Great post, Mike. I'm sorry I missed it last month.
I was in the field for the qualifier, and I am happy to confirm all of the positive things said about the course here. The greens are phenomenal, the routing makes perfect use of the elevation change, and there are a ton of fun, strategic holes. Even after walking and carrying 36 holes on a really hot humid day with some extra walking and waiting induced by a rain delay, I still wanted to go back out there and play a few more holes! I didn't play well in the qualifier, but I learned shortly afterward that I was playing with appendicitis, so at least I have an excuse, haha.
I will add that the high scores from the qualifier were partly a product of intense winds. It was howling from the south all day. Some of the long, difficult holes were into the wind, making them even tougher. 14 was essentially unreachable for me! And some of the shorter, delicate holes like 16 and 7 were downwind, and it was difficult to hold a wedge near the pin. I played a practice the day before when it was calmer, and I'd say the course played a good 4-5 shots harder per round on the day of the tournament. Given all of that, plus the heat and the rain delay, I'd say that those 146's that got into the playoff were really impressive scores.
I can also clarify that they set the course up longer than 7000 yards for the qualifier. As Mike indicated, Moraine is 7270 from the tips, and for the qualifier, they had us at about 7180. The only holes where they moved us up were 1 and 13, and both of those were for practical, logistical reasons. On 1, the back tee is actually on the far end of the practice green, so playing from there would have required closing the practice green. On 13, the back tee is extremely close to the 12th green, and 12 is a 240 yard par 3, so playing the back tee on 13 would have created safety and pace-of-play issues. In other words, although the scorecard says 7270, the longest they can set up the course for a full-field event is about 7180, and that's exactly what they did for us.
I also agree with Mike's comments on the green speeds. They keep them firm and smooth, but they're not fast. Certainly, the course would get exponentially harder if the greens were running at 12 or 12.5. 10.5 is probably the right call for enjoyable member play, but if they were a little faster, that would be a lot of fun as well. A little more speed would actually enhance the strategy by penalizing players out of position, and it would make players respect and appreciate the intricacy of those greens even more.
I hope more people get a chance to see Moraine because it is truly special. As with Mike's experience, it bumped a lot of more-famous courses down on my list that I wouldn't have expected.