I think this can and should be accomplished at only public courses..or semi-private.
Wow! What a remarkable statement. I'm trying to recall my perspective of golf course architecture BEFORE I played Merion, Pine Valley, and Cypress Point. They've all made such a tremendous impression on me. I can't imagine deliberately excluding any of them from consideration.
That being said, BEFORE YOU VISIT ANY CLASSIC OR NOTEWORTHY DESIGN:
a. Purchase a digital camera that allows you to take high-quality photographs AND still fit within your pocket.
b. Purchase extra memory for that camera so that you may take a number of photographs quickly. You don't want to waste time examining the photos after you've taken them to see whether they're worth keeping.
c. Call the club you're visiting and make sure it's permitted to take personal photographs of their golf course. I didn't follow this advice once and unintentionally embarassed my host. It's more important to be a grateful and appreciative guest than to accumulate photos.
d. Walk to the front of the tees to take a photo of a fairway. There's no point monopolizing your photograph with that part of the ground plane. Tees are uncomplicated. They're flat. Instead, focus on the more fascinating part.
e. Keep spare batteries and a spare memory card for your camera in your golf bag.
f. Read everything you can about the golf course before you visit. Books and historic photographs can acquaint you with parts of the golf course you would overlook ordinarily.
Here are some good and BAD examples of photographs I've taken:
BAD EXAMPLE: A classic Colt/Alison design at Sea Island. Unfortunately, the only thing you see clearly is the tee box. This is the 13th (formerly 4th of 9) of the Seaside course.
BETTER EXAMPLE: By walking to the front of the tee box, I fill up the photograph with the part of the hole we're interested in. This is the 12th at Royal Birkdale.
EXCEPTION: Taking photos from the green back to the tee are rarely fruitful; however, there are exceptions. This is the 13th at Atlanta Country Club.
BAD EXAMPLE: Here's a photograph I should have taken from the green looking back to the tee. This is the 4th at Spyglass Hill.
GOOD EXAMPLE: This is a photo I never would have taken. Fortunately, when researching Cypress Point, I saw a similar photo from the same vantage point in a book I read and made a special effort to recreate it. This is the 16th hole.