Michael,
You wrote:
"I understand the Macdonald mantra..but in all honesty most of the people going to play there wont know who the hell he was anyway!
They will just be playing another good course, named after some "old guy"
they probably wont even know what period he was building courses."
I really think you are wrong, I think the new course will go a long way in "introducing" Macdonald to many golfers who do not know his courses. At least I hope so. I think most golfing fans know Tilly and other ODG's but not Macdonald beacuse his courses are almost all exclusive private clubs and not in the US Open rotation. In my experience, players who go to Bandon come back raving about the place, so I think it will help "put Macdonald on the map" for serious golfers beyond GCA, where he is already well known.
So in answer to Jim's question, I certainly will call it a Macdonald course. Obviously it's not a "pure Macdonald" but it is a Macdonald-inspired design, and I don't know of any resorts that offer a blend of old and new "names."
I think one of the coolest thing about the 4th course is that it adds and ODG to the mix of architects at Bandon.
I say Macdonald was on the committee. The question I'd add to Mike's list is how much influnce did Macdonald have on the committee? Did Doak have any arguments with Macdonald or just Bahto?