Many thanks Matt (and Tom D)
My take is that while the D5s get all the love, the real heroes of turning a decent course into a very good one are the mowers and the chain saws. A bad mower can change any course from interesting to ugly in a few weeks. A good mower can do the reverse, and even make his or her course change interestingly all throughout the season. From pretty to randy. From seemingly hard but easy (if your use your brain) to seemingly easy but hard (if you don't use your brain).
I remember well my meeting and playing Charles River with Ed Baker in 2001. I was a lovely course, but there were bunkers in the rough that cried out to be connected to the fairways and great greens with great contours and slopes that needed to be cut less closely that their flatter brothers and sisters.
I can't think of any of my fave courses (including Dornoch) that could not play better on a day to day basis with a little more thoughtful TLC.
As for chain saws, every super outside of links courses should carry one surreptitiously and full of petrol in the back of his vehicle. Only use it in the heart of darkness, and no one will know.
And I miss Ed Baker, and hope he is alive and well somewhere.....
Rich