Niall,
As you said, most links courses are now unrecognisable from when they were first designed... John's view is a romantic one. That said, I hate the idea of getting rid of any of the individual stuff that is out there and in particular the remodelling of greens for the sake of it... but as I said before, it's a hypothetical thread...
With regards to Silloth, thanks for that... Again though, you are talking about development outwith the current course footprint. I doubt the same problems would arise for tinkering within the current course... Individual cases of course...