Mike,
You are correct in assuming a hint of sarcasm. From experience, the architects I named have absoutlutely no distinct characteristics in their respective designs. For Ted Robinson, The Experience at Keole would be my first choice. While the front nine has excellent land to work with, I can't remember a single hole except the eighth, which is just a drop tee shot at best. Larry Nelson designed the Woodlands in Gulf Shores in AL, and it is nothing more than a below average golf experience, regardless of the land provided. As for George Fazio, Pinehurst #6 and Butler National. I enjoyed Butler, but I would hardly consider it an architectural masterpiece. #6, need I say more? As for Ed Ault, he seems to be one of those architects that clubs bring in because he has a great sales pitch, and nothing else. The Sabot course at Hermitage CC in Richmond is a joy to play, but given the original routing, I think there could have been a great deal more strategic options that could have been utilized. It is a good course none the less. John LaFoy, the so called by some "king of redesign" made one of my home courses Huntsville Country Club, one of the most boring courses in the history of golf. It is a course, that on a good day a 5 handicap could shoot 66, as a result of the boring green complexes and bunkering. It is just a shame. Huntsville has some of the biggest, oldest trees you have ever seen, and they are totally under utilized. Nevertheless, I like to play there because I could shoot 63 on any given day. There is certainly something to be said for fun golf, but the golf provided by the aforementioned architects, to me, is just vapid. Maybe George Cobb just never got an excellent piece of property to work with, but again, I don't think there are any good, special design characteristics. As for Devlin/Von Hagge, they just suck. I can just imagine a par 3 with a green with no depth, bunkers everywhere, and water short. I.E. Nashville golf and atheletic, Quail Hollow, though I did enjoy Nashville for its difficulty. I am not necessarily a cult fan of the doak and CandC designs, but I certainly do value decision making and options, especially as they pertain to the short game. Therefore, I do not think the above are in the business for anything but the money, or maybe love of the game(kelly). Im drunk
sam