Pietro
I understand and woud say that many top 100 classic are not what they were when built. They have become tree infested, rough pinching narrow corridor penal courses. And true, that evolved style whether purposeful or not, is not in style these days. What is in style is something akin to what was being built in the 1910s/20s/30s but on a grand scale. Meaning properties are twice or three times the footprint. It seems as though designs have been ironed down to cover more acerage. I am not sure that always means much more space to play the game. Often it is much more space not to play the game. The game is stopped (or not yet started!) for a walk or cart ride. I do disagree with this aspect of the current style which seeks the best view/hole regardless of how the flow of the game is altered or how the course interacts with the house. It seems downright wasteful to me and I do hope smaller footprint designs come back into vogue.
Notts...its a huge property, but the course is on a managable scale. Its not unlike Cleeve Cloud in this respect except CC offers endless views to give the illusion of mega golf. I spose there must be some Notts-like courses being, but I don't know what they are. Somehow, the smaller new courses don't look or play at all like Notts. I am thinking of a place like The Grove which is on a big property, but remains walkable. The Grove has hills, some views, some water so not terribly unlike Notts, but it certainly lacks the class and charm of Notts...I suspect much of this difference is down to the texture of the Notts property and the use of the hill.
One apect to remember about about classic GB&I designs...many evolved into what they are now. Clubs had time to make the course better (or sometimes worse) over many decades. Plus, the effect of time helps greatly with the aesthetics. Archies now are trying to create this age-old aesthetic straight out of the box and so a huge number of courses look similar....especially whe talking about about sand based courses. Folks get caught up in the aesthetics, but I think we need to concentrate more on the shots offered. All that said, I understand your concern in that current whoppers all seem as if they come from the same stable of design. To a large degree I think you are right. People aren't stupid, they will copy a successful model and right now regardless of the shots on offer, huge footprint designs with big features in wide open spaces are being greatly rewarded in the rankings. As I say, its difficult even for the class designs like Notts to compete when 1) arguably, some of the modern designs are better than Notts and 2) they have the grandeur to wow folks.
I think all this talk about 9/12/14 hole courses, urban courses, par 3 courses, huge practice putting greens etc is a backlash against the mega-trend, but it is also one of the few ways sidelined archies can whip up interest in their work....few get these prime properties to build a possible top 100 course. Thats why I think Doak doing a course like The Loop was incredibly savvy. He does smaller footprint golf, but on a grand scale!
Ciao