Matt,
Then I disagree with your definition of "quality golf". You are one who is obsessed with the conditions of golf courses and I doubt that you could overcome this when visiting any golf course. Your posts speak for themselves in this regard.
However — and importantly — I do not hold this against you. I believe it is good to have a contingent of golf course architectural buffs and writers who look at the conditions of courses more than others.
But, I still am one who is interested in the design and its uniqueness more than anything. The condition of a golf course is merely a point in time. It can change overnight. It will change over time. The grip of nature is far more essential and tight than the grip of the hands of man once a course takes shape.
Conditioning is a rather recent component tof golf. You mention above that you cannot have decent golf without good turf quality on greens. Yet, as we all know, the very idea of "greens" is an invention of the past 150+/- years. In fact, accounts of rough and dirty ground at the locations of holes is on the record, both in written form and from photographs.
While I prefer complete greens — and know they are here to stay — the manicured surfaces from which we putt and take for granted in today's golf is a softening of the real game. I foresee a movement back to slower greens with more dramatic contouring. Although this will be hard to sell to some, it is all a part of the larger picture to loosen up on the tight "nail-clipper" precision that we have come to integrate into our courses, our terminology, our writing, and our assumptions.
By the way, once the chinch bug infestation was diagnosed at The Hideout, it took but a few weeks to get all their greens back in shape and — as you would describe — "playable". Interestingly, however, many played there while the chinch bugs ate away at the bent and colored it orange and yellow. All-the-while having good times and probably cussing the little devils for their selective migration.