You gotta love the unerring way in which quotes from Fazio or discussion about Fazio brings out the passion in this crowd. If I were to summarize my golf architecture predilictions in pithy fashion, I'd say that I favor the classic course architecture of Flynn, Raynor and Ross over the modern work of Fazio, Nicklaus and Dye. At the same time, I obviously ardently admire the modern work of Doak, Coore/Crenshaw and others who are hewing to the minimalist/naturalist style of architecture.
In some ways, the "old" guys were lucky because they had the first shot at the best land in the best locations. Pebble, Pine Valley, Seminole and dozens of other courses are undeniably aided by the superior land forms that the architect had to deal with. Doak and Crenshaw were unbelievably lucky to get jobs like Sand Hills, Ballyneal and Pacific Dunes, among others, given the felicitous nature of the land, even though their location would only appear optimal to the most gifted business visionaries.
In some easily discernible ways, the modern architects are at an advantage because of the capabilities of modern equipment and modern irrigation and drainage technologies. They have been (until recently) lucky because of the availability of ready capital.
In some ways, even the most defensive among us has to admit that "we" tend to be more forgiving of the golden age architects. Simple case in point: Raynor draws fevered praise by many (me included) despite the transparent reliance on template design while Fazio gets skewered and ridiculed for repetitive, bland design.
Maybe the earlier architects had freer rein than the newer architects. Maybe the "business model" mania of the recent decades has led to a homogenization and a dumbing down of some of the genius that many architects are capable of.
In the "final" analysis, I find a lot of the modern courses exciting. I find many more to be uninspired and cookie-cutter like. Fazio has a huge resume of golf courses and he surely has a handful that are excellent. Among these I would include Shadow Creek, Forest Creek and the re-do of Butler National. The photos of Mardis Camp are very promising, indeed. If some of his other work is less than thrilling (insert list), I'm willing to accept that and still admire his work, even though I admire Doak's and Crenshaw's work much more.
So, I tend to disagree with Tom Fazio on this point, but I greatly appreciate the dialogue that it has prompted.