Forrest, you make a great point. The two situations I constantly see which result in horrible hole locations are 1) the club tournament chairman who lets the responsibility go to his head and demands that he choose the hole locations despite the fact that he probably has no idea what he is doing, and 2) the superintendant who is given the responsibilty for a local or regional championship and apparently is out to defend his course's honor.
Now, before all you superintendants go off the charts about that statement, I'm not necessarily talking about you. My guess is that if you spend your valuable time around this site you are 1) better than the average bear in your profession, and 2) find this site worth your time. But I've seen this situation too many times to think it was all just an accident.
Those who make the effort to learn what makes a good hole location and get lots of experience develop an eye for it- and it is an art in many ways.
One of my personal guidelines is that if a player plays a good shot to a green, and that depends on the length of the shot, the club required, the green surrounds and internal contours, etc., then he should be able to stop his approach putt within a few feet of the hole.
HEre's an example. Imagine a long par four with a bunker fronting the green on the left. The approach will require a mid to long iron. In a multi day event, you will have to consider a hole location in the left front of the green, behind the bunker.
A good second shot could very well end up 40 feet behind the hole. Can the player make a good putt from there and stop the ball within, say, 3 feet? If so, I'm okay with that.
If the hole is a reachable par five with a similar configuration to the above described hole, I may be more aggressive with the hole location if the player has the option to lay up to the right side of the fairway, giving him the ability to circumnavigate the bunker. If he reaches in two and is 40 feet behind the hole, he may face a much more difficult putt- in fact, he may have almost as much opportunity to get down in two with an approach from the fairway as he does with an approach from the green
Just a guideline, as I say- things are rarely very "cut and dried."
But it does take experience. Leaving a "handbook" behind is a great idea, along with a copy of the USGA guidelines.