Brent,
Ditto for me. I enjoy the courses of the UK (most I've played are in England and Wales) very much, but I live in north Texas. I know I would love the sandbelt of Australia- Dismal River and Sand Hills are right up my alley- but I played a residential development course this morning and had a blast despite barely breaking 90 (thought about you on Tuesday after my son called me to report on his round at "The Glass"- played today about the same way).
I was very idealistic when I was young. Pretty cocksure that my way was THE way. Today I don't think much about Utopia. Instead, I generally look at what's in front of me and try to make the most out of it. Ultimately, it comes down to choosing the better of the available alternatives, as imperfect as it may be. And when the course was wet as mine was this morning after 1.5" of rain over the prior two days, I still had fun attempting to hit the shots that were presented to me (walked in 2:45 while my partner rode "paths only").