Jon,
Thank you for the write up. I enjoyed it a lot. We must have played on similar dates, although we did get quite a lot of wind and rain at Brora and Castle Stuart on the first couple of days.
Even after a week on non golf vacation and thinking about the courses, I struggle to rank, critique or write about any of the 9 courses. In some ways I feel it betrays our fantastic trip. The one thing I can say is all four of us enjoyed each and every one of the courses immensely, and we give each of them its dues for what they are.
In order of play we enjoyed:
Royal Dornoch
Brora
Castle Stuart
North Berwick
Gullane #1
Muirfield (2 rounds)
Castle Course
Old Course
Kingsbarns
I dont think I can single out the best course of the list, nor can I easily single out the worst (sorry Tom Doak, maybe it was my net 68, or maybe the course is much changed since you last saw it. By the way, I think #17 is one of the best holes I have played).
Certainly everything I read on this site prior to traveling made them more enjoyable. Thank you to all that contributed. And special thanks to David, Tim and David who allowed us to get to know not only the courses, but also enjoy the clubs and its members.