The more wasted-opportunity, overly expensive-to-build modern golf courses I see, the more I appreciate the utilitarian simplicity of the Cornish courses I grew up playing, including Hop Meadow, Simsbury Farms and the NLE Tower Ridge in Avon and Simsbury, CT. I also like Crestview in Agawam, Mass., and Sugarloaf in NE PA. To paraphrase Hemingway, they are clean, well-lighted places for golf, and I think in the instances where they fall short, it would not take total gut-jobs to make them significantly better. Hop Meadow is a great example: a former superintendent once showed me Cornish's original plan, which revealed greens with some very interesting amoeba shapes and corners, where then (and now) there are only ovals.
Just because his work doesn't show up often on our Instagram feeds with fawning, herd-following praise heaped under it doesn't mean Geoffrey Cornish didn't make significant contributions to people's golfing lives.
Tim, I agree. There are certainly elements at these courses that seem like they could be better--e.g., not having similar drop-shot par 3's at Hopmeadow, or similar 1st and 10th holes at Simsbury Farms--but all in all, they are perfectly solid and enjoyable courses.