My experience with GN courses is limited to one, the Elks Run Gelf Club in Batavia, OH. Elks Run is a privately owned, true daily fee course.
The only insight I can give you about Norman's capitalist tendencies is that I am told that he required, as a condition of his contract, that Elk's Run have the highest green fees of any public access course in the area. The fee is $85.00 for all day, including cart and range, so if one is playing 36, it's a great deal. And since it is a little way out from the city, a double round day is a good choice. Elks Run also offers an annual fee of about $2500.00, well worth it for those who trek to the course with regularity.
The course is in a wonderful environment, a valley approximately 20 miles west of downtown Cincinnati, an area I call the doorstep to Appalacia. The bucolic farmlands surrounding the course enhance the golf atmosphere. There are no housing or industrial developments nearby.
I like the design. There is plenty of room to hit the ball from the tee, though off line shots are penalized by the heather that lines the playing corridors. There are few in-line obstacles off the tee.
The greens are generous and rolling, with no two alike, and open in front. Bunkers tend to be to the sides and even the backs of greens. They are fairly deep and vary in shape. One interesting maintenance note is that there are no collars around the greens. Fairways are mowed up to the greens and in some cases to one side or the other, creating run-off (chipping) areas; otherwise, the 2 1/2 - 3" rough is maintained right up to the edge of the greens.
I've not played there enough to evaluate the maintenance over time. It is certainly designed to be able to be played firm and fast, but I've never seen it that way. The holes in the lower areas are usually quite wet.
The first three holes (a short four, a mid length three, and a mid length five) give a nice introduction. For the remainder of the round, the course works into and out of hillsides, including holes working up draws between hills (the 7th and 15th), down hillsides (the 5th, 8th, and 16th) and along a forested creek at the base of the hills (the 10th - 14th.) The finish (16-18) is back in the meadow where the round began.
There is one hole that I find rather contrived, and that is the par 3 eighth, a 160 yd. drop shot over a hazard to a very small green. I'm not generally against drop shot holes; Elks Run has two drop shot tee shots which are challenging and fun. This hole, however, clings to the hillside for dear life and might very well wash away in the next big rain. And there is no room for error.
While the first few holes ease you into the round, last four are the strongest, and a good round can go bad there if there is any let up by the player.
I'd probably give Elk's Run a 6+ on the Doak scale, maybe a full 7. If you were in the Cincinnati area and had one round to play on a public course, Elk's Run is the place, if you have the time to get out there and back.