Sean,
Have you played Lytham? I'm surprised by your assessment I think. Sure it can easily be argued the bunkering is overdone however, the routing on a rather small cozy property is really good. The land for golf is excellent, there is a great mix of holes, long short, varying in direction with the wind. Sure it's a tough course, especially if you are off given the bunkering, in fact it would be tough still if you took away 150 bunkers and it might not be the kind of course you want to play every single day but for me personally it ticks most if not all the boxes required to make it a great course.
1. Great variation in holes.
2. Great turf.
3. Excellent routing given the space available.
4. Great undulating land for links golf.
5. Full of strategy and choices.
6. Ability to utilize the ground game - fast and firm.
7. Excellent greens and surrounds.
For me the only real critique available would be the sheer number of bunkers.
However, back to Mike's initial statement about the tree cover blocking out the railroad lines. I know the opinions on this are mixed. I understand his point from a historical sense. I personally am not sure as I'm not a huge fan of freeways/train lines etc running too close to courses. The hole in discussion here I feel like I might enjoy the look better without the trees but I know many of the members don't want to see the railroad lines there.
It's one of the these classic types of preference differences where half is for and half is against I'm afraid.
However, in terms of the course I certainly believe it belongs in the World Top 100 and also feel it's much stronger than Formby, though not as quirky. I do like Formby as well. I'd probably give it a 6 personally, but it certainly could attain a 7 for me with a little work and I wish I could of seen the holes they lost.