I have had the opportunity a few times to visit and walk a great course before I played it, and sometimes while it was being built. Those pre-round walks have always helped me to get myself oriented so that when I do play it, I seem to remember it better, good or bad course design....
I walked about Sand Hills in part twice before I had a chance to play there. I saw Ballyneal in very rough grubbing and just raw routing, before I played it. I walked Rustic Canyon in grow-in stage. All that helped me in maintaining a lasting visual.
When playing a new course, or one I haven't played, I love a good yardage book with hole overviews. I tend to put a dot where my shots land, and that helps me. I also use a camera, but that does also get distracting looking for the right angle to show a unique and interesting design feature while trying to play.
Without those memory aids, I don't usually have as good of hole detail memory on a hit and run sort of first play. Then, I am left more with overall impressions rather than design feature details particularly of the routing sequence and which holes come in order.