Doug R: I think the "change" you see in Mike Hurdzan's designs is the influence of Dana Fry, who left Fazio in part because he wanted to do bolder things than Fazio would let him do.
The Golden Age was full of such guys: MacKenzie was a bit too wild for Colt, George Thomas was clearly thinking outside the box, and then there were Fownes and Crump and Hugh Wilson and C.B. Macdonald. All of those guys were clearly revolutionaries ... but then it was easier for them to be a revolutionary in those days. Anybody could be a golf design revolutionary in Latvia or Senegal today, just by going there.
Bob C: Years ago the ASGCA together with USA Today published a ranking of golf courses -- thankfully now abandoned -- in which nearly every member architect got a token choice of their own design. Anyway, they also listed the three most influential designs of the modern era, and RTJ II insisted on putting Peachtree on there, which I could never see -- PARTICULARLY since he had Peachtree on there instead of Augusta National. I've always seen Peachtree as an extension of Augusta's ideals, which only makes since when you consider the founder of both was the other Bob Jones. But I guess you could make the case that the use of water at Peachtree by Trent Jones was a precursor to the changes at 11 and 15 and 16 at Augusta that made Augusta different than its original design.
Tom,
I agree that Hurdzan changed when he took Dana on. He still does some of the "modest" work in the midwest, sometimes with different associates doing that work. I believe Dana was brought on specifically to raise Mike's profile, and it worked.
As to the USA Today list, I remember it. If my memory is correct, it may have had some value in promoting modern courses as different enough to have a separate list. I know it wasn't done on any point system, but I'm not sure in those days lists had to justify itself as much as they do now. USA Today wanted a list, ASGCA was happy to provide one, based on a bunch of guys who probably "knew" the best courses of the modern era, hidden gems notwithstanding.
You might recall a month ago, Brad Klein took me to task for suggesting that it was the first list to differentiate the modern era from the classic. Do you recall the date of that list? I was either still with K and N or so new in my own practice that no one asked me for my best course for inclusion, which would put it as early as 1980 or so, and as late as the early 1990's.
In either case, ANGC would never be considered part of the modern era, and Peachtree would barely squeek in. I was thinking 1950 was the cutoff, but it may have been pre and post WWII. Like you, I did notice the first green was a bit different than others - not only elevated, but also much smaller making for a difficult recovery pitch for me from the left rough.