Jim -
I usually try to be fair minded in my comments, and I often take the 'other' point of view and try to see its strong points if for no other reason than to balance out my essential biases/perspective/tastes.
Maybe having been born and raised in a downtown core of a big city, I never had much nature and natural beauty in my life, and so now crave it in as many places as I can find. The golf course is, or could be, or used to be, one of the places where I found it. Peace, quiet, nature, and the absence (or apparent absence) of the hand of man, and all the signifiers and signs that go with it.
I understand: gca is about creating fields of play, a place for golfers to play golf. I like the game, and slowly growing to love it.. But if golf courses become amusement parks, i.e. if anything goes now in terms of features and looks that get over-stimulated golfers to sit up and take notice, then one of the charms -- and for me, one of the great charms -- of golf will be gone for good.
That bowl of noodles is ugly and expensive and better suited to Disneyland than a golf course. Believe me: I fully support and understand Mr. Curley's desire to make a living in a tough business, and his absolute right to do so in any way he deems best/necessary. But I'm not going to give up my right to criticize the finished product, or to hope that such a golf hole is mocked so soundly that no one else will try it for decades to come.