Now THAT'S what I'm talking about...nicely presented. Of course, I agree with next to none of it, but I applaud your passion and your counter-enthusiasm. The only serious walk on the Links course is from 8 green to 9 tee, and 9, we do agree, is a misfit toy. The uphill and downhill movement occurs from tee to green, not from green to tee. The Quarry is another story but, lordy, it's in a quarry! If you play a quarry course (Merion, CC Buffalo, Black Diamond Ranch, et al.) you have to be a numbskull to imagine that the walks will be gentle ones. The walking is what Scott Hoch said makes golfers athletes!
Did you watch Ryan Palmer carry his driver onto the 5th green at Ridgewood today? It didn't hold. The point of a driveable par four (and I think you were referencing the 5th hole at Links) is that a lucky bounce gets you on/close, or it sends you careening toward the armpits of Hell...rub of the green.
The two par threes on Links do play downhill, but one is a pitch of 140 yards while the other goes about 180, as I recall. The first allows for the Redan effect while the second demands a straight shot to a less-angled green. The Links succeeds in that it does not stray from its purpose for 8 holes.
I'm guessing that the clubhouse could have been located farther out and another hole added along the water to Links. The 9th on Quarry is along the water, and it's a shame that they couldn't swap 9 Quarry with 9 Links and maintain the integrity of the two nines. 9 Links sure belongs on Quarry or the unseen Preserve.
The Quarry course is an edgier nine and has to suffer the wrath of those who prefer less jagged looks and more rounded features. The 6th hole, the driveable par four, is nowhere near any other tee ball, so I don't understand that reference. The third sits high above it, to the north, while the fifth is way off to the south. The green on five sits well below the tee on six, so no threat of wayward strike is apparent there, either. With all the marsh surrounding that sixth green, why would you try to drive it, Hercules?
The Quarry is a penal course. You have forced carries on six, seven and eight, along with near-forced carries on other holes. However, they are usually measurable in that you can either play up a tee deck to shorten the poke or lay up down the fairway to shorten the launch.