Mark:
I might be the one who started piling on Hillside, based on a single walk-through 25 years ago. It just looked to me like one of those "modern links" [Waterville is another] where someone had gotten on a bulldozer to shape the greens, and wiped out all the interesting little contours on the approaches and surrounds that are the linchpin of links golf.
The 11th and 17th did appear to be excellent holes -- they're the only ones I can still remember. I do remember far more of Formby, but not of S & A.
Note: I could be wrong of course; I only saw the course once, and I had probably played Lytham and Birkdale and Hoylake [with John Graham no less] just before walking Hillside, so all I can really say for sure is that it's not in that company.