Mark,
As per our winter assignments, I am working on a "My Home Course" essay about the South Course at Olympia Fields. It is terrific, with 3 or 4 outstanding holes, a bunch of other good ones, and an excellent set of greens. The club has a lot of old photos and such, and I'm going to review them in the next couple weeks to learn the evolution of both courses, and to learn what is Bendelow (and Willie Park Jr. on the North), and what isn't. The South Course has two holes as good as anything on the North - the 360 yard par-4 6th, with a very perched, small, sloping green with a drop of 30-40? feet just off the right edge, and a smaller drop left, and the 215 yard par-3 11th, with an elevated tee shot to an elevated green with a big false front - hit it on there, and the ball rolls way down the fairway. Pitch it too short, and you use the hole's "automatic ball retriever" to give you another chance.
That said, the South Course really doesn't compare to the North, especially in the green complexes and sophisticated routing. I think the new bunkering is also excellent, and gives the North course a very rugged look, even on the flatter holes (I suspect not much was left of Willie Park's original bunkering, but I hope to know more soon). The rush on that first tee indicates that there is no where else I'd rather be. I know members of other clubs feel the exact same way about their courses.
Jeff Goldman