It seems like 85% of the love for Torrey South on this site comes from me. As I've said before, I was very lucky to play Torrey over 100 times because they charged $10/month for high school kids in San Diego to play in the afternoon. Between all those afternoon rounds, Junior World, Buick qualifiers, other junior tournaments, and high school matches, I have seen the South course under all weather conditions and course setups. The course is a blast to play, and I would give it at least a Doak 7 (maybe 8 ). Holes 3, 7, and 13 are some of my favorite holes that I have ever played. Additionally, I think that 18 is the only truly weak hole on the course, because it is a generic, gimmick hole that doesn't make use of the natural features of the land and doesn't fit in with the rest of the course.
With that being said, nobody is more disappointed than I am to think about the lost opportunities at the South course. The general routing is very good, but I wish they could have taken more advantage of the natural features of the land. Too many holes move along the edge of the cliff or canyon without ever bringing the natural feature into play.
How great would it be to tempt the player to challenge the cliffs or canyons on her tee shots on 4, 6, 7, 14, or 17?
What if there were more options and strategies off the tee? Wider fairways pressed against the canyon edges might accomplish this on some of the holes.
What if there was at least 1 short par 4? Perhaps 2 would make for an excellent potentially drivable par 4 if it was slightly altered and in the 300-310 range.
What if there were more central hazards? Perhaps the 6th and 9th holes would be more interesting with something to challenge the second shot.
My biggest general complaint about the South is that Rees built greens with dramatic ridges and tiers, but there is very little internal contour. As a result, most putts are somewhat boring unless you have to deal with one of the dramatic ridges.
I agree with the sentiment on here that Torrey's potential exceeds the quality of the final product, which is disappointing. However, this should not skew our evaluation of a great course. Torrey is by no means an average golf course. We shouldn't call it a 3 because it is a Doak 7-8 course built on a 9-10 site.