Tom - now that you have the list what course(s) did you think would go higher? And which did you think would go lower? And which of your top 15 or so would someone play and be surprised that it was one of yours? Where did you most step out of your comfort zone to do something different?
Tom: The more votes that come in, the closer the list gets to what I expected. I'm not surprised Cape Kidnappers is as low as it is [not many people have seen it, so one or two poor votes drag it down], it's one of those places that is so scenic people forget to look for the design interest and just assume it's not there.
Streamsong is the course I thought would be higher, and maybe Lost Dunes, too. Stone Eagle is the one that SHOULD be higher, but I'm not surprised at its standing, I know there are a bunch of people who can't forgive that they played it in 110-degree heat, or who want it to be something it's not. [There is a lot of that in rankings. It is crazy for raters to have ideas about what a course should be instead of rating it for what it is, but you can see plenty of evidence for that in the posts above.]
Dismal and Sebonack are both a bit higher than I expected. Didn't really know what to expect from Dismal since it's so new. Sebonack has been picked apart by so many people that I'm surprised when somebody likes it.
I don't really try to hide my involvement in a course, so I don't know where people would be surprised -- maybe Sebonack because it's so much harder than what I normally build, but that's what the client wanted. [He's even tried to make it harder after we left.] Tumble Creek is one course where we deliberately tried to do a less flashy style of bunkering, because we were sick of doing the same old thing, and look what Bill Schulz made of that choice!
Common Ground is another where we tried to do something in a different style, but that decision was driven more by concerns about the maintenance budget.