Steve
What's wrong with a high handicapper having to "pitch out" from a bad shot? So, they lose a stroke--big deal!--they are expected to lose at least a stroke a hole, particularly at a place like Pine Valley, and they'll get a par or two or three just by the law of averages. I see no reason why a wayward player could not break 90 at PV, or Pebble Beach, or Merion, or Dornoch, if they kept their wits about them. Of course, maybe that's the problem, not the design (viz. Hamlet's speech to Horatio).....
Rich