Goodness, had no idea I'd get so many responses and questions to this thread. Must be an all-time record for me here.
I'll see what I can do to answer.
How do you find out the architect when you play at a council course (I think you call them a 'muni' over there'), since a lot of them are designed by no names or someone from the council?
Do you have a favorite architect of yours?
Most of the courses I was able to uncover the architect either through this group or by looking at the course's website. For the obscure ones and some of the munis that didn't have any architectural information, I used
WorldGolf.com's search engine that most of the time had a decent database. Google was also my friend. As for a favorite architect, not really. I more have favorite individual courses. I will, however, go out of my way to play some architects over others and also use the architect as part of my decision-making process when visiting new courses. For example, I play a lot around Myrtle Beach - I'll take a Maples course most of the time over something Tim Cate has done. I don't mind Cate, but my experience has been his courses all look and play eerily similar.
Would I be correct in deducing that you've visited Great Britain & Ireland just the once, that the majority of your stay was spent in Scotland and that you visited St.Andrews but didn't play The Old Course?
Been to GB&I twice actually but didn't play golf the first time. We did a 2-week trip to Scotland 3 years ago and played 12 rounds including The Old Course twice.
Do you have something against Tilly? 
Absolutely not... except it'd be nice if he had built more courses where I could gain access.
CJ..............Algie Pulley? That is certainly an obscure and offbeat designer. I would hesitate to call him an architect.....possibly to term him a router of courses might be more accurate.
Which one of his did you play?
Royal Virginia, which is north of Richmond, VA about 40 minutes up I-64 towards Charlottesville. When I first started playing golf in college and we couldn't get out on Birdwood (the UVA course), we'd occasionally head down to Royal Virginia as, at the time, it was a better option than the other muni (Meadowcreek) in Charlottesville.
In looking at your list, would I be correct in guessing that you live in the lower mid-Atlantic, I'm guessing VA or NC?
I keep track of architectural info, but find so many courses have many architects touch them over time, that it's tough to call them strictly one or the other, so I just keep it all.
Mike, you are correct - I'm in Williamsburg, VA. I agree 100% that it's difficult to keep track of ALL the architects. I do keep "footnotes" next to my list of renovations / additions, etc but for purposes of this list, it's usually just the original architect (or as close as I can discern).
Just curious as to the names of the courses that you played by
"Nicklaus Group" and Jack Nicklaus Design....which I am assuming is different from the 2 courses you said you played by Jack Nicklaus.
Thanks
Actually, I think the Nicklaus Group and Jack Nicklaus Design should be one in the same. I had the Jamestown Course at Williamsburg National listed as "Nicklaus Group" while I had the Nicklaus Course at Bay Creek (eastern shore of VA) listed by the "Jack Nicklaus Design." In all honesty, and this points to the difficulty of keeping this list, who knows what Nicklaus himself was particularly involved in and what he just sent his team out to do. The two I had listed by "Jack Nicklaus" were Long Bay (Myrtle Beach area) and The National Golf Club (Pinehurst). My guess is that all 4 of these courses should just be "Nicklaus Design Group" or something along those lines.
In this DG you are not a nerd , but I would recommend that you NOT whip out your list on the first tee with your normal golfing buddies
Man, you need to get some Macdonalds, Raynors and Tillies on that list!
Bill, thanks for the kind words and reassuring me I'm not a nerd... here.
And yes, I know I need to get some Macdonalds, Raynors, and Tillies on my list. Unfortunately, in my area of the country (as a few have already pointed out), there aren't many samples of their work. Tack on the access issues for courses that are and it does make it a bit difficult. Alas, I do still have my whole life ahead of me to make my way around the country to visit those that I can.