Jonathan,
I'm with you. I thought Old Macdonald was wonderful, but would still pick NGLA 10-0.
Ally,
Tough to argue against subconsicous influences, but I think that people carrying around the template idea hurts Old Macdonald more than helps it. I played three rounds there in a single day and gave almost no thought to templates. The hole concepts are so well-executed that the interest is in playing the course. The concepts used make for a great course, but the idea of templates has essentially no role in my enjoyment of it.
Jerry,
I know you asked Matt this question but I'll give my thoughts too. Old Macdonald is not an interpretation of CBM's "templates." I think the design team built a course that was lots of fun, big, & bold - just as CBM might have done. They probably got inspiration from his courses as well as the courses that inspired him. The result is a course that feels a lot like NGLA and one you could believe CBM designed.