be is dicey. The front bunker has good challenge and putting from right to left would be real tough if the greens were fast.
Other than #9, which is a short-ish par 4, there's no deep rough and none is really required to give a hole difficulty.
The greens aren't so huge, but they are (mostly) deep enouigh to add 3 clubs from fron-to-back on most every hole. Thus, 6900 yards on the card could be 6700-7100 depending on the hole locations. None of the greens are small - the few that are semi-shallow are quite wide. Sebonack, by comparisaon, has very small greens.
All in all, without making the greens at all "controversial", Nicklaus has built a very good golf course in spite of significant EPA restrictions. I was impressed.