Adam - I've mentioned this before: probably the vast majority of the people on this board have played golf for many, many more years than I have, and probably most started playing golf as youngsters -- and so I think you may all have forgotten (or, more accurately, you are now unconscious of) the huge amount of information you are able to process very quickly when you first step onto a tee, or as you get ready to hit an approach shot, or on the greens. On most of the courses I play (usually modest, older daily fee courses or, occasionally, new courses aimed at the high-end market), I don't find that this is a problem for me -- i.e. even I can take in the information, because (I assume) it is all spelled out so clearly and so simply, and I can tell this is the case because I am almost always comfortable standing over my shots and almost always know exactly what I want to do (even if I can't in the end do it). But I played a great old course recently, one full of interest and challenge and choices and deception, and I was really, REALLY out of my element -- I played badly, and was never conmfortable over a shot, and literally felt overwhelmed with the information I sensed was out there but that I couldn't process. Yes, I also scored poorly because the course asked me to hit shots I'm not used to and not good at -- but I didn't focus on that then or now (I expected it, in fact). But the 'information overload' (not a good way to describe it, but I hope you know what i mean) is what really surprised me. And what now intrigues me very much.
Peter