I've played a lot of golf video games over the years as well. Some courses translate to video games well while others don't quite deliver what you hope for. The courses that seem to translate well are ones with dramatic views, elevation changes, and colors. For example, I think Wolf Creek and Pebble Beach translate to the virtual world very well while courses like St. Andrews and Winged Foot can't be fully appreciated through the virtual world
What makes the real courses so great in games is the fact that they are REAL. You can tee it up there, see it on TV, find photos on the internet, etc. There are a bunch of courses I've played in real life that I've also played on video games (Pebble, Bandon, Sahalee, Pasatiempo, Pumpin Ridge, Coeur d'Alene Resort, Sherwood Hills, Castle Pines, etc.) and it is really fun to enjoy both experiences. I base 90% of my decision on whether to pay the latest edition of the Tiger Woods series on my XBOX 360 based on what courses comes with it. Of course on the PC version, there are TONS of free course downloads (Cypress, Augusta, Shinnecock, etc.) which brings longevity to the game.
As far as hiring a real architect to design a fantasy course, my suggestion would be a bit different. Get a real architect to submit their plans on a course that will open within the next year (Old Macdonald at Bandon would be PERFECT!) and let people enjoy it virtually before experiencing it in person. I remember being really excited to play Bountiful Ridge in Utah the first time in real life after playing it so many times on the old Links series (the creator of that game lived in Bountiful before passing away a few years ago.). It would be a great publicity angle for a public course to appear on a video game before you could play it in real life. A lot of people would be anxious to see how close of a creation the virtual game would be to the real thing. Old Macdonald would be awesome because the greens would be wild, it delivers some color contrast with the ocean and fescue, and it already can piggyback on the success of Bandon Dunes in the real world and virtual world (Bandon has appeared in the Tiger Woods series a couple of times).