To be honest, I did not enjoy "The Seventh at St Andrews" very much but it did have some insight in terms of DMK and his thoughts as an architect.
From a psychological standpoint, Kidd is a very interesting study. Imagine being Jordan or Gretzky's son and being in a situation where you take advantage of what your father has done to climb the ladder and get in positions of responsibility but you constantly struggle to get out from under his shadow.
Whether you like it or not, Bandon provided Kidd with a lot of street cred and really allowed him to break out of the "yer man's son" mold and excel on his own. Based on everything I have read about Kidd, he is truly passionate about what he does and cocky to boot. He spends time on the ground and does not mail in his projects, he cares about what he does and but is not afraid to rock the boat or push boundaries because he knows his skills, at least in the past couple of years, have been thoroughly in demand.
At the end of the day, Kidd is far from a minimalist. At the Castle, he had a flat piece of pasture with a sewage plant in the middle. He had to create a course and that he did. Per the DMK website, his goal is "purist" golf - IMO - that means whether manufactured, tweaked or not.
I do not think his handicap had anything to do with the creation of the Castle Course. What we see today is the outcome of a very strong artistic expression - Kidd no longer dabbles in "landscape paintings" it is almost "metaphorical" in nature and certainly bold. He took a pancake and creating something with tons of movement.
I respect Kidd for his work, because I think he has internalized what he learned as a youth, and has spun it in a very modern way that still, somehow, pays homage to the past.
I know Melvyn and others would disagree.
Kidd is a bit over the top and I doubt he would debate you on that issue.