I liked Turnberry, but it was my first round ever in Scotland, and I had watched all of Nick Price's win there. To me, its just a fun place.
As for Pine Needles, I feel like its very pure, but I think the redo and modern technology has taken some of the teeth out. Maybe in a few years when the changes grow in a bit the fear involving the green slopes/speeds will return.
As for Pinehurst #2, I was a bit underwhelmed, but part of it was the fact that it is very difficult, and I didn't have my mid-season form going, as it was mid-March. I would love to play it with regular practice and a couple of months of play under my belt (maybe this scratch player could break 80
).
I was underwhelmed by Enniscrone (inspired a spirited discussion b/t overseas member Mike Sweeney and I a couple yrs. ago) in Ireland, and Western Gailes in Scotland. I would like to see WG again, as we played it in a monsoon. They say that they have the most consecutive sea-bordering holes, but every one of them has a diagonal tee-shot over the tall fescue to the fairway, and it makes you feel like you are playing the same hole over and over.
Those in the US are Widow's Walk in MA, a Hurdzan course widely publicized for its environmentally friendly design. It would have been better left as a rehabilitated nature preserve or something, as nature infringes on the edges of the golf holes. Great River, much discussed, upscale course in CT, just not good for the hype and price tag. The course at the Mount Washington Hotel in NH. For a mountain location, the course has few elevation change. The holes play amongst the river plain on the valley floor. Little earth was moved (it was built around the turn of the century), but it amounts to a field with trees planted to define some of the holes.