Was very lucky to play Landmand on Memorial Day this year.
First, before I get to the main point I'm hoping to make, the pro shop sells a terrific coffee table book with summaries of each hole and some great photography - the book was given to my dad for summer reading so I don't have it in front of me, but I recognized several GCA names as the photographers. Apologies for drawing a blank on your names (Halyard and Hornstein maybe if my memory is working?) but your pics were incredible - I was thrilled to get a copy of the book and really enjoyed your contributions.
As for the course... I absolutely loved it. My hope is to spend an entire weekend there next year and play the course 4-5 more times to get a better sense of things, as it can be a bit overwhelming for one round - especially when it comes at the end of a 5 day trip that covers almost 1700 miles of driving.
But I got the sense that too many of the golfers making the trek to Landmand weren't maximizing their enjoyment of the course due to a rigid adherence to playing as an individual and fretting about score on a course that can clearly have tremendous wind, and that is a difficult puzzle to figure out on an initial round.
Landmand is perfect for match play - and the scorecard in fact promotes that idea. I'm sure there are groups out there following this recommendation - but not any of the groups that I saw or heard.
It's also a perfect course on which to mix up formats - scramble, shamble, etc. If you could get 2-4 people to engage on that type of round at Landmand you might have the best 4.5 hours of your golfing life - and it would enable you to learn the course (and its massive and mystifying greens) better.
My recommendation is that if you make the trek try to play at least 2 rounds - and find a group of golfers who are willing to take part in a team format for at least one of the rounds - guaranteed you'll have a blast.
I remain confused as to why American golfers seem to take so little joy in team formats. It's a particularly good idea on a long trip.
Landmand in particular seems to fit the bill.