I picked Doak because he teethed on the greens at Crystal Downs. I can't confirm or deny your other accusations but did just complete a 45 hole stroke play best ball at Prairie Dunes and can't quite come to terms why modern greens are not up to that standard. I figured if anyone Doak would be the man best suited to get the job done.
i can't speak for Doak but can't help but think that every green he builds is a tribute to Crystal Downs.
Peter is hitting on something, I do believe that Keiser reminded Doak that Pacific Dunes was a resort course.
John:
I appreciate the compliment in the first paragraph, but I have to correct you on a couple of other things.
1. I didn't grow up at Crystal Downs. [Mike DeVries did.] I saw it the first time when I was a senior in college, and joined as a junior member when I was 27 -- half my lifetime ago.
2. The course has had a profound influence on me, but it's not like I hadn't noticed that Oakland Hills, Oakmont, Merion, St. Andrews, Augusta National, and [yes] Prairie Dunes have wild greens, too.
3. The greens at Pacific Dunes are less severe than a lot of my other courses because Mike Keiser is uncomfortable with difficult greens and asked specifically for that. So, we made the greens smaller, and put most of the contour at the edges of them [where you often putt up and over the contours from just off the green
shhhh... ]. I don't generally have concern about building contour into the greens at resort courses [Streamsong Blue, Barnbougle Dunes], and by the same token some of the private courses I've done have some of my more sedate greens [the Old Course at Stonewall, or Dismal River] while others are quite severe [Lost Dunes, Sebonack]. It depends on the project, and what the client is comfortable with. And, of course, on my mood at the time.
4. I played in a charity event at Ballyneal last week. Greens were the fastest they've been all year, according to everyone there ... not super fast, but maybe 11 on the Stimpmeter. I was deeply into a match and not keeping track, but my caddie kept track of everything, so I can report that I had my best score ever there, with 12 putts on the back nine [and no three-jacks on the day].
5. Maxwell's greens are so cool because they have a strong back-to-front tilt, broken up by a couple of internal rolls, and they are often crowned from side to side because of the same rolls. You don't see the same stuff on modern courses very often because having a 3% or 4% back to front tilt is almost impossible with green speeds of 12+. We did build one green at Sebonack, the 6th, that is pretty much a Maxwell green; it was the first one we finished, and Jack Nicklaus liked it so much that he's been trying to build them ever since.