Tim, Kevin and Archie,
My recollection, and it could be flawed, is that the course was primarily Dye, and that it was intended to be a difficult challenge.
Once built, it was under Norman's care and guidance.
It was a very difficult, narrow test that was one of those course you enjoyed on occassion, but not as a steady diet.
So, it had to be softened, for members, guests and potential members and I think that's when Greg began tinkering
Norman had previously been a member of Old Marsh, another challenging Pete Dye course.
However, Old Marsh had very generous fairways, a luxury not afforded at The Medalist.
I think the fact that Greg was such a spectacular driver of the golf ball may have been an architectural liability in terms of him being able to design a golf course for the broad spectrum of golfers represented by the Medalist membership and their guests.
Administratively, The Medalist was always very well run. But the golf course had deficiencies or perhaps excessively challenging features.
I happened to like the effort to introduce brick sod faced bunkers. They were very unique and demanding.
One of the flaws, that I perceived, was the narrowness of the fairways and how it was a major factor on dogleg holes where good drives, hit straight, ran through the fairway and into disastrous lies resulting in high scores.
The 4th hole, a most unusual par 3, a volcano hole, which I liked, probably went through half a dozens iterations with the current hole more like the original.
So, the tinkering continued as Greg tried to "get it right"
The tinkering ceased being tinkering and became major redesign when # 17 and # 18 were totally changed.
When I first saw the revised 18th, I thought they had brought Fazio in to do the work.
It was wildly out of character with the rest of the course.. So the course was beginning to take on multiple personalities in term of design.
The original continuity, irrespective of what you thought of the individual holes, was being lost.
Recently, and I don't know at whose direction, efforts have been made to widen the playing corridors, essentially peeling back the very penal nature of the golf course, making the course far more user friendly for all levels of golfers.
The Medalist is a course that, from it's origins, had the ability to be a good golf course by merely widening the playing corridors, but for some reason, that wasn't the primary focus of the tinkering. A well thought out Master Plan should improve the golf course.
From an outsider's perspective, if Greg hasn't gotten it right after all these years, then, someone else needs to be retained to improve the golf course.
That's all for now
As to the Great Pete Dye, he's probably a victim of circumstances and a reluctant participant.