Tom,
Can you elaborate on your feelings about posting pictures prior to opening? Does location (remoteness) matter?
Tim:
My feeling is that there should be some element of mystery in going to see a new course. I understand the desire to publish SOME photographs in advance but certainly not of every hole.
Ten or twelve years ago it was still possible to control that message to a large extent. When we were building Barnbougle, there were some early pictures of the back nine holes (which had been built and grassed first), but there were no photos of the 4th hole and the 7th hole printed before it opened or even for a while thereafter. The reaction of people coming to the golf course and finding that the pictures they'd seen were not even the best holes, was worth its weight in gold. They were so much more excited to rush home and tell their friends about it.
Nigel is right to cite Shadow Creek as another example of the same marketing phenomenon, and I can assure you that Steve Wynn was very selective in what he let out and what he saved.
Now, I fear, most new courses are disappointing. For the new course at Dismal you've already seen multiple pictures of every hole ... many of them are not even good pictures, either, but you already have an expectation of every hole. Therefore you are more likely to come away disappointed than surprised.
P.S. to Joel: I know that some courses send out hundreds of photos, but for most of mine, there are hundreds of photos on this web site even though I have never posted one, and neither have most of my clients!