I too like a course that builds up to the harder holes as the round goes on but when I look at my favourite openers they are all tough holes. Royal Birkdale is a fantastic but very difficult hole that requires both shapes of shot and is long. York Golf Club (Strensil) is another toughy par four and Huddersfield's (Fixby) first is a fabulous, long par 4 though would be better in my opinion were the hollow at the back of the green reinstated as green so the hole would be a par 5 as it originally was. I guess this just shows that it is often the exceptions to the rule that are liked the best.
Jon