MM
"Palatable" I think for the interested spectators is a total score after 4 days of competition that is representative of two things:
1) It is a total score that is rarely, if ever achievable for the top class club/amateur golfer; and
2) it doesn't embarrass the tournament host and organisers insofar that they don't appear to have chosen a venue where the vast majority of the players in the field haven't had their golfing ability tested.
Going out on a limb here, but I think the USGA aligns itself with the penal design school when it comes to golf course set up. Furthermore, the more prestigious the prize, the more penal they become in course set up. Consequently, when the Tour selects a strategic golf course for an event (the only exceptions being the US Masters and Pinehurst #2), it takes significant measures to make it a penal design.
The penal school of design from what I understand is more infatuated with protecting Par than the strategic school.
If a player posts a low total score on a penal-style design that player has either played 4 perfect rounds of golf and it's a outlier, or the weather conditions have neutered the designer's intent , or the course is too easy. If it's the latter, the designer will probably feel that they have failed to meet their primary objective. Henry Fownes is the best example of this point I can think of.
In the strategic camp of designers, I would contend their modus operandi is to design a course that makes the player think about risk vs. reward on every shot. These designer's were probably more comfortable with a golfer who shoots a very low number because they had to take sufficient risks to do so. Of course if the strategic intent of the hole isn't very good or the weather again neutralises the design, a player might exploit the failing of the designer for their advantage. I think Alister Mackenzie would applaud a player who could shoot 20 under at Royal Melbourne because he knows that if the weather didn't completely neutralise the courses natural defences, that player has had the talent and intestinal fortitude to post such a score.
For mine, if the venue holds itself out to be a penal design, then a really low number is demonstrative of the need to improve it for the next go around. If the venue considers itself a strategic design, than a low total score is indicative of wonderful golf.