It’s Nicklaus for me too. As a guy who tries very hard to play a low draw, it’s hard to play courses that favor high cuts. Nicklaus courses, true to their reputation, make me feel like I need to play fades all day.
I don’t necessarily find that he doesn’t offer bailouts. The Nicklaus courses I’ve played generally have a safe spot to miss on most holes. The problem is that the shots just look manageable to me, so I tend to ignore the bailout and try to hit to Position A. I find a certain comfort in the way he lays out a hole visually that makes it clear what shot I should be trying to hit. The result is that a lot of shots “fit my eye” even if they don’t fit my swing, and so I may picture the shot very clearly but still fail to execute it even if just slightly. I’ve never thought about this before now, but it seems like a lot of architects rely on visual intimidation while Jack relies more on visual comfort that belies how dangerous a lot of the shots on his courses really are.
I don’t know if anyone punishes missed shots harder than Jack, and hitting toward Position A all day attempting shots with quietly high degrees of difficulty can spell disaster.