Matt
I appreciate your position on critiquiing golf courses, and I applaud you on not having preconceived ideas of what a course is or isn't based on a prior opinion of a designer.
I must admit, however, that you threw me with your comments with wording like "standard, over shaped/produced mounding", etc. It seemed like you were describing a preconceived idea of what standard Nicklaus design was, and that those courses met that description to you. I stand corrected.
My posts are always to set the record straight, as I see it, regarding any course that I know intimately. I never attempt to make any comparison or declare one course better than another, because, like you, I believe beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
I am glad that there a several Nicklaus designs that you enjoy. One of them, Anaconda, however, has considerably more shaping and is on land that has been run "roughshod" over much more than AG or LC.
Regarding the other courses you mentioned in NM, I unfortuately have not played any of them. I have seen pictures, and some of them look quite appealing. I, by no means, have inferred that LC or AG are better or worse than any that you have mentioned, except in the beginning thread on MC.
As for mdugger's comments about my not liking what you like, and vice versa, I think he/you might be surprised as to how much agreement we actually have.
As for my identifying myself, I didn't think it appropriate, since I have posted here previously, but I also had no intention of misleading anyone. I just enjoy the discussion, I defend my work when I feel it needs/deserves it, and although I have been a designer for 33 years and in my 20th year as Jack's senior design associate, I never feel like I am to old to learn. Although I am pretty old.
Thanks for you input.