Jeff,
Outside of the usual suspects like Fownes and Crump, I guess I would disagree.
Exhibit A would be the now NLE Antler Springs. A 5000 yard 18 hole gem just outside of Spokane, WA, built by a couple brothers a dentist and doctor, (now retired), on the family property, a rolling piece of land. It took em a decade but they had some of the most interesting and maddening holes you would ever play:
- One of the most intriguing holes I've ever played. A sub 280 par 4 with a green in the shape of a crescent moon that was 7 paces across at its widest, and completely surrounded by sand.
- One of the most difficult par 4s I've ever played, and it was only about 250 yards. Water left and right of the green, with a huge tree right in front of the green. There was almost no place to hit the ball!

I played it twice and happy to take bogey both times.
- The shortest par 5 i've ever played where a Tour Pro could drive the green with a high 320 yard high hook, but it was such an odd quirky hole with a crazy fairway configuration I can't even explain it.
- Another short par 5 with the most heaving, rumply, rolling fairway I've ever seen....like one of those far away places in the UK that Bonnar or Mayhugh would post about.
- And one of the greatest, and i mean that, par 4's I've ever played. An uphill double dogleg hole with tons of strategy on each shot and one of the most beautiful greens I've seen, tucked in between a few pines at the top of the ridge.
The pro shop/clubhouse? Small and unpretentious, with a honor box for early tee offs. The owners lived on property in a neat little A-frame house just off the 8th green. This course just screamed all the things we espouse on GCA. Affordable, understated, minimalist, interesting, quirky, etc....my only regret is not organizing a GCA 36 hole event.
But alas the brothers decided to move onto other things...
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2018/aug/17/jim-meehan-antler-springs-joining-sun-dance-on-gol/