Hi David
I look forward to your thoughts when you see what has happened, and please don't just focus on the gorse--look at my 3 other issues too.
As for the gorse, it is not the same as OB, as more often than not one can find his or her ball near the edges (a rolling and/or bouncing golf ball does not get far into the gorse) and take an unplayable lie, or even try to hack it out. Regardless, errors should have consequences in golf, just as they do in life.
I cannot think of great links courses that have as much gorse as Dornoch did in it's heyday (c. 1980), but that was the era when Crenshaw and Watson and Tatum raved about the course (probably what it was like too in 1964, when Wind was there). More importantly, the gorse is one of the major features which have always distinguished Dornoch from other courses. Would you also eliminate the hay at Muirfield or the internal OB at Hoylake, or the blind tee shots of the Old Course, just because they were inconvenient to the casual golfer?
As for 16-18, the first is and was always very wide, except for the long hitters who could reach the quarry on the left, or drive it over the hill (if they leaked it right). Average players have always had ample room on that hole. 17 was always narrow, but as a 400 yard hole with a severe downslope after the first 200 yards on the upper fairway, it should be! There have always been two options on that hole--hit an iron to the the top of the hill on the left, short of the bunkers, or hit a ball to the right of that line with whatever club would get you accurately to the short-iron part of the lower fairway, but not so long as to reach the gorse on the right hand side of that part of the fairway. The first option always required precision and the gorse tight to the left made one think. Now that gorse is gone and soon one will be able to play that shot with no fear and more certainty (as the camouflage elements of that shot will be gone). The second shot will no longer require any demands for club selection, as the massive clearing of gorse on the lower right fairway will mean that driver can be played on most days by most people, and wedges to the green will become the rule rather than the exception. You may think this is an improvement. I do not. Finally, the 18th long ago was denuded of 1/2 of its terror from the tee when they cut back the gorse on the left and added rough to stop hooked drives from rolling into what gorse remains. On the right, however, patches of gorse remained which always played on the mind when one stepped onto the 18th tee, particularly if a score or a one-hole lead was being protected. Now that area has been neutron-bombed and one can whack away from the back tees without fear. To paraphrase Star Trek, it's golf, David, but not Dornoch golf as we know it...........
Enjoy your trip and report back!
Rich