Here are George Thomas' thoughts on the subject, which mirrors a lot of what has already been stated in this thread. I found the underlined sentence below to be of particular interest, as it brings into play Tom's statement regarding working with what the land gives you. The assumption regarding flat terrain is also pertinent, and the uphill or downhill nature of a hole can change its effective distance, as could a prevailing wind (but as has been noted before, it would be hard to find a spot on earth where the wind blows the same direction all the time).
"Nearly as important as the terrain, is the more commonplace matter of distances and arrangements. In this connection we have the writings of various men to guide us, and the necessary standards are fairly well established, although, of late, golf architecture has been considerably improved, and there are changes which add to our courses in the matter of diversity and strategy."
He goes on to discuss the various types of 3 (only two of these, but they should be full 3 shot holes), 2 (four long ones, four medium and three short) and 1(five of these with distances running from long wood to mashie niblick requiring different types of shots as well as different lengths) shot holes, coming up with a slate of distances as follows:
560
525
475
460
450
440
430
425
410
405
375
350
325
250
220
190
165
145
"On a flat piece of land one could balance these holes and have the yardage about the same on both nines, but on most ground this is neither practical nor necessary - other opinions to the contrary - because the greater distances and the harder climbs should be on the first nine, and the shorter distances and the absence of climbs on the second nine."
"Where possible, keep the three shot holes in separate nines; place three one shotters on one side, and two on the other, put two of the short two shotters with two one shotters, and the three shotter on the other nine also."
His balanced course looks like this:
460
410
525
220
375
440
145
450
350
Out - 3375
405
325
250
560
190
425
165
430
475
In - 3225
Total - 6600
"Such an arrangement would give diversity in that no two holes of the same length, and with similar shots to the green, would come together; but such sequence might not be possible on the ground, because many things make it impracticable to arrange distances to suit, and the suggestion is only intended as an ideal, or, as noted before, for a perfectly flat course."
"Length means nothing without character, but a true test must have sufficient length and character. Any course with less than two full woods to the green, and two more full woods through the fairways, is lacking in a proper test of wooden club play through the fairway, and all clubs must be brought into use for a complete test."