Shivas...I'll agree with you that Blackhawk is truly a fun course to play, and your assessment of "and a half" holes is pretty well on...except mostly it is on the 3.5 side, and not the 4.5 side due to the short nature of the course.
It is interesting that you thought Bendelow might be the original architect...my playing partner and I were discussing how much the course seemed to mirror our own club back in Dubuque, which happens to be an original Bendelow design (albeit the original 9 only). I was not able to speak with the head-pro directly, so maybe a call back is in order to find out more about the club's history. I wish I had brought my camera!
RJ...I am also in agreement with your comments about the course. Not having played the other Madison area courses you mentioned, but rather the idea of quaint and quirk at BGCC...it truly abounds there and made for a very interesting and fun afternoon. The course was pretty easy to walk, and even with being held up by a foursome in front of us on the frontside, we managed to finish in under 4 hours. Not much in the way of true hazards out there, but the bunkering was well done, a nice mix of doglegs left and right, small and large greens (at a good speed), and tons of elevation changes.
To the dismay to many in this group, the biggest hazard on the course are the many evergreen trees, and other large trees that line every hole.
As far as the other architect involved in more recent renovations, I thought that to be quite evident as I played the course. several of the holes just didn't quite fit in with what I felt was the theme of the course and layout...but overall I would still say it is worth a visit if you are in the area and wanted to combine a round at U.Ridge with someplace else.