What I have learned the most from this thread is that we are a bunch of spoiled golfers.
Tommy, you are probably right
I grew up in Memphis ... if the golf wasn't basic & cheap, I never would have had the means to ever start or continue with the game.
Tidewater VA, where I live, probably does not have any great courses. But the area has some better than OK courses that are reasonably priced. Cypress Creek, Nansemond River, Hell's Point (though a bit long in the tooth now), Sleepy Hole
I argumentatively speculate about a few of the others:
-Bayville, a very private Fazio in VA Beach, has hosted a USGA Women's or Women's NCAA event (forgot which) ... gets marks for conditioning. No way for me to play there.
-Cavalier is a par 69 Raynor-Banks course that I think Lester George has done some work on. Haven't figured out how to play there.
-Kinloch in Richmond, a very private Lester George course, gets I guess, the best in state award. No way for me to play there.
-Cascades, played twice, along way for me, but worth it every other year.
-Royal New Kent, like all Strantz courses, is a wild hoot, but Tobacco Road is better.
-Golden Horseshoe, yes an old RTJ, that I know I am not supposed to like, but I do anyway.
-Sewell's Point, on the Norfolk Naval Base, (some say it is a Flynn, the sign on the entrance says it is a Ross. It is better than the typical Muni .... probably the best bang for the buck in the Tidewater Area.
-James River CC over in Newport News (know nothing about it)
-Bay Creek 1 AP & 1 JN course, across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, played once, not excited to go back unless some kind of freebee special.
-Greenbrier, Rees Jones 80's (nuf said)
By 100% accident, I live 10 minutes from Riverfront, an early unpricey Doak ... and for the last 12 years, I have at some level been spoiled. There is no point in me going to any other course in the area. If I want a special experience, then its a
4+ hour effort to go the NC Sandhills or Ballyhack or the Cascades or a 1 hour effort to go to Williamsburg.