I don't really care how a course works for me and my game in how I rate it. Sure, I have my bias, I really hate penal courses where on nearly every hole there's OB, lost ball area or water hazards awaiting. I guess as a wild hitter maybe that counts as a bias that would affect my rating, but I don't have anything against short tight courses if they give you a chance to recover from your mistakes instead of making you reload or drop.
It isn't because I don't like how the penalties hurt my score, because I don't particularly care about score. Hell, I dislike courses that have free drop areas just as much. You know, where there's a greenskeeper who goes crazy with the GUR paint, or a course with lots of environmentally sensitive wildflowers, that sort of thing. What you are playing there isn't quite golf in my mind.
I play golf because I love the challenge. I like hitting shots that are just at the very edge of my ability, and pushing to extend that limit. And actually, for a mid single digit handicap, I've got a lot of ability. The reason I'm not scratch or plus has little to do with lack of raw ability and much to do with my utter lack of consistency due to never practicing and being completely self-taught, plus not having the right mindset for scoring (i.e., not playing safe when I should, having problems scoring lower than my "comfort zone", etc.)
So maybe I'm like Shivas in that there's almost a negative correlation for me. I've played Turnberry twice, shot 77 both times, and think it is overrated. I've played Prestwick twice, shot 95 and 102, and it is one my favorite courses. That's not to say I don't highly rate and enjoy some "easy" courses, and think some really difficult ones suck. But aside from the bias against penal courses, I'm pretty open to anything. And the list of what I like is pretty diverse. But I'm going to be more likely to truly enjoy playing a Bethpage Black or Oakmont than most would be, even if they beat the crap out of me.