A very interesting thread which throws up many more questions than the 2 initial parts. Despite popular belief, the job is actually difficult, and involves many aspects that people don’t see.
Personally, I believe that a few guys lead the way, regardless of marketing. Others need « marketing » to play in the same league, or hope to one day. Surely, vision & original designs will always stand out, thus underlining individual talent.
Among the majority of others, some talk a good game but don’t actually play, some talk all day and you end up believing them, and the remaining few are too busy playing to find the time to talk, or they let the work do the talking with the hope of bigger projects.
Of course, it’s easy to criticise, and I do try to be courteous in general. But it’s true that not all famous courses necessarily had talented designers with enough vision to make the most of any given site. That’s probably where most of us see a weakness, which brings me back to
« marketing »… if you see what I mean !