For fellow members of the proletariat who stumble across the thread, I'll inject a bit of 'downmarket' into the discussion...
Schaumburg GC - IL - I gave this course no chance. It's a dully-named muni that used to be a dreadful daily-fee that used to be a private. It took me 12 holes or so to get over myself and instead become fascinated by it. It was the first time I'd played a course that actually gave me a feeling that there was much more to it lying just beneath its modern skin. It still bugged me several days after I played. The nagging feeling of moredom led me to look into the course's completely unadvertised, but, as it turns out, quite interesting history, which in turn led me to... here.
South Suburban GC - Littleton, CO - I was such a snob that the name alone led me to avoid even tryingit for several seasons. Then, on a desperate day I finally gave it a shot. Several actually. High quirk quotient, carnival greens. It has some truly laugh-out-loud bad moments, too. But it has just enough silly fun to pop up in my dreams from time to time, 6 years after the last time I played it.
Coyote Crossing - West Lafayette, IN - I can see no compelling reason for this course to be as good as it is. Somebody took some great land and did not overwork it. Would play this again over the Kampen Course. And I really liked the Kampen Course.
The Ross Course, French Lick - I knew I'd enjoy it. I did NOT expect the course to be kept in 'period appropriate' condition. It's been several seasons since the renovation, so I expected that by now market forces would have forced the course to monkey with faster green speeds, tighter fairways, etc. in order to appeal to the 98% who don't give a rip about ol' Don.
Nope.
It felt all sepia-toned the day I went. I'm not at all a "canvas bag/gutty/spoon" kind of guy, but out there I really felt like a bit of a tool carrying graphite, titanium, and urethane. That was very cool.
A second for Rivermont. And my plays were -before- the renovation! I love my dad to death and he loves golf to death, but we almost completely opposite tastes in golf courses ("Why do you want to go to this "Brandon" place? None of my golf buddies would recognize a hat from there. You really ought to consider the Robert Trent Jones Trail..."). When he told me he'd joined this club called Rivermont in the middle of the north Atlanta sprawl, I had visions of faking a sore hamstring to get out of the back 9. Well... it turned out to be a blast. The shame of it is that Dad migrated south a few years ago, so until I sent him a link to a thread here, he didn't know what had become of his old haunt. I hope he goes back to play some day - from what I've seen here, it could be the kind of experience that could bring us in a little closer alignment in the way we see the game.