"TePaul,
To paraphrase your post, 95% of the time you have a glass of red wine near at hand; this must have been one of the 5% of the times when you don't. How good on a scale of 1 to 10 do you think the site was, especially given its heavy clay soil and a road cutting through it?"
Ranulph (Ran) Jean D'Algue Sartre DeTocqueville Morrissett VIII, my good man:
From your remarks above I do feel that very rare occurence bubbling up and cominng on----eg a very long post that may push the envelope on here of how long any single post may be; but allow me to preface it with this:
First of all----if you are ever going to reach the sunlit uplands of life and understanding, certainly including anything resembling an intelligent and sophisticated understanding of golf architecture instead of mucking around in the heavy clay soiled lowlands of boring and sober thought, particularly scientific or mathematical thought, with things like pre-golf course land and sites that have man-made railroad tracks running through them, with "delta" factors and course comparisons and even hole by hole "Match Play" comparisons and scales and such, even Doak Scales, you MUST begin to appreciate not just the importance but the incredible significance of red wine---hereinafter referred to as "The Grape," and all the magic and mysteries and including various mystery unlocking elements it contains and offers! (how is THAT for perhaps the most magnificent run-on sentence you have ever seen and/or read?)
It's endurance and history and certainly its importance exceeds that of golf course architecture IMMENSELY! In age alone "The Grape" exceeds Golf Course Architecture by 37.0373 TIMES! (162 years compared to 6,000 years). And, all this time you probably thought I had no interest in or understanding of mathematics, didn't you?
You need to understand that certain things must of necessity precede other things in life and it appears you need a bit more application for that understanding. A recent example, is the last time we saw each other, and at that terrific Italian restaurant somewhere in that inexplicable labryinth known as North Jersey. You did not even come close to finishing your last glass of delicous Mucci selected red wine----I had to do that for you, as I sometimes have to do with things to do with golf architecture!
Come along with me and I will show you the sunlit uplands of life and golf course architectural understanding in its most sublime state and you will see it is important, on this journey, to have a glass of red wine at hand at all times when the sun passes over the yard-arm, the timing of which often depends upon whether the proverbial ship is at rest and at anchor or out at sea heeling over in the embrace of a refreshingly powerful wind.