Jim Nugent,
The question of what is or isn’t exceptional, or at least ‘the best’, is as old as the game itself and what qualifies as such has been debated over time by a great number of interested and, for the most part, knowledgeable sources.
I think a small group of exceptional courses, with a few at the very pinnacle, is as it should be, and it follows that the closer to the top a course gets the fewer dissimilarities it should have with its brethren, i.e., it should at least match their near perfect presentation. If not the whole process would be questionable at best.