Which hole has that walk at Shenandoah, Jay? As I recall, the Atunyote course by Faz has the inherent gentle roles of the farmland that spawned it, in absolute contrast to many of the "faketastic" courses that receive criticism throughout these digital pages...imagine a faux links in central New York! The pros eat it up, which proves that it is not too demanding. Is it expensive? Yes. It serves a purpose. I have friends who use it for important clients...with a unique angle of "all-inclusive" golf, cart, food, drinks, and a nifty gold bag tag (there's probably more but I didn't avail myself of it), Atunyote is a solid golf course with no gimmickery.
Is Kaluhyat over the top? Not like Thunder Hills or International. Is it difficult? Yes. Each time that I have played it, I have gone to the tips and suffered immensely (my Roman Catholicism at work...George Bush shouldn't have given up golf in solidarity, just committed to playing from the tips wherever he went.) Too many visitors to Kaluhat look at yardage, not slope/rating. We as American golfers are conditioned to look only at yardage when selecting tees; everyone here knows that slope/rating tell the tale. Kaluhyat is quite demanding, but not out of line with what RTJ2 has built previously. Between him and Rulewich, they have done Papa proud. My only complaint about Kaluhyat is that the 18th feels like a fill-in hole..."What do you mean, we only have 17? Dammit, well, forget that short game facility, let's build it ... there!"
Shenandoah lies at a crossroads between the two, in my lens. It is also the only one done by a true amateur in Rick Smith. It is interesting that the only Faz course in Michigan is at Treetops, owned by Smith and the home of 2.5 Smith courses...probably just a coincidence. Back to Shenandoah...I thought the goofy thing was the hidden par three hole (I think it's number nine) over by the parking lot.
For anyone to say that TS courses are a Doak zero is irresponsible.
Now that I've defended, will your interview be on GO? When does it appear? Also, during your time at TS, did you ever hear rumblings about additional land, other courses and suggested designers?