Width, playing angles, half par holes, central hazards, wild greens, bunkers with steep walls that are penal (in fact, unique enough overall to merit their own monikers), greens that fall from front to back, fairways that present uneven stances, FAST and FIRM conditions, out of bounds, burn/ditches, greens that are open in front, greens that sometimes encourage/force the golfer to land his aproach well before them, tricky visuals where depth perception becomes a real challenge on approach shots (i.e. greens that aren't handsomely framed)?
You get the point. Obviously, Oakmont and The Old Course spring to mind, which begs the side question: Did the father and son at Oakmont embrace more lessons from The Old Course than Macdonald ever did? Perhaps/perhaps not for if they did, Oakmont wouldn't have always been presented with thick rough on the sides of each hole (given its parallel holes, I have always contended that Oakmont should feature even more short grass via several shared fairways. Like St. Andrews, its greens and placement of hazards are great enough to allow such).
What other courses do the above features apply?
Prestwick, certainly.
NGLA, save for the ditch/burn.
Throw in the inverse of a ditch (a cop) and you have mighty Hoylake.
That's five of the world's top courses yet curiously, most architects don't embrace nearly half of the features above. Why is that?
Bandon doesn't have out of bounds but otherwise one hole at Old Macdonald (the sixth) has every single feauture listed above including the fabulous one of a green ala the third at Oakmont that possesses both a false front AND back.
Where else? Here's another modern one: Ballyhack and stay tuned for its course profile later this week.
Cheers,