North Berwick is now ranked #30 in the world. I knew that it has made a sustained climb up the list in recent years, so I checked an older version of the Golf list to verify. In 2001, North Berwick was not on Golf's Top 100 in the World list. Given there are many new courses (16-17 based on a quick count, with 4 new courses ahead of NB) on this list, that's quite a change in perception.
I played it once and was very impressed. The front nine was not as visually dramatic as the back nine, but it played beautifully.
The course is only 6550 yards from the back tees, and perhaps this represents a greater consensus approval for shorter courses, despite the fact the modern ball travels further than it did twenty years ago.