Former president George H.W. Bush did not like broccoli, despite the fact it is a consensus top ten vegetable.
OK, I guess I'll add something less tangential.
Grinding my gears trying to remember courses that surprised me, the first two that come to mind are Plainfield and Engineers. The east coast is filled with good golf courses. I think it's because the terrain has right-sized undulation for the game.
But I'm a west coast person, where most of the land is either very hilly for golf, or too flat to be of much interest. I freely admit that I like Pasatiempo because the course is demanding exercise, and I imagine myself staying in very good shape trying to walk it two or three times a week. I want a course that makes me work.
For Pasatiempo, like Gib I thought of #2 through #5. It's a great stretch. #2 is probably the best hole on the course. #6 and #7 don't bother me a bit, as it's OK to demand that we hit it straight for a couple holes. I think #8 is the weakest hole, as there's little or no variety in hole locations. There are three small pinnable areas (middle left, back left and back right) where the hole can go, and so many putts are attempted from the same few areas. Just too severe.
On the back nine, I like #10, #13, #14 and #17 best. I believe the back nine at Pasatiempo has one of the more creative routing sequences. The green to tee walks are exceptionally short. I find the tee shot at #16 and the second shot at #11 a bit too demanding for me to love them. The third shot at #13 is pretty cool. I also like that the 14th green is very flat and nondescript, just laying there on flat ground.
It does seem like #1 worked better as an easy par 5 opener. #9 is kinda weird, and the walk from #9 to #10 is a ball buster. At Pasatiempo, they play a game that is quite a bit different from the typical golf experience. Getting above the hole there requires very delicate short game plays. You're just touching them to get them started, or pounding them uphill at the hole. I definitely have a home area bias for the place. I like being there.