I think there is a higher plane, although there are very few golf courses on it. Call them 10's, if you will.
Every time I play Crystal Downs with the host pro, Fred Muller, I'm amazed how simple he can make it look compared to everyone else. He has figured out how to take 95% of the really bad places out of play, while still giving himself a legit chance for par on every hole. Trust me, on that course, nobody else has figured out how to play that way.
St. Andrews is more complicated than that. You can score reasonably well without having a clue about the course, if you play it very safely AND IF you are a great lag putter from 60-70 feet. But once you know the course better, it suckers you into trying lower-percentage shots, and if you don't pull them off you might wind up with a higher score from knowing the course better.
Jim S. is right, the key is whether a misplaced drive will make you change your strategy for the next shot. (And no, I'm not talking about an intervening tree there, although I'm sure you could make that case.)