If you want to compare the styles of myself and Mr. Nicklaus, I think it would be more informative to do so by comparing Ballyneal and Dismal River Club -- although that discussion seems to be considered unfair here as well. On those projects we both had clients who let us build pretty much what we wanted to build, and the results are very different golf courses in my opinion. I wish I could participate more in that discussion, but I probably should not, since political correctness seems to be in order on that subject here.
Interesting. I've enjoyed some of the DR discussion on this board. I know that there are those who will always diss JN, and that hurts me a bit, just because of his status as a longtime golf hero of mine (as a player), but at the same time there have been a wide range of opinions on DR, from harshly negative to fairly glowing. It would probably be hard, Tom, for you to opine on one of the main comments on DR, which in a nutshell goes something like "he wouldn't have done anything like this if JN hadn't worked with Tom Doak." But still, look at what he did before the collaboration on Sebonack, and it's not hard to substantiate that argument. Most interesting comment also from Tom Doak about the role of those who build these courses, and how big a difference that could make between DR and Ballyneal. That kind of insight is what makes this site so interesting. Thanks, for that.
Regardless, it's tough to get into the whole hypothetical "what woulda happened" scenario, I'm sure even for those who WERE involved at Sebonack. Wouldn't one suspect that each might think that they would have done a better job had they had the gig to themselves? Wouldn't most people feel that way? But by all accounts the course as built is very impressive, and does justice to the site.
It might make for an interesting architectural discussion for those familiar with the course, and with the courses of both Nicklaus and Doak, to opine on how each would have designed the course differently alone, so long as the discussion didn't amount to "If JN did it the place woulda SUCKED, but if Tom woulda done it alone it would have been SO much better than it is now," if that makes any sense. That opinion might have some merit, I don't know, but wouldn't make for much of a discussion.