Tommy:
I enjoyed the title of this thread because it reminded me that 40+ years ago, when I was traveling to see all of these places for the first time, I used to call my mom [from a pay phone] to check in, and often when I was especially enthused about a course I had just seen.
I remember a particular phone call from the red phone box in Port Erroll, across the stream from the 4th hole at Cruden Bay.
But I used to get that feeling pretty often back in the day. At Harbour Town and Pebble Beach and Cypress Point, even before that. At Pine Valley in 1980, and again at Merion the next day. SFGC, first off the tee in the fog. St. Enodoc and Pennard, a few days apart.
After all of those, I guess I've been pretty jaded, but Royal Melbourne was everything I imagined it to be, and Himalayan Golf Club was more than that.
It does mean a lot to me that I've done some courses that others would mention here. That's what the work is all about, really . . . to provide the same kind of excitement that got us into the game.