As a golfer I really like TP and I have played the South several times and the North once (pre-reno). It is not only a public course, but a city owned one at that. It has 36 holes of championship golf (or min. 18), hosted a US Open (which me and my dad volunteered at), a yearly PGA Tour stop, the world juniors (or at least used to), is set in great weather year round, has a great logo!
I can say I was disappointed in the conditions every time I played there however. It gets so much play that there were dead patches, crappy bunker maintenance, some par 3's had damage from so many ball marks not being repaired, etc.
However, the layout from an architectural point of view we see water, and cliffs, and we think of the very few courses in the world that have that, which happen to be the best in the world (Pebble, Cypress, Pacific Dunes). Why isn't Torrey as good as x, y, z? Well it isn't so easy to capture all those elements, even if the perceived potential maybe there. I'd love to see the course closer to the cliffs perhaps, but it isn't a deal breaker for me. It is DAMN long, especially with any wind. I can say proudly I birdied 12 playing from the whites (I was about a 9-10 handicap then), which was about 440 that day. It was playing into the wind and I hit a great drive and had about 195 or so. I hit the best 4 iron of my life, low and piercing and straightest to about 2 feet. Funny how you remember the best shots of your life and bore others to death recanting them.
I can appreciate that for many years and for many more to come, anyone in the world can come here and play anytime of the year. It certainly doesn't have the water or forced carries over canyons that you may hope for in this setting. It uses pure length and wind as defense IMO. As opposed to lamenting what it isn't and could be, I choose to love it for what it is.
But I'm just a hack golfer, not a designer/rater/pro/etc.