shivas:
Neither of those things particularly float my golf boat. But lots of others do like that kind of challenge. For me there's a fine line... I sure as hell don't want things too easy, as I've tried to say to George, but I also don't want them too hard, because that gets depressing. Thus I don't particularly revel over the fun factor at Olympic Lake, for example, because for me it's just too much (and JakaB called me a pussy for having this view, a title I now relish). I have a feeling Medinah would be the same way. I guess I like the "chance at success" more than I like any "challenge"... particularly as I get older and shittier at this game (or more realistic about my abilities, which might be another way of saying shitty). So for me North Berwick is the be all and end all, as is Cruden Bay, many others at which one is required to neither flush it nor work it either way particularly, but at which one still faces a lot of blissfully fun shots, in blissfully cool surroundings.
That being said, there are plenty of very tough courses that I find great fun - like PGA West Stadium and the old Bayonet. But they just have to have something else going on besides requiring one to flush it and shape it, as each of those do. This is obviously very tough to explain!
TH
ps - I've also never been a big fan of tree-lined courses, in general. Add that to my bias and preference here. But that being said, I lived and died for Bayonet, which is as tree-lined as they come!