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These are the kind of things that get me way more interested in the game than having 500-1000 courses.
You just confirmed something that I had concluded on my own about 1 month ago, i.e. fairways firmness play faster or slower based on firmness selected for the greens. As I do not create courses, I kept my conclusion to myself since I cannot do anything about it. I did not do any specific experiment, but I hardly ever play the same course more than 1-2 times a month and I am a keen observer. After all it was my attention to details, even the tiniest one, that took me to a reasonably long career in Wall Street and the City. Hence, as I go through a lot of courses, I noticed the similarities and the differences. As I never play slower than Mc/Mc, I have nothing to add to your references below this setting. I am not saying that they are identical, but they surely feel almost that way.
On greens, some recent events in my playing convinced me (meaning that nobody can convince me otherwise) that different courses play the same green conditions differently. It is again the fact that I change course every game and I have seen myself going from playing a course at -8 with great putting to the next one where I barely broke Even and despite the greens were much less challenging. What happened? Simply the M/Fc conditions played very differently for whatever reason. My last game at Princeville, had me checking the green settings 3 times, for the same M/Fc was so slow that 4 times I did not even reach near the cup! Princeville is an old game (2003, I think), nice but barely acceptable for realism. The green settings were right, but if I hit the ball like that at the Brabazon at Belfry, I would send the ball running out of the greens and into the fringe or among the spectators even. The differences were too large not to notice that. So, as you wrote, there must be something in the textures that means something.
I got to the point that I do not mind too much even the Mc/Fc or F/Fc. Unfortunately, at those settings there is nearly always the 1, 2 or 3 pin placements that kill the game, something that pisses me off immensely and thus I avoid those unless in practice mode. Truth be told, to play these latter conditions, I can no longer go to a course and expect to play -5 or -6 like it happens right now in M/Fc from scratch, because if I do not know the different areas of the greens then I am in trouble even without unplayable pins. A stimp of 12 would be fantastic and it would pretty much write "the end" words, for me at least. Only place I play Mc/Mc is St. Andrews for I read that the stimp there is around 10. Kapalua also has a stimp of 10ish. All others I am M/Fc or Mc/Fc these days.
I also came to the conclusion that Easy/Medium/Difficult for pins mean very little. Some difficult ones are actually easy and they are just closer to the fringes. Some easy ones, maybe in the middle but, a somewhat less than beautiful mind" placed the cup along a ridge, or just next to a small cliff which makes the easy position a myth, a fantasy.
Wind I manage. I agree with you that the wind (and I never play below Gusty) is far from perfect. While I am pretty good with my driver (even after switching to Champ and giving up the power meter) there have been a few recent instances where the headwind was so strong that I could only manage 220-225 meters drives which were not enough to reach the fairways!!! With Gusty I can wait and after a bit the wind will subside. With Windy I am in trouble as it will never give up.
I think that if you could do what you are planning, that would truly be fantastic, simply fantastic. Probably the best things to happen to Links in many years.
I still wish that we could get a bit more distance from clubs, but I know that to be a moot question. The new courses being produced, reproduce the lengths of the most recent courses, but clubs' power is stuck to another era, basically the early 2000s, However, if you could have your ways with fairways, we could gain perhaps a lot more rolling yards (often balls stop too quickly in my opinion vs. the real life courses) and offset at least partially the problem of having to play with outdated clubs. In Links there will never be a 400+ meter drive. I tried on the most generous (dowhill holes) and I could reach at best 378 meters. And that was in practice, with perfect swing, perfect tailwind, perfect roll, etc.. pretty much. On most holes even 300 meters is quite rare.
Very grateful for what you plan to do!
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