Dan,
I know that you've relocated to the mid-atlantic, but could you have played Sheridan for the rest of your days? Personally, it's far and away the only muni in WNY that I could play for the rest of my days (which might be brief ones, depending on what's in two-mile creek.)
What matters most to me is the care that the players take. If I were running a course, I would say to heck with pace of play and station my rangers at three different greens every day. I would charge them with noting whether players repaired ball marks or not and ask them to politely confront those who did not. The new courses in WNY are diseased with pitch holes that simply should not be there. The other thing I might do is assemble a brigade of junior golfers and take them out to three to six greens every Monday morning and say "Go, lasses and lads. Go and fix." In exchange, they would get a dozen proV1s and a free round of golf.
I believe that the flow of the land should be adopted by the ownership and staff and sold to the clientele. If it's crazy like Wolf Creek, live it and breathe it. If it is manageable for walkers like Old Course and Bandon, encourage that. If we don't have the Yin to the Yang, then what do we have? Fat guys and thin guys need each other.
I'll take some pancakes with my French toast, thank you very much.