Interestingly, I had the chance to play Bull Valley Golf Club this morning and it brought to mind both this and the private club thread. Bull Valley is a "GOLF" club, not country club, in the FAR NW suburbs of Chicago (probably 60 miles).
Bull Valley is probably 25 years old, and has appeared multiple times on lists of toughest courses in America. The tips are 7,300, 77.2/151, the tees I played are 7,000 75.6/145. I can think of no fewer than 13 full shots today that were truly pass/fail of the highest order, about 5 tee shots and 8 approach shots. That doesn't count several more where 25 yard wide fairways are lined with penal trees (but no O.B.) or the greens that still required a solid strike to reach, but a miss allows an opportunity for up and down. The course is in great shape and has undulated greens at 11.5.
On one hand, I understand what Pat is saying about the excitement. When any miss is going to be overly penal, there is a rush of executing a shot. For example, the 13th is a 200 yard par 3 all carry to a narrow green through a shoot of trees with no bail out. In this case, hitting a 4-iron solidly and seeing it land safely 20 feet beyond the pin gave me more enjoyment than hitting it to 4 feet on a similar length forgiving par 3 on my home course. In addition, even though I wasn't scoring particularly well, each additional chance to execute provides some satisfaction.
On the other hand, it's really trying without room for error on any shot. As a scratch golfer, I didn't play *that* poorly and shot 83. While some of it was poor lag putting that likely would be cured if I had a caddy or played the course regularly, there were 4 doubles due to tee balls that really weren't that bad. Missing 25 yard wide fairways by less 10 yards or so and turning them into doubles. While it would be nice to just accept higher scores, grab the thrill of good individual holes and enjoy, I'm not sure if I'd like the game as much if I had to play in that environment daily.
I know Bull Valley' ownership has changed hands a couple times due to financial difficulties. This certainly isn't due to the condition of the course, or the challenge presented. The location is certainly not ideal, but I'd suspect there are 200,000 people within 15 minutes, competitive rates, and only 30 minutes from affluent, well populated suburbs like Barrington. By nature, they have gravitated to a high caliber of golfer as members, many of whom it's a second club. The problem is, unless you are ultra elite, that isn't enough and without a pool or course that is playable to women and kids it's really hard to thrive. I hope it continues to exist however, because it's a great place to play a few times a year and challenge the game. That said, I can see why most wouldn't want to build a course like this, because chance of success seems low unless you know you have true greatness.